Joburg too broke to rehouse hijacked buildings’ residents

So broke is the City of Johannesburg that despite reclaiming 59 hijacked buildings, it does not have land nor money to relocate the squatters.

The city has been on a clean-up campaign to take control of hijacked buildings and demolish illegal structures, and still faces the mammoth task of reclaiming a further nearly 500 hijacked and illegally occupied buildings.

The city revealed that it reclaimed and restored at least 59 buildings since 2016 during the tenure of former mayor Herman Mashaba.

It has just over 10 eviction orders but does not have the resources to relocate and accommodate the illegal occupants as required by law.

“A significant roadblock is the requirement to provide temporary emergency accommodation for evictees, which the city currently lacks the budget and space to fulfil,” said city spokesperson Virgil James.

He said other challenges include internal corruption where city employees alert illegal building operators before scheduled police raids.

James said most of the hijacked buildings had been taken over by syndicates who are constantly on the lookout for unoccupied buildings to hijack.

“Mayor Dada Morero has warned that even redeveloped buildings are at risk of being re-hijacked within years if the underlying criminal networks are not dismantled,” said James.

He said about 200 hijacked buildings have been officially identified in the Johannesburg CBD, but broader audits suggest the number of derelict or partially hijacked properties could be between 300 and 500.

At least 188 audited hijacked buildings still remain under unlawful occupation, while 119 properties have been referred to external attorneys for further legal action.

“The issue of hijacked buildings in Johannesburg remains one of the city’s biggest challenges because many of these buildings are linked to criminal syndicates, illegal utility connections and dangerous living conditions,” said James.

He said the city had managed to reclaim 44 buildings between 2016 and 2019 under Mashaba’s administration, while another 15 were restored between 2025 and 2026.

“We have made progress in reclaiming and restoring buildings, but there is still a long way to go because the scale of the problem is extensive,” he said.

The latest numbers come as the Johannesburg high court last week ordered the owners of Marble Towers in the Joburg CBD to immediately remove all structures built on municipal property, pavements and road reserves, while also forcing the owners to submit building plans within 20 days.

The dispute centred on the city’s planned demolition of allegedly unlawful structures inside the building and the disconnection of utilities over a R14m municipal debt.

Remington Court is a major success story for the city; once a hijacked building, it has been redeveloped into student accommodation through a partnership between the city and a private owner.

Sowetan spoke to community members in the area. One resident said they hoped it would be turned into accommodation for the community.

“I don’t really see a benefit because when they removed the residents, they put them in shacks in Denver, and there hasn’t been an improvement in giving them a proper home,” said Mandla*. “I don’t really see a difference with it, and I haven’t benefited from the change.”

Another resident, Themba*, said the environment had gotten safer.

“There used to be a lot of crime here, and the criminals would then run into the building after committing the crimes, and the police wouldn’t be able to catch them,” he said.

“So the building was like a hideout for them, and it made it very difficult for us to do our business. But now it’s student accommodation; they’ve even put a small police post here, and it has really helped this area a lot.”

Among the buildings already evacuated and secured by the city are the MOTH Building and the Delvers Building.

Others, such as Wimbledon, Vannin Court, Jean Law, Ibidi Properties and the Florence Building, remain illegally occupied despite being declared unsafe and earmarked for evacuation orders.

James said the city was increasingly shifting its focus towards dismantling the criminal syndicates believed to be behind many of the hijacked buildings.

“Even redeveloped buildings are at risk of being re-hijacked if the underlying criminal networks are not dismantled,” he said.

Key statistics and recent actions

Court orders: The city has secured over 10 declaratory court orders to condemn dilapidated buildings. The city needs to demonstrate to the courts that it will provide alternative accommodation to occupants of the buildings before going back to court for an evacuation order.

Arrests and raids: Recent operations in late 2025 and early 2026 have led to scores of arrests for building hijacking, drug possession, and immigration violations. A single raid in June 2024 resulted in 113 arrests from eight buildings.

Service disconnections: The Highpoint building in Hillbrow, which owes the city R23m for services, was recently hit with level 2 disconnections as a warning to illegal occupants.

* Not their real names