Johannesburg’s city council was helpless when it came to so-called building hijackings and all it could do was offer advice, a city spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Inner City Task Force spokesperson Roopa Singh, reacting to a comment by police that building hijackings had to be sorted out by municipalities, said it was up to the owners to report the illegal occupation of their properties to the police.
”The city provides guidance — like who to consult and how to go about getting a court order. We are not allowed to take people out of a building,” she said.
Meanwhile, the police said on Monday that they were following ”every possible lead” to ensure the arrest of alleged assassins of two Hillbrow building managers last week.
Charles Joubert and Sipho Kunene, employed by Connaught Properties, were shot in the back of their heads numerous times as they got into their car at Park Mews, Esselen Street after a meeting about the recent building hijackings.
It is thought that the men were assassinated by building hijackers.
The assassinations come as the Johannesburg city council is trying to refurbish the inner city.
The council is offering tax incentives to those who invest, renovate and develop buildings in the inner city.
Some building owners have said that this could take years and cost hundreds of thousands of rands, with many owners losing out on rental money and being left with huge water and electricity bills.
In many cases utilities refuse to disconnect water and electricity and the criminals collect money for these from the tenants. The landlord is left to pay the bills.
Singh said the Johannesburg city council became aware of two building hijackings in April.
”In a matter of a week the city helped the owners to regain control of their buildings,” she said. ”We gave them advice.”
She said the council was aware of the alleged assassinations.
”We did become aware of the assassinations. The police are investigating. If someone suspects that their building has been hijacked the first step they should take is contact the police.
”The process is pretty much legal from there. The person who owns the building has to follow the process.”
Singh said buildings could only be evicted if there was an order to do so from the High Court. It was up to the sheriff to enforce the court order.
She said it was difficult to tell how prevalent building hijackings were.
”There is a difference between hijackings and building invasions,” she said.
”Sometimes we get reports of an invaded building, which the owner has not been looking after. This is another challenge. The task force go there and tell the people that there are problems with health, sewerage and that it is a fire hazard. All that happens is that the people turn around and say that the building has been hijacked. One needs to investigate these claims.”
Sergeant Sanku Tsunke said on Monday that the police could not be blamed for the hijackings because they were not responsible for the buildings.
He said building hijackings need to be reported to the municipality as it was its responsibility.
A police statement on Tuesday said that disputes and landlords had been an ongoing problem.
”Remedies relating to these disputes are dealt with under the law of delict, including eviction orders being obtained from the courts,” the statement said.
”Criminal conduct on the part of any party, ie. intimidations, are reported to and investigated by the police.” – Sapa