Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson and eThekwini Mayor Cyrical Xama at a press briefing to reveal their plans to deal with dodgy buildings. Photo: Supplied
Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson and eThekwini mayor Cyril Xaba are forming a joint technical task team to tackle “bad buildings” in Durban.
Macpherson told journalists on Monday that he wanted to “lend support” to Xaba to rejuvenate the city.
“The key to the success of this government of national unity [GNU] and my department is to work with all spheres of government, nationally, provincially and locally, to help unlock the potential of state-owned properties to be used for public good, and to turn South Africa into a construction site,” said Macpherson.
He said KwaZulu-Natal had the potential to become a beacon of hope and he was “committed to ensuring that our public assets are used for public good in eThekwini”.
“Having met with mayor Xaba … we agreed to establish an important joint technical task team between the city and the department of public works and infrastructure to address a number of bad buildings across the city, to ensure that state-owned properties pay their rates on time and to assist in Durban’s inner city rejuvenation.”
The task team will meet on a monthly basis and report to Xaba and Macpherson every second month on its progress.
Macpherson said his department was already taking action on the abandoned and partly hijacked Excelsior Court building in Berea and the possible redevelopment of the former police barracks in the city, while work to ensure the fire safety compliance of the Durban magistrate’s court was almost complete.
“The task team will devise formal strategies and plans to expedite investment into state-owned properties and to attract additional investment into the inner city, while it will have to keep track of interventions to ensure they achieve the desired outcomes.”
This would aid Xaba’s efforts to repair and rebuild the city “to ensure that it meets the needs of the long-suffering residents of this once glorious city”, he said.
“The reality is, KZN can only work when eThekwini works. It is too big to fail and we are entirely committed to playing our part.”
Macpherson said residents had told his department that one of their biggest problems was the inconsistent supply of water, with some often going for a week or more without it.
“Without water, eThekwini will not function or survive as a destination for investment and tourism. The department, through Infrastructure South Africa, is determined to partner with the city to help in its infrastructure development in the water space so that we can solve this problem once and for all.”
Infrastructure South Africa was established in 2020 under the presidency as the single point of entry for accelerated infrastructure investment.
Macpherson said he looked forward to working with Xaba to “unlock additional infrastructure development across the entire region” to ignite economic growth, create jobs and resolve problems such as the water crisis.
Xaba said the city had agreed to work with the public works department to find “permanent solutions” to the problem buildings in Durban’s city centre.
He said the metro’s inner-city regeneration programme was already focused on tackling bad buildings, public space management and the enforcement of by-laws.
“We can’t talk about rejuvenation of the city without addressing the issue of bad buildings. In this regard, our teams have identified 76 buildings which are derelict, abandoned, hijacked and overcrowded. Of these, 58 are privately owned and 18 are government owned buildings and this is where we require the intervention of the minister.”
He said 23% of these buildings were owned by local, provincial or national government departments, and 77% by the private sector. Sixteen of the structures had been hijacked and illegally occupied.
Xaba said since commencement of the programme, 12 buildings had been refurbished by owners and seven hijacked buildings returned to owners, while another seven were undergoing repairs and 11 had been demolished.
The council had approved the display of building wraps to help property owners generate income from advertising to settle arrear rates and services bills and to fund refurbishments.
Xaba said the options available to tackle problem buildings included requesting the owners to refurbish the buildings, the city obtaining a court order to demolish the buildings on a cost recovery basis or for the buildings to be redeveloped. The courts would play a central role and eThekwini metro would request the appointment of a judge to help it deal with the issue.
Macpherson said a financial institution that specialises in urban rejuvenation had expressed interest in getting involved with the project to tackle bad buildings.
A date would soon be set for a national summit with all nine provincial MECs of public works, the ministers of justice and police, and the police to tackle ways to deal with the construction mafia.
“I get confused and frustrated when people say they are business forums, not construction mafia. These are people that walk around with AK47s. They commit violence, murder and extortion. These are not business forums, these are not community organisations. These are well armed, well-resourced intelligence driven individuals who are terrorising the state and terrorising communities,” Macpherson said.
“I am not prepared to talk to them. I am not prepared to negotiate with them because you don’t negotiate with extortionists. When you start off on that foot and with people who commit violence and murder you are on a slippery slope and this GNU is not one that will be entertaining anarchy and extortion in any way,” he said.
Macpherson welcomed the arrest of five suspects in connection with the construction mafia in the Pietermaritzburg area.
They appeared in court on Monday and were remanded in custody for further investigation, while another suspect had been arrested in the Durban Point area for intimidating construction workers on site.
“Government’s reaction and response to the mafia is being ramped …and that is an indication that the GNU will no longer tolerate, accept or negotiate with crooks and gangsters that seek to hold the state hostage or extort money from us. The only negotiation we should be having is about their length of sentences in Westville Prison,” Macpherson said.