By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Acting mayor of Johannesburg Kenny Kunene will lead interventions by the city today to regain control over several hijacked buildings that are unsafe for habitation.
Kunene, who is also the city’s Transport MMC, says this comes after he received a call regarding a highjacked Casa Mia Building in Berea on Sunday.
He says residents that are occupying the building are working individuals who earn a decent wage.
“Joshco did an assessment on this building, and they found out that some people staying in these buildings earn between R5000 and R23 000 per month.”
Kunene says the individuals that earn a decent wage must find alternative accommodation at their own cost, while the city will cater for those who cannot afford any other housing.
“We can’t find an alternative accommodation for such people they like others that are working must go and find alternative accommodation, there are a lot of buildings that are out for rentals so they must go and do their research and they must apply like everybody else.”
“For those who are not working we are going to engage the Department of Social Development to see if there are any spaces they have to accommodate them.”
He says residents living in hijacked buildings are costing the city millions of rands.
“The fact that these people have hijacked the buildings that is criminality, they have broken the law they are not supposed to be in those buildings. The city is losing hundreds of millions of rands in revenue because of these hijacked buildings, so before we can even talk about accommodation, we must talk about how they got in into those buildings.
“If those buildings collapse on them the city is going to be sued, they themselves they will be doing affidavits with lawyers and suing the city. As much as we live in a country of humanity, we also live in a country that upholds the law, that must enforce the law and must respect the law.
“The people who hijack these buildings have absolutely no respect for the law.”
Meanwhile, there has been questions around whether executive mayor Kabelo Gwamanda was qualified to be in the hot seat.
A Carte Blanche episode, which aired on Sunday, has brought Gwamanda’s qualifications into the spotlight as well as the vetting process used by his party Al Jama-ah to elevate him as a candidate for the position.
He has also been accused of allegedly running a funeral insurance scam through his investment company, iThemba Lama Afrika.
The allegations were brought to light by former Joburg mayor and Democratic Allliance (DA) councillor Mpho Phalatse.
Al Jama-ah leader Ganief Hendricks has denied the claims, saying Gwamanda was vetted by both the party and the African National Congress (ANC) before being elected.