By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minister of Justice Mamoloko Kubayi announced a sweeping, multidisciplinary national strategy to reclaim thousands of hijacked buildings across South Africa’s major metropolitan areas.
Kubayi was briefing the media on Tuesday as head of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on migration management on progress made by the committee in implementing the government’s five-point plan on migration management.
She revealed between April and July 2026, border authorities intercepted more than 4 200 undocumented foreign nationals trying to cross into South Africa outside formal ports of entry, primarily along the northern corridor bordering Zimbabwe, followed by Lesotho and Mozambique.
The crackdown has triggered a massive spike in expulsions.
Between June 14 and August 20, a staggering 86 596 foreign nationals were processed for deportation and repatriation.
She outlined the committee’s operational plan to deal with hijacked and abandoned buildings.
She said the buildings were, in many cases, illegally occupied and used for criminal activities including human trafficking, drug dealing, illicit goods trading and general substance abuse.
The IMC considered a consolidated report on managing bad and hijacked buildings across the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities.
The report drew on submissions from Johannesburg, Tshwane, eThekwini, Ekurhuleni, Nelson Mandela Bay, Mangaung and Buffalo City, together with published information from the City of Cape Town.
“The report finds that every metropolitan municipality already has the by-laws, structures and enforcement processes needed to identify and act against a bad or hijacked building, and that none has asked us as the IMC for new powers.”
While the report confirmed that metros already possess the requisite by-laws and enforcement structures to act, a severe legal and financial bottleneck has paralysed executions.
Under Constitutional Court rulings, municipalities cannot lawfully evict illegal occupants without providing funded temporary emergency accommodation, a resource most metros lack.
The minister said that the work on hijacked buildings was ultimately about restoring the country’s inner-city environments while disrupting criminal networks operating from properties that have become centres of illegal activity.
Kubayi also announced that the IMC has finalised a consolidated blueprint to address the “menacing challenge” of bad and illegally occupied structures, which have rapidly turned into inner-city havens for dangerous crime syndicates, human trafficking and drug distribution networks.