By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The death of Warrick “DJ Warras” Stock has once again brought into sharp focus the challenges faced by the City of Johannesburg to clamp down on the scourge of hijacked buildings.
Stock was fatally shot on Tuesday by three assailants who are still at large outside Carlton Center in the Johannesburg CBD.
His murder is believed to be tied to his work of recovering hijacked buildings in the CBD, which he also spoke strongly against on various social media platforms in recent months.
Johannesburg MMC for Public Safety Mgcini Tshwaku led a multi-agency raided the Zambezi Building where Warras was shot dead.
The building houses about 250 people, half of whom don’t pay rent.
Tshwaku says six people of interest have been taken in for questioning, while non-paying and illegal occupants are being removed as authorities work to stabilise the building and restore order.
Tshwaku also revealed that Stock had appeared in court on December 12, where he sought a protection order against a woman residing in Zambezi Flats — an area evidently entwined with organised threats against him.
“Stock applied for a protection order. We know that the hearing was last week on the 12th of December. So, he was granted that protection order against a certain woman at the Zambezi Flats. He also requested that there must be a raid in that room or in those rooms because there are several people and because they’ve been citing that those individuals were threatening his security, and they were threatening to burn the whole building, and they were threatening sort of to really deal with him,” Tshwaku stated.
Hijacked buildings in Johannesburg is not a new phenomenon, with roots tracing back to the post-apartheid era and the subsequent waves of urban migration.
It has contributed significantly to urban decay, transforming once-vibrant structures into dilapidated spaces characterized by a lack of maintenance and severe overcrowding, often resembling slum conditions.
The findings of the Khampepe Inquiry further corroborate this, revealing that many inspected buildings are in poor condition and often uninhabitable, lacking basic services and posing significant safety risks.
These hijacked buildings also place an immense strain on the city’s already overburdened infrastructure, including water, electricity, and sanitation systems. Illegal connections and the non-payment of services result in substantial financial losses for the municipality and further compromise the reliability of these essential utilities for the entire city.