As part of the metro’s oversight responsibility, chief whip Clr Jongizizwe Dlabathi, with exco members and members of the whippery, conducted site inspections on abandoned and hijacked buildings in Germiston on Wednesday.
“The metro already has an urban renewal programme which, according to the municipal Special Development Planning Framework, must target Germiston and Kempton Park,” Dlabathi said.
“The programme has to do with refurbishment and urbanisation of the metro. Furthermore, it’s our political call to deal with human settlement, especially building high-rise facilities.”
According to the chief whip’s office, Ekurhuleni is reportedly losing millions of Rands through illegal activities, which are emanating from illegal occupation, illegal electricity connection cables and misuse of leaking water pipes visible all over the buildings.
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“Most buildings are occupied by foreign nationals who rent them out, illegally using electricity and water as supplied by the municipality,” said Dlabathi.
The alleged illegal property owners are allegedly collecting rentals of R1 000 to R2 000 a month per tenant.
The ANC caucus further called for municipal intervention to ensure by-law enforcement and to check how the municipality can take ownership of those buildings so that it can embark on a renewal process to provide mixed-use accommodation for people to stay in a conducive environment.
“If we want to build a modern and urban metro we can’t allow such situations to continue,” said Dlabathi.
“Therefore, we are going to compile a report of what we’ve observed and make specific recommendations.
“We must deal with the buildings that are illegally occupied by foreign nationals of which some of them don’t have legal documents to be in the country.”
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It is further alleged by the caucus that these identified buildings are used to carry out other illegal activities such as the selling of drugs, alcohol and prostitution.
The buildings are dirty with rubble which no one is collecting, therefore some serious by-law enforcement will have to be applied.
“We’ll make specific recommendations and table them with our executive led by the executive mayor Clr Mzwandile Masina for intervention,” he concluded.
