SOCA: New Ekurhuleni mayor vows to reclaim hijacked buildings, fight GBVF

The City of Ekurhuleni is expected to embark on a campaign to reclaim hijacked buildings in different parts of the municipality, says the newly elected mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza in his maiden State of the City Address (SACA) on Tuesday.

 Clean-up operations in the CBDs

Xhakaza said the city would enforce a joint operations programme with law enforcement agencies to reclaim the buildings which belong to the municipality.

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“Just here in Germiston we are faced with a huge challenge of hijacked buildings. Mainly around the Dumisani Masilela Theatre, an area which has become foreign in our own space,” Xhakaza said.

Xhakaza said the municipality would reclaim the hijacked buildings and repurpose them.

“A serious clean-up campaign of our CBDs is not negotiable, and the chief of police and his team have received a briefing and we expect immediate action,” he said.

Xhakaza said he believed that most of the criminals behind the hijacking of buildings in the CBDs around Ekurhuleni were undocumented foreign nationals.

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He said there would be a concerted effort to fight crime in the CBDs including the sale of drugs, pickpocketing and human trafficking.

“These operations must be carried out by a multi-disciplinary by-law enforcement team which will also include the Saps and Home Affairs, as we believe that many of the people behind this may be undocumented foreign nationals,” he said.

The City of Ekurhuleni is not the only Gauteng municipality battling with the issue of hijacked buildings, with Johannesburg and Pretoria experiencing the same problem.

GBV and Femicide

Xhakaza said the city would also work hard to ensure the safety of women and children in the communities.

He said gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) remain a social concern but said the municipality would prioritise the safety of vulnerable people.

“We recognise that GBVF is part of our social construct and therefore we believe that we can eliminate this pandemic if we work with both survivors and perpetrators,” he said.