Download PDFJohannesburg is, in many respects, the heart of South Africa. It also serves as the economic pulse of the country: here, pavement vendors seize the opportunity to sell to between 80,000 and 800,000 commuters who traverse the inner city daily. Far and Wide has estimated that around 250,000 pedestrians pass through Gandhi Square each day.
Johannesburg falls within the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality’s Region F, which is home to a substantial portion of the metro’s estimated population of 6.4 million. This region integrates residential, commercial and industrial zones. The influx of people into the metro includes many who have migrated to the city, and among them are South Africa’s most vulnerable, individuals susceptible to exploitative housing arrangements due to poverty and limited options.
In 2024, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson told reporters that approximately 338 buildings across the country were classified as “hijacked,” many of them located in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.
Recently, Johannesburg’s then-Acting Mayor, Kenny Kunene, led inspections of numerous dilapidated buildings categorised as hijacked. These properties revealed conditions unfit for human habitation, yet were densely occupied. Overcrowding places critical pressure on city infrastructure. Many of these buildings are decades old and fail to meet basic health and safety standards.
The City of Johannesburg owns a significant number of hijacked buildings. In several cases, the city bears responsibility due to the abandonment or neglect of its properties, which leads to unlawful occupation by those in dire need of housing.
Buildings hijacked by criminal syndicates often become vertical informal settlements, with makeshift shacks stacked across floors in dangerously tight arrangements. This unsafe density was evident at the Usindiso building on 80 Albert Street, which was engulfed by fire in 2023.
Unregulated and unsupervised, these buildings frequently become hotspots for criminal activity. Many residents resort to unsafe and illegal means of acquiring water and electricity.
The visible deterioration of Johannesburg’s building stock is a stark indictment of local governance. These structures speak to systemic neglect, a lack of routine maintenance, poor oversight, and limited situational awareness regarding inner-city dynamics, let alone its security challenges.
The city must take ownership and cease rotating through buildings based solely on convenience. It is imperative that the municipality properly maintains the buildings under its care and enforces compliance from private owners, compelling them to either restore their properties or relinquish them through lawful channels.
This article was submitted as part of the August edition of the Karibu! Campaign Bulletin publication and is published bi-monthly. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the author and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
