Tshwane’s big plan for hijacked buildings – forced sale or expropriation
The City of Tshwane is looking to address its issues of hijacked buildings by forcing the sale of the property through the courts or by expropriation.
The city’s council approved the Tshwane Sustainable and Better Buildings Programme (TSBBP) last week, “which aims to drive inner-city regeneration by tackling derelict and illegally occupied buildings while providing affordable and well-located housing to residents and students.”
The city said that this plan has been presented as hijacked buildings “poses a direct threat to human lives,” – evident in the catastrophic fire that occurred in Johannesburg last year.
“Negligent property owners, slumlords and building-hijacking syndicates have taken advantage of people who are desperate for affordable and well-located accommodation, leading to the illegal occupation of buildings that leads to urban decay and poses a direct threat to human lives,” said Kingsley Wakelin, the MMC for Corporate and Shared Services.
The TSBBP intends to “take control” of derelict or illegally occupied buildings owned by the city.
It will then put the privately-owned buildings had been exproprated up for long-term leases for the private sector to develop accommodation. “In cases where buildings are located close to universities or colleges, this will naturally provide much needed affordable student accommodation,” said Wakelin.
Wakelin said in an interview with eNCA that government would foot the bill of city-owned properties.
Now that the programme has been passed, a committee will begin by identifying derelict, abandoned, and illegally occupied buildings in the Pretoria CBD. Once identified, they will develop a plan of action which may include forced sale, expropriation, leasing to the market, relocation of occupants, or transfer to other public entities such as universities.
Additionally, the city wants to begin developing partnerships with stakeholders, such as businesses in the CBD, universities, colleges, non-profit organizations, provincial and national government, and developers who focus on affordable and student accommodation.
Since the end of apartheid in 1994, the housing crisis in metros, like province-neighbors Johannesburg, has worsened.
This is primarily due to the migration of big businesses from the inner city to affluent suburbs in many instances. In the 1990s and 2000s, criminal syndicates took over many abandoned buildings and illegally rented them out, leading to overcrowding and dilapidation. These buildings became hubs of lawlessness, but also became the only option for people seeking better economic opportunities.
Angela Rivers, a manager at Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers’ Association, said in an interview that it costs up to R24 million to buy and revamp a hijacked building, with the overall redevelopment process typically taking at least two years – “if you are lucky”.
Read: Criminals are now hijacking and renting out South African land and buildings
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