People evicted from hijacked buildings in Tshwane can apply for indigent programme
As part of operation 'Reclaim Our City'- city officials evicted residents from buildings that it owns in Pretoria West.
Reclaim Our City is focused on addressing bylaw violations, regulation compliance and cleaning up the city.
READ: Tshwane loses 34% of its water, 22% of power supply through illegal connections at hijacked buildings - Modise
On Thursday, Mayor Nasiphi Moya and other officials visited the buildings in the area to finalise their plans of cleaning up the empty structures and begin demolition.
MMC responsible for road and transport, Tlangi Mogale said the programme is also open to other homeless people in Tshwane.
"We also have homes and NGOs in partnerships, and we have signed MOUs with the city of Tshwane, where they actually have to house these homeless people, and they do get a subsidy to help the indigent people."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Citizen
11 hours ago
- The Citizen
West remains crucial to urban renewal, says metro
According to MMC of Corporate Shared Services Kholofelo Morodi, the metro's broader urban renewal strategy will cover Pretoria West. This follows the evictions of illegal occupants during a targeted operation led by Morodi, who is also the metro's bad buildings committee chairperson. Eviction notices were recently issued to illegal tenants of buildings in the area that belong to the metro. Mayor, Dr Nasiphi Moya, had said that the city is owed over R26-million through the leasing of its 12 properties, with 35 stands. Businesses operating illegally were given a notice that expired on July 12, and on July 15, officials were back to ensure all occupants vacated these properties. 'The city-owned precinct had been unlawfully occupied by individuals without valid lease agreements or documentation. In addition to structural neglect and non-payment for services, authorities uncovered a network of illegal electricity connections, posing severe fire hazards and threatening to overload the grid, with implications for citywide energy stability and public safety,' Morodi said. She added that the operation formed part of the bad building committee's mandate to systematically reclaim and reintegrate hijacked, misused and unsafe assets into formal urban development frameworks. The operation was carried out through co-ordination across key departments, including Group Property Management, Group Legal, the city manager's office and the TMPD, among others. Officials received resistance from a group of Nigerian men operating a scrap yard without valid leases. After refusing to move, TMPD impounded all their vehicles. The warehouse was cleared of over 10 illegally erected shacks on top of the business operation without permits. 'The Pretoria West precinct is one of many strategic properties the city will be securing and restoring to operational dignity. These buildings are not just abandoned; they are being repositioned to fuel inclusive growth, job creation, and spatial justice ahead of the Tshwane Investment Summit in September,' Morodi said. The urban renewal strategy is aiming to activate neglected urban spaces, safeguard municipal assets and prepare site-ready zones for catalytic development. 'The city will continue to intensify multi-sectoral operation across all seven regions, reclaiming infrastructure that has been hijacked, repurposed or left to deteriorate and repurposing it,' Morodi said. Residents are encouraged to report illegal electricity use to the city's fraud hotline or email [email protected]. Watch here: City of Tshwane successfully reclaims hijacked City properties in Pretoria West. @CityTshwane — Dr Nasiphi Moya (@nasiphim) July 17, 2025 Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to [email protected] or phone us on 083 625 4114. For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord's websites: Rekord East For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
The Citizen
16-07-2025
- The Citizen
Metro evicts illegal West businesses
The metro recently removed illegal tenants from a Pretoria West building, following eviction notices served last week. Mayor, dr Nasiphi Moya, says the city is owed over R26-million through its leasing of 12 properties with 35 stands. The businesses, which were operating illegally, were given a notice that expired on July 12, and on July 15, the officials returned to make sure that all occupants had vacated those properties. The mayor said, 'We closed this shop only to find out these people have been operating in the background. So, we have taken their cars, we are towing them, and they can go collect them from the pound. 'We are clearing this warehouse here. This Nigerian guy has been sending us from pillar to post, and we just want to clean this up. These people are so disrespectful. 'We've been giving them notice after notice, and even today, they were hoping we wouldn't be able to see that they were still operating on this property. 'This is the level of lawlessness that we must clean up so you can have your city back.' She says officials were met with resistance from a group of Nigerian men who were operating a scrap yard without valid leases with the city. After they refused to move, TMPD impounded all their vehicles. Moya says they were hoping officials wouldn't be back to reclaim the city property. The warehouse was cleared of over 10 illegally erected shacks, in addition to the businesses operating without permits. Moya says the effort is part of a broader plan to turn Pretoria West into a manufacturing hub for the city. 'When we say that we want to have Pretoria West become a manufacturing hub, this is what we mean. This is just one property, as you can see how big it is. 'It's been used by these people all these years; we have not been collecting leases, we have not been collecting money for the electricity or water, and our people have not been using it. 'We are reclaiming this city for you,' Moya said. MMC for Community Safety, Hannes Coetzee, says these types of operations can be expected across all seven regions. 'People ask what's happening. By-law enforcement at a high level. We're taking our city back. We cannot afford any longer for this lawlessness to continue. 'We need to restore this city, ensure the safety of our residents in all seven regions and restore Tshwane as a city of excellence,' Coetzee said. Watch here: Last week, there were over 10 shacks in this hijacked building. We've cleared this building of illegal occupants and the shacks that littered this spaces. We want to make use of the buildings we've reclaimed for social housing and business development. @CityTshwane — Dr Nasiphi Moya (@nasiphim) July 15, 2025 Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to [email protected] or phone us on 083 625 4114. For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord's websites: Rekord East For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
IOL News
08-07-2025
- IOL News
Reclaiming Pretoria West: Tshwane's fight against lawlessness
Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya spearheads a crackdown in Pretoria West, shutting down foreign-owned businesses for bylaw non-compliance. Image: Supplied/ City of Tshwane In a bid to reclaim the city from lawlessness, Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya and the city's metro police led an anti-crime operation in Pretoria West, resulting in the closure of several foreign-owned businesses for non-compliance with by-laws. The operation, part of the Reclaim Our City campaign, was sparked by concerns raised by ward 3 councillor Malesela Rakabe about the prevalence of lawlessness in the area. According to Moya, the team took action against City of Tshwane residential properties that had been hijacked, with all of them reportedly occupied by foreign nationals. 'Every utility is illegally connected from water to electricity. The houses have been illegally extended to accommodate a tuck shop, laundry facility and an egg business,' she said. The closure of an egg depot and laundry business for non-compliance sparked discontent among a group of immigrants, who gathered to express their grievances over the shutdown. Moya said the City issued bylaw contravention notices for the two properties, and a nearby scrap yard dealership had previously been fined for constructing a wall that exceeded height limits without municipal approval. 'The people we had seen building inside ran away, from a second exit, while we asked for the gates to be opened. The yard extends onto two properties,' she said. The owners of a scrap yard for car parts in the area were found to be in violation of the law for constructing a structure without obtaining approval from the city. Moya condemned the properties in Pretoria West, saying that they exemplify the lawlessness prevalent in the city. 'The landlord of these buildings has been stealing our water and electricity for years. We have disconnected all the illegal connections. The tenants are billed monthly for water and electricity, but those funds are not paid to the city. The same landlord owns an unsafe apartment block that was built without City approval. We have received a court judgment to demolish that apartment block,' she said. The operation also revealed a property containing over 20 shacks, where tenants were paying between R1,500 and R2,000 per room. [email protected]
