Inside South Africa's hijacked-building crisis: crime, desperation and a state struggling to reclaim its own

For years, hijacked and illegally occupied buildings have remained a stark symbol of South Africa's housing crisis, urban decay and weak enforcement, a problem stretching across major cities and provinces. From Cape Town to Johannesburg and eThekwini, buildings intended for residential or commercial use have been unlawfully occupied, with vulnerable residents sometimes paying rent to individuals who have no legal right to collect it.

Behind the illegal occupation lies a deeper crisis: many residents have nowhere else to go, while overcrowding, illegal electricity connections, poor sanitation, unsafe structures and neglected infrastructure create serious risks. Authorities also warn that some buildings have become vulnerable to drug trafficking, organised crime and exploitation.

The 2023 Usindiso Building fire in Johannesburg, which claimed 76 lives, exposed the devastating consequences of these conditions and forced renewed national scrutiny of hijacked buildings. On August 27, Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure heard that 1,285 potential property recoveries had been identified under Operation Bring Back, a programme aimed at recovering state properties that have been illegally occupied or unlawfully transferred, but only 20 properties had successfully been returned to the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.

Four service providers had been appointed at a combined cost of R237 million to identify, audit, analyse, evict occupants from and recover illegally occupied properties. The committee expressed concern about the pace of recoveries and warned that disputes over payments to service providers could threaten the programme, which has been operating for approximately 10 years.

Western Cape Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Anroux Marais said poorly managed or illegally occupied properties could become vulnerable to organised criminal activity. "There are also concerns around extortion, drug-related activity, and other forms of criminality that can take root where there is limited control of a property," she said, while acknowledging that enforcement was complicated by ownership disputes, legal processes and the need to protect vulnerable occupants.

Activists argue against treating every occupied building as a criminal enterprise. Yusrah Bardien of Ndifuna Ukwazi distinguished buildings controlled by criminal syndicates from organised occupations such as Cissie Gool House, Ahmed Kathrada House and Irene Grootboom House, which she said are governed by leadership structures and internal committees. She pointed to a housing backlog affecting approximately 365,000 households in Cape Town and argued governments should shift from reactive evictions to proactive urban reform, including upgrading some occupied buildings into compliant affordable housing.

In KwaZulu-Natal, eThekwini Municipality described hijacked buildings as one of the most complex public safety and governance challenges facing the city. Municipal spokesperson Senzelwe Mzila said national legislation, notably the PIE Act governing evictions and the Heritage Act, protects legitimate rights but in practice slows enforcement considerably, with untraceable owners and buildings tied up in deceased estates creating further delays. Gauteng's Portfolio Committee on Community Safety chairperson Dr Bandile Masuku called for a coordinated response involving municipalities, law enforcement, emergency services and provincial and national departments, including a comprehensive database of hijacked buildings and efforts to disrupt criminal networks.