Johannesburg operation exposes hijacked Ferndale property
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A multi-department City of Johannesburg operation has again flagged a hijacked property in Ferndale, where Wendy houses shelter an entire community and officials say the law leaves them with few options.
A combined high-impact service delivery operation bringing together several City of Johannesburg departments has put a hijacked property in Ferndale back in the spotlight, underscoring how hard it is to resolve illegally occupied buildings when no owner can be held accountable.
Building inspector Kithue Masu, who works for the city in Randburg, said the Ferndale property was the day's final stop and its most difficult. Properties typically reach this condition once their original owners walk away from them, he said.
The discovery at the site extended well beyond the main house. Multiple Wendy houses had been packed onto the stand, converting what was meant to be a single residential dwelling into shelter for an entire community. "They had an entire community on said property, and they changed the density zoning from a family of one to a congregation, multiple families," Masu said.
Masu said officials have limited options once a property reaches this stage, because the law offers protection to both inspectors and occupants regardless of whether the occupation itself is unlawful, and issuing notices makes little real difference on an abandoned property with no owner to answer to and no rates coming in. "So, how do you deal with a property when no one wants to take ownership? We have nowhere to house these people," he said.
City Power's revenue protection unit also took part in the operation. Electrician Sindani Mathebula said the property was not new to the team and that occupants had found a way to restore electricity after it was cut. Masu warned that once a property has been hijacked, no one can be held responsible for what happens on it, creating an opening for serious crime such as drug dens.
The Ferndale case illustrates the scale of the challenge facing the city: even co-ordinated, multi-department action carried out in a single day struggles to permanently resolve a hijacked property when there is no legal owner to hold accountable and nowhere else for residents to go.