Late last year, Eyewitness News reported about the bad state of a particular building in the city centre of Durban that became a dumping site and had raw sewage spilling into the lifts.
Dry yellow wreaths, a barbed wire fence and a laminated paper with the words “In memory of the 77 men, women and children who lost their lives here on 31 August 2023” lay outside the fire-ravaged Usindiso building in Johannesburg.
The police s deputy national commissioner for crime detection, Shadrack Sibiya, said Crime Intelligence was working behind the scenes to provide data on syndicates involved in the hijacking of buildings.
The City of Johannesburg’s probe into hijacked buildings within the CBD has led investigators to rogue lawyers who are alleged to have gone into the Deeds Office to irregularly change the owners details, revoking their ownership.