“We have to reclaim our city, keep safe and clean”

Estimated reading time: 5 minute(s)

City if Tshwane Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya has confirmed the arrest of 27 illegal immigrants in the City of Tshwane during a by-law enforcement operation not far from the Tshwane House in the CBD. Mayor Moya said the operation was in collaboration with the South African Police Services (SAPS) and Tshwane Municipal Police Department (TMPD) where several abandoned buildings were visited and inspected.

“Our mandate for this operation was to reclaim our city from lawlessness, a campaign which we are committed to enforce in the CBD.”

“We successfully inspected buildings in Madiba street, Hellen Joseph Street and Lillian Ngoyi street, some of them metres away from the Tshwane House. In addition we accelerated efforts to enforce by-laws on vendors and informal traders who run businesses on sidewalks of the streets.”

Mayor Moya also said that several other businesses were forces to close for violation of by-laws and non-compliance while 27 out of 87 immigrants who were covered and verified were found to be illegal in the country.

“The operation also focused on dilapidated buildings. We discovered a building that has been abandoned by the national Department of Public Works for a long time. Buildings such as Navy House, Fatima’s Centre and Libri Building, which are all privately owned, should be declared as unfit for human habitation. Navy House, which is demarcated as a residential building, had more than a dozen salons operating inside the seven-story structure.”

She added that some of the abandoned building were those belonging to the City, and vulnerable to hijacking.

Mayor Moya said that while they would want to keep the CBD clean and safe, they don’t want to drive informal traders out of their livelihoods and business, hence they decided to engage with the sector leaders to ensure compliance and supply assistance where necessary.