Johannesburg’s City Power says it will return to the city centre to resume its operation of cutting off illegal electricity connections in hijacked buildings.
City Power officials accompanied by law enforcement personnel had to yesterday abandon the operation in Jeppestown due to threats and intimidation from tenants.
The power utility had targeted four buildings which it says collectively owe the City close to R20 million in unpaid electricity consumption.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena says officials were confronted by angry tenants who claim they were paying for electricity to landlords.
“We decided to abandon the operation halfway and pulled out all our teams following heightened tensions and threats by the residents of Jeppestown. We have identified several hijacked buildings that we will be raiding in the coming weeks.”
City of Joburg declares war on hijacked buildings:
Hijacked buildings
Meanwhile, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi says the newly appointed Commission of Inquiry into the Marshalltown fire tragedy has also been tasked to investigate the prevalence of hijacked buildings in the city of Johannesburg.
Lesufi briefed the media in Johannesburg on the Terms of Reference for the Commission of Inquiry in Midrand, Johannesburg.
Seventy-seven people were killed and more than 50 others injured when the derelict building caught alight last month.
The Commission of Inquiry will be chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe. Lesufi says the commission will begin its work on the first of next month.
“We have given this task to be divided into two phases. The first phase is to establish the cost of the fire, including who must held responsible. We have given the team two months. By December, they should have given us the report. The second phase is to check the prevalence of the hijacking of buildings. What caused this and other related matters? We have given the team until the end of April to submit the final report.”
Possible syndicate hijacking buildings in Joburg CBD : Nthatisi Modingoane
