Overview
- Johannesburg’s public safety MMC led a December 23 raid on a Troye Street building where officials found an unauthorised, unhygienic abattoir that poses a health risk.
- Authorities say rooms in the building are used to cook and distribute drugs, and they link turf battles over hijacked properties to multiple deaths.
- Mgcini Tshwaku proposed engaging long-term residents to assess who can pay municipal rates and to clean and renovate the property rather than pursue immediate mass evictions.
- ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba condemned the approach as negotiating with criminals, urging a hard law-enforcement-led reclamation and asserting that many buildings are uninhabitable and occupied by undocumented foreigners.
- The City says raids with the Red Ants and JMPD will continue in the coming weeks, with Tshwaku arguing that overworked, under-resourced Home Affairs staff hinder identification and verification efforts.