Problem buildings list ‘kept secret’

THE CITY appears to be holding tightly onto its list of problem buildings, some of which are believed to be municipal-owned.

The DA is waiting for a list of 95 it believes should have been closed in the past 15 months when the problem buildings by-law came into effect. “The only way to get the information is to put a request on the council agenda,” said DA councillor Marlaine Nair.

Her hopes of getting the list this week were dashed when her party boycotted the full council meeting with the EFF and the IFP over the ANC breaching its own rules to allow councillors to attend the ruling party’s policy conference this weekend.

A request by The Independent on Saturday led to naught.

However, eThekwini Municipality said this week it raided “more than 10” abandoned and derelict buildings in the Durban CBD that have become a breeding ground for criminals.

Inner City eThekwini Regeneration and Urban Management Programme (iTrump) senior manager Hoosen Moolla said 90 buildings were being profiled.

“To date we have closed more than 20 across the city.”

Moolla said closing a building was not easy because it involved acting within the confines of the law and respecting the occupants’ human rights.

“We cannot just swoop on a building and evict people without warning.”

In the raid, illegal immigrants were arrested, landlords fined and illegal businesses closed.

The city said Wednesday’s raid was a “problem buildings by-law enforcement blitz”.

Questions

Nair said answers to the DA’s questions relating to the problem buildings by-law at a recent sitting of the eThekwini full council, revealed that 95 buildings across the city were being dealt with.

“However, since the by-law had not been properly implemented, zero buildings have been declared as problems.

“In the past financial year only three have been successfully rehabilitated.

“No applications for evictions were made and no owners were convicted of offences in relation to the problem buildings by-law.”

Iqbal Mohammed, chairperson of the tenants advocacy group Organisation of Civic Rights, said he supported the rehabilitation of buildings but people would have to be provided with alternative accommodation, which is a constitutional requirement.