Skirmish in suburbs over old hospital
Owner of Marymount landmark runs up R6m security bill as tenants dig in heels
● Armoured vehicles and dozens of armed guards have been deployed by a top Johannesburg property developer in a pricey bid to keep hijackers out of the former Marymount maternity hospital on Kensington Ridge.
The developer, who says he is living in fear for his safety, has spent R6m on securing the historic site since March last year — half of it since last month alone.
“We are spending R200,000 a day to keep our property safe and intact. Since December we have spent R3m on security,” the developer told the Sunday Times this week.
Following the latest eviction of illegal occupiers last week, the 24,000m2 property, which is earmarked for development of 260 affordable housing units, is being guarded by 22 security guards — some of them armed — and two armoured vehicles. Just 30m away, a group of about 180 people who were evicted from the building have set up camp in defiance of a court order that says they cannot come within 250m of the property.
“I have been a property developer for over 30 years in this city and we have now reached the stage where it is becoming almost impossible to do business,” the developer, who did not want to be named, told the Sunday Times. “I can’t let you identify me. I have a family and these people are not scared of using violence. The last thing I want is for my family to be targeted.
“It breaks my heart to see a special property like the historic Marymount hospital being vandalised in this way. Just walking around on the site you feel on edge. The people we evicted are ignoring the interdict that said they are not allowed within 250m from the property. If they can ignore the courts, how must we feel safe when we are on the site?”
He said he had bought the building a few years ago to convert it to 260 affordable housing units.
Marymount maternity hospital, run by Dominican nuns, was opened in November 1949 and the adjacent Convent of St Anne was opened in 1955. The hospital closed in 1997 and since then the building’s history has included about 15 years as an old-age home.
The property is situated in Albemarle Street, between Roberts Avenue and Bezuidenhout Street, on the border between Kensington and Fairview in Johannesburg.
The developer said there had been some delays with rezoning and during this time legitimate tenants lived in the building.
“There were soon far more people living in the building than people paying rent, and in about March last year some sort of shadowy figures took control,” he said.
“A person was murdered during the first night of the hijacking of the building in March. We understand the alleged murderer fled on foot and left his car behind. The car was burnt and the wreck is still standing on our property.”
He said his company won an eviction order but it took nine months for it to be implemented.
The court order, which the Sunday Times has seen, orders the respondents not to:
● Interfere with the applicant’s buildings, employees, or any other officials at the property;
● Damage, threaten, intimidate, impede or assault any such facility or person; ● Take occupation and/or install occupiers to the units at the property; and
● Approach within 250m of the boundaries of the property.
But the eviction was not the end of the problems. “We lost control of the building two more times until the police finally intervened and arrested 28 people last Thursday,” the developer said.
The altercations were often violent. “Invaders broke down a section of brick wall next to the main entrance and attacked our security with the loose bricks. The guards had to use rubber bullets to repel them,” the developer said.
Last Friday events turned violent again. “We had to deploy 50 security guards and two armoured vehicles to keep the hijackers out. Since then they have ignored the interdict and have stayed about 30m from our gates. Someone drove past the place where our security guards are staying and fired shots at the building.”
Currently the developer has 22 guards on the property. “Ten of them are armed and two are the drivers of the armoured vehicles.”
In December, some of the evicted residents obtained their own court order saying that eight of them could return to the building, if they could provide proof of identity.
“Six could provide ID. The other two claimed their documents were lost in the eviction,” the developer said.
The Sunday Times spoke to some of the evicted people gathered in the streets outside.
“We are not hijackers or criminals,” said Sharmone King, 20. “We tried to engage with the owners in 2021 already when our power was cut by the city. We were paying rent to the owner’s caretaker.”
She said the rents varied depending on the size of the rooms. “Some were paying R1,200, others R1,500 and the most expensive was R2,000.”
King said the former residents had presented the property owners with a list of people who had been legitimate tenants before the evictions.
“Most of these people lost everything in the eviction. Their IDs, the birth certificates of their kids, everything,” King said.
City of Johannesburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said the city had been involved in the latest eviction operation.
“The owner approached the SAPS and opened a case. The SAPS reached out to GFIS [Group Forensics & Investigation Services] and JMPD [Johannesburg Metro Police] for manpower. On January 11 a joint operation was undertaken and 28 suspects were arrested for trespassing and contempt of court. These include 11 males and 17 females,” Modingoane said.
The JMPD and SAPS did not respond to requests for comment.