Municipality must demolish decaying buildings to prevent crime, says minister
POLICE Minister Fikile Mbalula has instructed the ethekwini Municipality to demolish all decaying buildings that are being used to perpetuate crime around the city.
In an effort to combat crime, Mbalula, with the national police commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, descended on Durban for the Police Service Excellence Awards and Police Day last weekend.
They embarked on the multi-unit search operation which led to the arrest of eight people including a 19-year-old-woman in Phoenix who was found with drugs worth R10 000 and an illegal firearm.
Mbalula and his team then proceeded to the Mahatma Gandhi (Point) Road precinct, where police raided a dilapidated building and arrested five people in possession of drugs.
Mbalula told vagrants and illegal immigrants who occupied the building that they were going to shut down all dilapidated buildings because they were being used as drug dens.
He said his request was in line with municipality by-laws, which, he emphasised, must be enforced. “We cannot repeat one and the same thing all the time and if you don’t find the owner, bring it down. Make this place habitable, let people have fun here,” he told city building inspector Roland Mahabeer.
Mbalula said the issue of abandoned buildings was a common problem in many cities across the country and it was contributing to perpetuating crime and drug dealings. “The by-laws should be enforced in order to avoid such a situation. People around this place are living in fear because of these buildings.
“We are going to monitor the situation and I insist that the metro police demolish all these buildings,” he said.
The issue of the dilapidated buildings has been a festering sore that has affected many communities across Durban.
Residents have blamed the municipality for failing to address these issues. As a result, the city introduced the problem building by-law in 2015 which was aimed at taking legal action against the owners who failed to maintain their properties.
But residents believe that little has been done by the City to curb the scourge of problem buildings. Responding to Mbalula’s request, Mahabeer said there were many challenges in demolishing decaying buildings.
“We have tried our best to close down all the buildings, but due to the legislation, it has been a slow process.
“In some cases, the owners have died, which makes it difficult for the municipality to curate those buildings,” Mahabeer said.
Sitole said they would form a legal team with the metro police, provincial government and his department to fasttrack the processes. “Closing down the building should be an interim solution because the criminals will make their way through. It must be taken down if there is no one looking after it,” he said.
The legal processes needed an expert because the decaying buildings were affecting a lot of people.
“The municipality is applying its own legislation processes, but there is other legislation that could be applied to empower the processes of demolishing old buildings,” Sitole said.