A violent turf war over the control of rental income from hijacked buildings in Johannesburg’s inner city is escalating, putting countless lives at risk and revealing a crisis that authorities are struggling to contain. This is according to the Johannesburg MMC for Public Safety, Mgcini Tshwaku, who led a multi-agency inspection this week at one of the most notoriously dangerous hijacked buildings in Marshalltown.
The inspection laid bare the grim reality of a ruthless parallel economy. Inside the building, numerous shacks have been constructed, with tenants paying approximately R1,500 per month to syndicates that control the property. Tshwaku confirmed that the legal owner had approached the city for help after receiving several assassination threats and had “simply failed to comply” with regulations.
“Six months later, the status quo remains,” a reporter noted from the scene, highlighting the city’s struggle to enforce change. The building is riddled with hazards, including massive water wastage and illegal taps into city hydrants. “These are the things that we’re always experiencing every single time,” Tshwaku said, acknowledging the work of Job Water’s leakage unit, led by a manager named Jack, in identifying such issues.
Despite the dire conditions—described as featuring “severe health risk to overall safety hazards”—some residents say they have no alternative. One man claimed to have lived in the Marshalltown building since 2010. Another, a mattress seller, faced criticism for bringing his young daughter into the environment. He defended his choice, stating he had no one else to trust with her care, adding, “It’s a big risk to me to just give anyone my daughter.”
MMC Tshwaku stated that while occupants would not be forcibly removed, the illegally erected shacks, which pose a severe fire and safety risk, would be demolished soon. He framed the issue as a “lucrative economic battlefield, one that is claiming life after life,” leaving families of victims wondering about justice.
The human cost was underscored by the recent assassination of DJ Wars, killed earlier this week. Tshwaku revealed that the Marshalltown building itself has been a site of repeated violence. “Four groups have been… three groups have been killed,” he explained. “The group that was collecting [rent], the first group was killed, the second has been killed, and the third one… the fourth one is the one that is actually operating.”
The official directly linked the resurgence in violence to these syndicates fighting over rental income. “We thought that would let us elevate it even more because we found that the fighting over the rentals is actually becoming, is starting to escalate again,” Tshwaku said, referencing past efforts that had made “some inroads” in disrupting the turf wars.
The scale of the problem is vast, with over 500 buildings across the Johannesburg CBD estimated to be under the control of property hijacking syndicates. To date, authorities admit that very little has been done to effectively tackle the systemic crisis. The city’s current strategy involves intensified inspections and raids, but as the unchanged scene in Marshalltown after six months shows, the path to reclaiming the inner city remains fraught with extreme danger and deep complexity.