President Cyril Ramaphosa has suggested using the Expropriation Act to take control of hijacked buildings, such as the Usindiso Ministries for Women and Children building which caught fire and killed 77 people.
Image: Picture: Kamogelo Moichela/IOL
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Expropriation Act should be used as a tool to expropriate hijacked buildings, “even without compensation” in Johannesburg to turn them into proper housing units.
Ramaphosa signed the Act in January. The Bill, which has undergone a five-year process of public consultation and parliamentary deliberation, aligns legislation on expropriation with the Constitution.
The Act allows the state to acquire someone’s property for a public purpose or in the public interest, subject to just and equitable compensation being paid.
“The buildings should be taken and be turned into living accommodation,” he said.
Ramaphosa was addressing the gathering at the Johannesburg City Council meeting on Friday.
This is as the cabinet is meeting with Gauteng government leaders to discuss ways to improve service delivery issues in the province, particularly in the city.
Ramaphosa used his visit to lash out at the city leaders for the dire state of Johannesburg.
He said he was not happy with how filthy and torn Johannesburg was, however, he said they would bring in more forces to fight lawlessness.
“To be direct and tell it how it is, I should say one or two G20 meetings that I attended here were not very pleasing. The environment that one observed was not a pleasing environment,” he said.
The efforts come after Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero requested reinforcements in his attempt to rescue the city’s decline and revitalise areas.
But Morero made a promise to Ramaphosa to clean up the city and make sure that people lived in a good environment.
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