'We're fine with life in hijacked building'

Residents living in ‘hijacked’ buildings in the Joburg CBD say they are grateful that they don’t pay rent, as they have little money to even think about rent and services that many other people have to pay. 

*Mirriam, an undocumented Zimbabwean national who has been living in SA for the past five years said they couldn’t really complain as living in hijacked building was better than what others have to contend with.

“At least we don’t pay rent or are forced to pay for certain services like others. We stick to the small homes we have and make money where we can.” 

The resident revealed this on Wednesday when members of the Commission of Inquiry into the Usindiso building, in which 76 people died in a blaze, did a formal inspection on hijacked buildings in the CBD which are considered dangerous.

The commission’s mandate is to investigate fire hazards and basic services at hijacked buildings and focus on preventing similar incidents like the Usindiso fire in the future.

With members of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute [SERI] in tow, the commissioners entered the buildings looking at the fire hazards in, whether or not the buildings have water, electricity and waste removal services.

According to one of the commissioners, the inspection was being done to understand the living conditions of the people in those buildings. Once information has been collected, it would be compiled into a report that will be handed to the presiding officer then handed over to the city for recommendations.

For two years Kiki Kwimdim, a Zimbabwe national, has been living rent-free at Industry House, a hijacked building in the Joburg CBD. The building has no electricity and water supplies, and living spaces are partitioned by curtains and cardboard boxes to create little “apartments” for residents

“When I came here my boyfriend fetched me from Park Station and I started living here with him. We don’t pay any sort of rent, and everyone just mind their own business. There’s no electricity and we get water with buckets at the tap right in front of the building,” said Kwimdim.

She said conditions in the building weren’t the best but where they were was better than others.

“We keep the place clean; we don’t let it get bad as the other buildings I’ve been in. There’s not a big concern about the building catching fire because there’s ventilation from the top rooms to bottom. We didn’t completely close it off so that air can come in,” said Kwimdim who survives by doing odd jobs.

“It’s quite safe. I would leave and go somewhere, sometimes even forgetting to lock my room and just go downstairs, but no one would steal anything or try to do something. Everyone just minds their own business here,” said Kwimdim. Mirriam used to work as a domestic worker in Pretoria for an Ethiopian family.

However, the family closed up their business in Marabastad and went back to Ethiopia after the husband died in 2022.

“I didn’t really know what to do next from there, but I had a friend who lived here and she said I could come and stay here until I find something,” she said. 

These inspections followed months after public safety MMC Mgcini Tshwaku told Sowetan that the city was struggling to find alternative accommodation to remove residents from hijacked buildings. 

This was after Tshwaku had conducted an inspection visit to most hijacked buildings in Hillbrow in a task similar to the commission, to assess the living conditions of those living in such buildings. 

Mozambican national Joseph Fumo lives in the same building as Mirriam and Kwimdim.

However, Fumo has been there for 30 years.

“I have never paid rent and I won’t start paying rent. I have been here for a long time and the owner of this workshop never made me pay rent, especially considering I was living here with my whole family.” 

He said they live in the back of a workshop and use the borehole there for water. 

“The shops around the corner allow us to use their toilets when we need to, and we get electricity from the neighboring buildings. During the day, I just fix and spray cars. The fumes used to be too much for my children, and they eventually left to live in another place, but I won’t move. My children are old now, and as they continue to grow, I will continue to live here because no one will tell me otherwise,” said Fumo. 

The commission is set to continue its inspections in the coming days, visiting other hijacked buildings in the CBD before compiling a report.