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J.EREMIE MEGGS: The description of 'occupied buildings' is something unique to Johannesburg and my next guest writes that it is one of the most insidious and dark problems that property owners or managers face and the huge negative impact it has on the surrounding areas.

Angela Rivers, Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association [JPOMA] General Manager, with me now. First of all, how common is this particular problem? How has it evolved over the years?

ANGELA RIVERS: So right now, I estimate that there are about 200 buildings that have been occupied in the city center. Every year that number either goes up or down depending on the social situation in the economy and all that. What we've seen, I've heard a lot of talk about occupies outside of the city center, but obviously my area of expertise is the city center and the central business district.

But if you look at the overall picture of the inner city, there are about 2,000 buildings, of which 200 have been captured. So the problem is only 10%.

So I personally think that this is something that can be solved. I've been in the city center for 20 years, and I've seen different stages and different types of carjackings that happen depending on different circumstances, the economy, the culture, different types of crimes, and all these different factors.

JEREMY MAGGS: Could you explain the process by which a building is usually taken over? In other words, it is a common tactic used by syndicates.

ANGELA RIVERS: So there are three types of building takeovers. The first is when you have a situation where the tenants decide to stop paying rent, either because of circumstances or because of a tenant association or a small group of tenants. They decide as a group that they are not going to pay, and the tenants take over the building. It is really an economic situation, we see that when a lot of tenants lose their jobs, they are no longer receiving government subsidies. So it is really a situation of circumstances.

The second thing we see is buildings that are privately owned but poorly managed. There is no landlord. The building manager does not have enough education or training in how to manage the building. The building begins to deteriorate and becomes an easy target.

But the most insidious thing we see is that the syndicates actually move into the building. They intimidate the tenants. They force them to stop paying the owners and say that they are either the new owners or the new managing agents, the building is theirs now, and then they start collecting rent and pocketing the money.

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They are really, really cruel. Tenants are under a lot of threat, and because there is such a huge need for housing, it is very easy for a thief to just kick someone out and replace them immediately.

JEREMY MAGGS: What exactly do you mean by poor building management?

ANGELA RIVERS: So what we've seen over the years is that you'll have slumlords who only care about collecting rent. So they won't maintain the elevators, they won't paint the buildings, they won't clean the buildings regularly. Our JPOMA members have been landlords for 20 years, and we have a very strict code of conduct that our landlords have to adhere to in order to be members.

So things like having a well trained building manager that can interact with tenants, if they have a billing issue, they can talk to them about it. If they have a security issue, there's a place they can go and talk to the landlord or the building manager.

Read: Johannesburg's central slums are out of control

It's very complicated. You have good tenants and you have bad tenants. Good, well-paying tenants want to live in a safe environment. They want the security system to work, they want the elevators to work. They want to know that their kids can run around, be safe inside the building.

So any time you let any of those types of management fall by the wayside, you're going to have unhappy tenants. You're going to have the opportunity when a thief drives by a building, sees from the outside that it's not being looked after, it's not being maintained, the paint is peeling off the buildings, the windows are broken, and they're going to think, well, nobody's looking after this building, it's going to be easy for me to just walk in there and take it over.

JEREMY MAGGS: Why do you think law enforcement and cities (I believe it's called the “Problem Buildings Task Force”) are having difficulty effectively addressing this problem?

ANGELA RIVERS: So their argument is that it is very dangerous to go into these buildings. And yes, it is, you have a building like Casa Mia, which is a government building that was set up as temporary emergency social housing, that was taken over. Everyone is afraid to go into that building. We had several security guards shot. [while] pursuit of people who have committed robberies or thefts of mobile phones in a building.

Now, these buildings, not all of them, but most of them are havens for criminals. It's pretty dangerous to go in there.

I can understand why City Power would be wary of going into a building or Joburg Water would be wary of going into a building to turn off the water or do a meter check. But they should have the backing of SAPS [South African Police Service] and JMPD [Johannesburg Metro Police Department] to gain access to these buildings, at least to assess how dangerous they are, because they are dangerous.

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If you have a building that doesn't have running water, you're going to end up with a fire. If you have a building that has bad electrical connections, that's just food for a fire. But they have to be stronger. They have to work together. I think that's the main thing, they have to work together.

You can't handle a building that's been taken over by one department. It has to have support from every single department, from Home Affairs, SAPS, JMPD, City Power, Joburg Water, Social Development, Economic Development, they have to work together as a team and go as one force.

JEREMY MAGGS: So you told me that 200 out of 2,000 buildings is a problem that can be solved. You said it's a multi-faceted game that involves different agencies. How do you use that to ensure a quick solution?

ANGELA RIVERS: I'll give you a real example. Last year, in November, we have a building called Remington House. Remington House had been occupied for 20 years, it was a real slum. Over the last 20 years, about five or six different occupiers had occupied the building. No water, no electricity, sewage literally pouring down the steps.

The owner worked with the City of Johannesburg. They went to court, got an eviction order. The City of Johannesburg was actually on the court papers to help with the eviction. They helped with the building inspection. They went in, did an audit of everyone who lived in the building. But it took a lot of work for the private sector to get the city to participate.

Listen/read: Johannesburg's inner city development: private investors' hands tied

After we got the eviction in November, the building was empty, many of these tenants decided to move to other buildings. Some of them moved into emergency housing, which is terrible. It's tents in a field, it's not housing at all. However, this year, in November, almost a year later, 168 housing units will go on the market.

This building was rebuilt in a year. Any occupied building where the council and the private sector work together with the common goal of providing housing can be rebuilt in a year.

JEREMY MAGGS: Angela Rivers, I'll stop there. Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association, CEO, thank you for your time.

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