The BG Alexandra Nursing College building in Hillbrow

RELATED LINKS: Evictions in inner city OCCUPANTS have been evicted from yet another dilapidated city office block that is being used illegally as residential accommodation. Read more Seven properties get Better Buildings treatment NINE buildings have been earmarked, with seven already undergoing renovation, as part of the Johannesburg Property Company's Better Buildings Programme to regenerate the inner city. Read more Better Buildings - new push for inner city revival THE City's Better Buildings Programme - read fixing up its slums - is fast moving into gear. Driven by the Johannesburg Property Company, new strategies are being adopted to bypass the many hurdles that have stymied previous attempts to reverse inner city decline. Read more Drama as police swoop on inner city buildings DRAMA unfolded in Hillbrow and Berea on Thursday as security forces swooped on derelict inner city buildings suspected of housing criminals and illegal immigrants. Read more Tenants quit flats where 'owner needs police escort' PIONEER PLACE is the name of an eight-storey building in Berea, Johannesburg, which has been in such a bad state that its owner needed a police escort every time he wanted to visit the place. Read more

Inside the dilapidated building

Evicted tenants move in next door HILLBROW residents were out offering rooms to rent as their neighbours were being evicted from an unsafe building. September 21, 2005 By Rose Setshoge AS 300 people were evicted from the BG Alexandra Nursing College building in Hillbrow on Tuesday, 20 September, neighbours with empty flats took the opportunity to recruit new tenants. "We are looking for two people to share a room," said one woman, and two people immediately took up her offer. Roopa Singh, the communications officer for Region 8, said the occupants of the dilapidated BG Alexandra building - owned by the Gauteng department of public transport, roads and works - were evicted following a High Court order and notification by the sheriff. The building had illegal electricity connections, inadequate fire fighting equipment and broken water pipes. The sewerage system had also collapsed, resulting in sewerage flowing into the streets. According to the provincial department's director of assets management, Oscar Phoku, the building was left empty in 2001 as Hillbrow deteriorated. It was then illegally occupied in 2002. Singh said the Gauteng government had obtained the High Court order in August last year and the sheriff of the court had notified the residents by letter shortly thereafter. Some residents had moved out after this. However, on Tuesday some of the people being evicted said they had not been told of the removal. "This comes as a surprise to us," said Connie Fona, "otherwise we would have left a long time ago." About 100 officers from the South African Police Service (SAPS) and 500 Red Ants carried out the eviction. Furniture and other belongings were taken from the building and left on the pavement. SAPS officers and staff from the Department of Home Affairs checked people's identity documents, and an Automatic Fingerprint Identification System was also used to identify residents. "We discovered 126 illegal immigrants, 10 wanted criminals, two illegal firearms and one toy gun during the eviction," said Inspector Kriban Naidoo, the Hillbrow police spokesperson. Guards have been placed at the building to stop people reoccupying it. Gauteng and the City of Johannesburg were investigating a long-term plan for the renovation of the building, Singh said. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za