Crackdowns on Joburg City buildings meant to restore dignity

More than a dozen illegal immigrants have been arrested following a crackdown operation by the City of Johannesburg in Randburg led by the Acting Executive Mayor Kenny Kunene.

The operation is part of the City’s high impact service delivery programme to restore Johannesburg’s functionality while ensuring long-term sustainability.

The Acting Mayor says the crackdowns are focused on illegally occupied buildings across the greater metropolitan area as well as illegal electricity connections.

[TODAY]
High Impact Service Delivery

The Acting Executive Mayor of @CityofJoburgZA, Cllr. @Kenny_T_Kunene, along with various entities, carried out #OPERATIONKUNAKISA today. During the operation, 7 buildings were raided and @CityPowerJhb disconnected their electricity supply. pic.twitter.com/ejLDEsi7jE

— Office of the MMC: Transport (@MMCKennyKunene) July 5, 2025

“Lawlessness will not be tolerated in the City. A lot is going to be exposed. As we were doing our walkabouts, we identified a missing meter. We don’t know how they did it but the meter was moved and not where the city had originally installed it. We are also targeting illegal immigrants, people without papers but are freely living in this country.”

MMC for Community Development, Tebogo Nkokou says these kind of law-enforcement operations will be an ongoing occurrence across the City.

“Well regarding the illegal connections we are going to make sure that we enforce the laws and each and every building complies with the laws. We intend to intensify these major City delivery operations. I assure our residents that we are going to clean Johannesburg, we are going to regain control and clean all the hijacked buildings and we are going to enforce the by-laws. We are  going to restore order in the City of Johannesburg and make sure it’s the cleanest in the world.”

VIDEO | Acting Mayor Kenny Kunene raids illegal buildings