Joburg says it's too broke to rehouse residents, but is this really a housing crisis decades in the making?
Breakfast with Bongani Bingwa · 3 June 2026 · 11m
Speaker 1: Seven of two. Speaker 2: When you hear the phrase hijacked building, what comes to mind? Speaker 1: Is it crime? Is it grime? Speaker 2: Is it abandoned properties? And lawlessness? In many of the buildings where we or at Speaker 2: least in many of the buildings we describe as hijacked, are in fact ordinary people, Speaker 2: workers, families, often migrants, many of whom live in those buildings because it's the most Speaker 2: affordable place to live, close to jobs and opportunities. But the city of Jobek has Speaker 2: been on a drive to try and clean up the inner city and they've hit Speaker 2: a snag. For them to be able to refurbish and even improve buildings that are Speaker 2: derelict that have been hijacked, they need to be able to offer the occupants somewhere Speaker 2: else to go, and the city says it simply doesn't have the need to do Speaker 2: so. So what do we do? Throw our hands up in the air? Is Hillbrow Speaker 2: gone? Is Jovil gone? Is the inner city of Johannesburg gone? Professor Marie Hussamaya is Speaker 2: a housing an informal settlement expert and joins US now as a town planning and Speaker 2: architectural expert profit. Very good morning to you and welcome to seven A to breakfast, Speaker 2: Good morning. Speaker 3: And good morning to your listeners. Speaker 2: You have an informed perspective on this question. What comes to your mind when you Speaker 2: hear the term hijacked building? Speaker 3: Yes, thanks, thanks for that question. Hijacked buildings is an emotive term, and I think
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