Hijacked & derelict buildings, mapped.
South Africa has hundreds of illegally occupied buildings across its major cities. Many are fire traps. Most have no city action planned. Every entry here is sourced from official city records, court papers, or documented incidents.
188
hijacked buildings in Joburg alone
13
city-owned buildings hijacked
77
people killed — Usindiso fire 2023
1
successfully redeveloped in 9 years
Remington Court
Being MonitoredCorner Jeppe and Nugget Streets, Johannesburg CBD
The only hijacked building in Johannesburg successfully reclaimed and redeveloped. Converted to mana...
M.O.T.H Building
Extreme RiskJohannesburg Inner City
Declared unsafe by city engineers. Court has instructed the City to relocate occupants to temporary ...
Vannin Court
Extreme RiskJohannesburg Central Business District
Declared unsafe. A R45 million regeneration project was announced in 2017 — it collapsed and the bui...
Casa Mia
Extreme RiskJohannesburg Inner City
Declared unfit for habitation. City has ordered occupants relocated but has not provided emergency a...
Florence Nightingale Building
High RiskJohannesburg Inner City
Engineering reports state no maintenance done for years — severe structural deterioration. Court ord...
Wimbledon Building
High RiskJohannesburg Inner City
Engineering reports state no maintenance done for years. Court order obtained. Building remains occu...
Usindiso Building (2023 Fire Site)
Extreme RiskCorner Alberts and Delvers Streets, Marshalltown, Johannesburg
Site of the August 31 2023 fire that killed 77 people — South Africa's deadliest inner-city building...
Delvers Building
High RiskDelvers Street, Johannesburg CBD
Declared unsafe. Scheduled for demolition in September 2024. Occupants evacuated. Building secured b...
Jeppestown Building (2024 Fire)
Extreme RiskJeppestown, Johannesburg
August 2024 fire displaced 200 people and killed 4. Occurred less than a year after the Usindiso fir...
Marshalltown Hazardous Building
Extreme RiskMarshalltown, Johannesburg (near Village Main Road and Loveday Road)
Inspected by MMC for Public Safety in December 2025. Internal shacks, illegal subdivisions, and mult...
Express Building
High Risk44 Nugget Street, Johannesburg CBD
City-owned building — previously a school and a church — now derelict and illegally occupied. Broken...
Platinum Place
Being MonitoredDoornfontein, Johannesburg
Formerly hijacked building in Doornfontein that was cleared of illegal tenants. Post-clearance inspe...
Trafalgar Properties Buildings (Berea)
High RiskBerea, Johannesburg
Two apartment buildings in Berea owned by Trafalgar Properties subsidiaries — illegally occupied for...
China Emporium / Xin Hua Block
Extreme Risk564 Anton Lembede Street, Durban CBD
Fire on 21 January 2022 injured 13 people. eThekwini obtained a court order after the owner failed t...
Marikana Building — 44 Lancers Road
High Risk44 Lancers Road, corner University Avenue, Durban
City-owned building earmarked for social housing that became associated with unlawful activity. Ille...
Problem Building — 85 Anton Lembede Street
High Risk85 Anton Lembede Street, Durban CBD
Explicitly identified in eThekwini annual reporting as a municipal bad-building intervention site. D...
West End Building
High Risk516 Dr Pixley KaSeme Street, Durban CBD
City-owned building in eThekwini's problem building record. By late 2024 being discussed as a munici...
DPWI Building — 104 Darling Street
High Risk104 Darling Street, Cape Town CBD
Approximately 30 residents in the three-storey building, some for more than two decades. Additional ...
Government Building — 2 Keizersgracht Road, District Six
High Risk2 Keizersgracht Road, District Six, Cape Town
City of Cape Town issued fines to the National Department of Public Works over conditions at this si...
DPWI Building — 1 Jan Smuts Drive, Maitland
High Risk1 Jan Smuts Drive, Maitland, Cape Town
Included in the same enforcement action as 2 Keizersgracht, with the City issuing fines to National ...
Cissie Gool House (Former Woodstock Hospital)
High RiskOld Woodstock Hospital Complex, Mountain Road, Woodstock, Cape Town
One of Cape Town's most visible occupied public buildings. Approximately 900 people living in former...
Ahmed Kathrada House (Former Helen Bowden Nurses Home)
High Risk1 Beach Road, Green Point, Cape Town
Approximately 800 people living in former nurses home since 2017. MPs condemned unsafe living condit...
Boston Centre (Redeveloped)
Being Monitored85 Voortrekker Road, Boston, Bellville, Cape Town
Around 70 people evicted from this ten-storey building in September 2017 after the City declared it ...
What is a hijacked building?
Criminal syndicates illegally occupy abandoned buildings — usually former offices vacated after apartheid — and rent rooms to people with nowhere else to go. Tenants pay rent to criminals, not legal owners.
Why can't the city evict them?
The Constitutional Court requires municipalities to provide temporary emergency accommodation before evicting people. Johannesburg has a 500,000-unit housing backlog and cannot fulfil this requirement at scale.
Why are they dangerous?
No running water, no legal electricity, open fires for cooking and heating, overcrowding, illegal internal shacks — all in structurally compromised buildings. The 2023 Usindiso fire killed 77 people.
Report a building
If you know of a hijacked or dangerous building not on this map, contact the City of Johannesburg's Emergency Line on 011 375 5911 or the Joburg Property Company at 011 217 4000.
Data integrity notice: Data sourced from City of Johannesburg GFIS audit records, court papers obtained by Daily Maverick, City of Johannesburg official revitalisation plans, and documented fire incidents. This tracker covers a small sample of documented cases — the City of Johannesburg alone has 188 active hijacked building cases. To report an unsafe building contact your municipality or the National Department of Human Settlements.