Rosettenville brothels and drug dens: City to set up specialised JMPD task team

6 February 2017

Yesterday evening I accompanied MMC for Safety, Cllr Michael Sun and MMC for Development Planning, Cllr Funzi Ngobeni, to Rosettenville after I was informed that community members had set fire to three homes and one tavern believed to operate as alleged brothels and drug dens.

According to community members, these homes are illegally occupied by Nigerian foreign nationals who run these homes as brothels and have girls as young as nine years old working as prostitutes. Many of the women in these brothels are also alleged to have no official identification documentation.

Some of these woman who work as prostitutes told me that the brothels are supported by officers from Moffatview Police Station.  These are serious allegations and I will be contacting Provincial Police Commissioner Major General De Lange and request an urgent investigation into these claims.

These homes also make use of illegal electricity connections and provide no proper sanitation facilities.

Community members are afraid to leave their homes and have said they feel that the City and SAPS have let them down. Under the previous administration, criminals were able to operate with this kind of impunity. This can no longer be tolerated.

I understand the frustrations of the Rosettenville community and I have apologised for government letting them down. I also implored them to not take the law into their own hands and assured them that I will do everything in my power to ensure that these homes are rid of criminals and criminal activity.

We have to ensure that it is the criminals who cannot rest in Johannesburg, and it is the communities that feel safe.

I have already instructed MMC Sun to set up a specialised task team of JMPD officers to raid these buildings on a regular basis. We cannot have a situation where everyone in this community knows where the brothels and drug dens are, and yet government and law enforcement authorities appear to operate wearing blind-folds.

As a City, our jurisdiction in this matter only allows us to take action up to a certain point. Therefore, I will be contacting Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba and Provincial Police Commissioner, General De Lange.

We cannot accept lawlessness in our City and any criminal, whether South African or a foreign national, must be apprehended.

It is essential that national government cleans up its act and ensures that there is quick and efficient processing of anyone entering our country. This would protect those who wish to legitimately enter our country from criminal elements.

We as government are tasked with the responsibility to protect our residents. The days of criminals running our streets like their own little empires are over.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, Executive Mayor, City of Johannesburg, 6 February 2017