The City of Johannesburg has announced the discovery of a sophisticated underground criminal network operating within the city’s informal settlements, a syndicate officials say is actively blocking essential services and development.
According to the city, investigators have uncovered elaborate escape routes and purpose-built structures hidden beneath informal shacks, which are being used for illegal mining, smuggling, and the sale of expired goods. The operations are reportedly run by foreign nationals who utilize the settlement’s congestion as a cover.
The discovery was made during an unannounced operation led by the city’s MMC for Housing, Mlungisi Mabaso. In an interview, Mabaso elaborated on the findings, describing a network that uses the shacks as fronts.
“What we have discovered in the informal settlements is that there is a syndicate that is operating there,” Mabaso stated. “They hide within the shacks because they are illegally shut[ting] the holes that they cover with the shacks. So when you walk outside… you will assume that is the shacks where our residents are residing, only to discover when you get inside that… there are holes inside that are being utilized to access the underground for them to operate these illegal mining activities.”
Mabaso confirmed this modus operandi is not isolated to one area, having been found in the Denver, Jamba, and Fleurhof informal settlements, as well as in a dilapidated hostel.
A significant challenge facing the city is a persistent leak that alerts the criminals ahead of raids. Mabaso revealed that on three consecutive occasions, including the recent operation in Denver, the criminals were waiting for officials and fled by disappearing into their underground network.
“By the time we arrived there, they were already waiting for us. So somebody informed them prior,” Mabaso said, acknowledging the city is still trying to determine the source of the leak. He described scenes of suspects watching the demolition teams from rooftops before escaping into the maze of tunnels.
The city’s primary strategy to combat the network is the demolition of the shacks and structures used for these illicit activities. Mabaso defended this approach, stating that the ultimate goal is to clear land for formal development, thereby suffocating the criminals’ operating space.
“We demolish these shacks, we dismantle them, we move the material away,” he said. “Then we get our team on the ground to work on the spaces for us to introduce the development… Once we dismantle and utilize these spaces for development, they will not have spaces to operate.”
When challenged that this approach merely displaces the criminals rather than arresting them, Mabaso clarified that apprehension falls to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and metropolitan police.
“Catching them is the responsibility of the SAPS… It’s not my responsibility as the MMC for Human Settlements,” Mabaso said. “Ours is to make sure that they are out of the space… If police are unable to arrest them within the informal settlements, they will then have to chase them from outside.”
He outlined a strategy of following the criminals from one settlement to the next, using intelligence to map their movements, asserting that the city is “succeeding” in its goal of pushing them out of their established bases.
The MMC also confirmed that the city, with the assistance of Home Affairs, is identifying and removing foreign nationals operating businesses illegally within the settlements to free up space for development and service provision for lawful residents.
