DJ Warras' fatal shooting exposes the dark reality of Johannesburg's hijacked buildings
Police say a short man with dreadlocks has been identified as the shooter in the murder of DJ Warras.
Image: Screenshot from SABCNews video
The death of Warrick "DJ Warras" Stock has once again brought into sharp focus the challenges faced by the City of Johannesburg to clamp down on the scourge of hijacked buildings.
Stock was fatally shot on Tuesday by three assailants who are still at large outside Carlton Center in the Johannesburg CBD.
His murder is believed to be tied to his work of recovering hijacked buildings in the CBD, which he also spoke strongly against on various social media platforms in recent months.
Even though the city has confirmed that the popular media personality was not the owner of the Zambezi building in which he was doing some security system upgrades, Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Public Safety, Dr Mgcini Tshwaku, indicated that Stock had applied for five protection orders against some of the non-paying tenants of the building.
"DJ Warras was approached by the lawyers who were managing the building on behalf of the owner. The owner saw that the rent had decreased drastically, with only 50% of tenants paying, while the rest were not. They had a committee that was collecting rent. One of the companies approached the owners to secure this building to ensure that maintenance is done and the tenants pay, Tshwaku said.
In the wake of DJ Warras's tragic death, South Africa faces an uncomfortable reflection of its crime-ridden streets.
Image: Instagram
Tshwaku also revealed that the 40-year-old had appeared in court on December 12, where he sought a protection order against a woman residing in Zambezi Flats — an area evidently entwined with organised threats against him.
"DJ Warras applied for a protection order. We know that the hearing was last week on the 12th of December. So, he was granted that protection order against a certain woman at the Zambezi Flats. He also requested that there must be a raid in that room or in those rooms because there are several people and because they've been citing that those individuals were threatening his security, and they were threatening to burn the whole building, and they were threatening sort of to really deal with him," Tshwaku stated.
ActionSA leader, Herman Mashaba, who as the mayor of Joburg, led a clean-up campaign targeting hijacked buildings, decried the lack of progress in dealing with this problem.
Mashaba said the city has no less than 500 hijacked buildings, which have become a hive of criminality in the city centre.
"For three years, I served as mayor of the COJ. We identified just over 600 hijacked, abandoned, and derelict properties in the city. I then launched what became the Inner City Rejuvenation Plan, adopted by the Council. By the time I resigned as mayor in November 2019, Council had already approved and awarded 154 properties on long leases to the private sector for development," Mashaba stated.
Mashaba claimed to possess proof detailing individuals involved in the unlawful ownership and leasing of government and private properties within the city.
He stated that the 154 identified properties were expected to generate over R32 billion in investment for the city.
"These 154 properties were going to bring in R32 billion worth of construction investments into the city, creating 22,000 permanent jobs during the construction phase, with 14,000 residential units, with 30% of the units earmarked for low-cost housing and students. These properties are hijacked by criminal elements, with our politicians turning a blind eye to the situation. Unfortunately, I had to resign," he stated.
Attempts to get a comment from the City of Joburg Mayor, Dada Morero, who sent his condolences to the Stock family in a statement on Wednesday, were unsuccessful at the time of going to print.
However, the mayor remembered him for his passion for the city centre as well as for his activism and fearless convictions.
"He was an activist, businessman, and a fearless citizen who cared passionately about the future of our city and its people. He never hesitated to hold me and the City of Johannesburg accountable, always driven by a deep love for Johannesburg and a desire to see its inner city revitalised and safe for all," Morero said.