South Africa says it has identified 338 buildings across the country that have been 'hijacked' by illegal migrants.
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean MacPherson told parliament on Wednesday, government buildings across the country have been hijacked.
He briefed the media in Parliament on his first eight weeks in office.
The minister said the department owns about 88,000 buildings and is embarking on an audit to determine an accurate asset register.
What to do with buildings
"There clearly is a need to conceptualise what the state wants to do with its assets.
"If there are 338 buildings that have been hijacked... it’s clear that the state doesn’t use all of these buildings and never will. So, we then we need to be optimising them, rationalising them, and disposing of them, call it what you will, but what we can’t allow is (that) our buildings contribute to crime,” MacPherson said.
On Monday this week, Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero said action will be taken to deal with illegal migrants accused of hijacking buildings.
This follows a fire incident in building Jeppestown on Monday that recorded deaths.
Last year, a multi-story building fire in Usindiso killed 77 people and left more than 150 people displaced.
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