A new report claims that criminal networks have moved into important parts of the City of Johannesburg’s administration. It also alleges pay-offs to political parties that protect these networks.
The report is called Joburglary: Assessing the crime-council ecosystem in the City of Johannesburg. It was published by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, working with the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE).
“Unless checked, the trajectory of organised crime is almost always towards greater consolidation,” Mark Shaw, executive director of the Global Initiative, told Moneyweb.
Shaw said the city needs its own independent commission, set up in the style of the Madlanga Commission. He said only a truly independent body could deal with the problem.
According to the report, at least five Johannesburg councillors were murdered between 2016 and 2026. There were two more attempted killings. The motives in many of these cases remain unclear.
The city spent R650 million over five years on water tankers during water cuts. That is about R130 million a year. The report presents claims that suppliers and insiders kept shortages going to make money from them.
The researchers said they could not independently confirm these sabotage claims in Johannesburg.
The report counts at least 188 hijacked buildings in the city centre. It said the problem is spreading to suburbs such as Bryanston and Upper Houghton. City insiders allegedly give criminal groups details about absent owners, unpaid accounts and properties caught up in court cases.
Shaw said hijacked buildings can become a base for other crimes. He linked this to alleged collusion between people inside the city and organised crime.
The city’s Group Forensic and Investigation Services (GFIS) looked into more than 6 000 cases. These involved deals worth R35 billion. In June 2023, the council adopted a report that declared its earlier corruption probes and findings unlawful, null and void.
Zenzele Sithole, a senior GFIS investigator and former Hawks detective, was shot dead on his way home in July 2024. No arrests have been made for his killing.
At the Madlanga Commission, witnesses have alleged that some Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department officers interfered in cocaine seizures and a gemstone robbery. These claims have not been proven.
A separate CDE report, Time for Action: Corruption in Joburg, points to the 2023 case of ANC allies filling the board of the Johannesburg Property Company. It also mentions a suspected payment towards an ANC youth event. The chief financial officer at the time resigned but denied any wrongdoing.
The CDE said political appointees on municipal boards can control large budgets and steer contracts to connected businesses.
“Johannesburg is not suffering only from weak administration, poor maintenance or ordinary municipal incompetence,” said CDE executive director Ann Bernstein. She said a crime-council ecosystem has grown where political, business and criminal interests meet.
“A forensic report gathering dust in an office is not an anti-corruption achievement,” Bernstein said. “Investigations have to end in consequences.”
The Joburglary report said the city’s own tools and processes are compromised and will not work. Johannesburg voters go to the polls in local elections in November.
Source: this article is based on reporting by Moneyweb. Image: Moneyweb. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.