Durban - Pandemonium broke out when foreigners without permits were chased by the metro police, the SAPS and the Department of Home Affairs’ immigration unit during a raid on the CBD on Thursday night.
The team raided derelict buildings, occupation of which is deemed to be in contravention of health and safety regulations in the city.
The operation caused chaos when more than 30 foreigners were detained after failing to produce legal documents.
The aim of the raid was to crack down on illegal immigrants and catch drug lords in the CBD.
The police had to use pepper spray to force out the illegal occupants, who had hidden behind boxes stacked in the ceiling in one of the buildings. Both the police and the occupants suffered coughing fits after inhaling the chemical inside a dimly-lit room with no ventilation.
The raid started when blue lights lit up Maud Mfusi (St George’s) Street and hundreds of people lined the streets, while others hung out of their windows, watching excitedly.
Others whistled and shouted after the officers pounced on four people who did not have documents.
Hoosen Moolla, senior manager of the city’s Inner eThekwini Regeneration and Urban Management Programme (iTrump), who was hands on during the raid, said that in an effort to keep the city safe and clean, such raids were needed because some building owners were not compliant.
“They will be served with summonses for non-compliance and illegally using buildings for accommodation. They have shown a high level of disregard for city by-laws,” said Moolla.
He said the city was willing to talk to the owners about improving conditions. Moolla said the buildings raided did not have the required business licences and the owners would have to respond to that.
The five buildings raided were: 88 Maud Mfusi Street; 126 Joseph Nduli (Russell) Street; 192 Dr Yusuf Dadoo (Grey) Street; 83 Dennis Hurley (Queen) Street and 18 Albany Grove.
About 35 people were arrested and held at the Durban central police station for verification of their identities before they were handed to immigration officials.
As the police raided a building in Dennis Hurley Street, using the front entrance, the people they sought escaped by the back entrance, but the police were hot on their heels. Arrests were finally made after about an hour. Some of those arrested were manhandled and pushed inside a metro police truck while others, teenagers among them, had their wrists tied with cable ties. Two young women were loaded into the back of a police car. Packets of dagga were also confiscated.
One dweller, Osman Abdul Kadir Musa, who said he was from Oromnia in Ethiopia, didn’t even have time to finish his meal when the police pounced on the tiny cubicle he shares with 15 others. Musa told the Sunday Tribune he had fled his country after his sister was killed 20 years ago.
“Bad politics in my country forced me out. But here, crime is high, women are raped, houses are broken into and people are killed. Actually, I do not have a problem with being raided because my papers are in order. I also understand it is for my benefit. I need to be in a safe environment,” he said.
Musa said he survived by selling clothes. He said they pay a monthly rent of R1 800 for their tiny cubicle in Dr Yusuf Dadoo (Grey) Street.
But Waheeda Sirajbahuli Patel, a resident whose husband’s nephew was being questioned by the police, said it would have been better if the police allowed them to produce certified copies because carrying a passport was not safe.
“What if they get robbed? They cannot carry documents day and night. It’s not fair, they need to be lenient. These people have not robbed anyone, but were working for the betterment of the economy. We feel like we are being harassed by the police,” said Patel.
Moolla said the building owners and agents were making money, but failed to pay for lights or water.
“Most of these buildings’ (owners) are in arrears for services and the buildings have now become uninhabitable. If the municipality decides to shut these buildings down, many people will be homeless. It is a big challenge but we are working on it,” he said.
He said alternative accommodation had been made available by the municipality.
- Sunday Tribune