27 February 2008

By Bathandwa Mbola

THE Mangaung Municipality in the Free State has embarked on a clean-up operation which will see the demolition of notorious buildings which house drug dealers and illegal immigrants.

"The municipality is embarking on a clampdown of all illegal operations in the city. We want to give our city a face and let it remain attractive to people of Mangaung, visitors and investors," said the municipality in a statement.

This follows a recent successful campaign of removing illegal occupants from unlawful structures.

One of the buildings which is to be demolished is Victoria Hotel, which is situated next to a taxi rank along Saint George Street, said the statement.

"Victoria Hotel will be completely demolished as it has become notorious for harbouring illegal immigrants and has become a suspected haven of criminal activities, such as drug peddling."

People living in these structures have been served with notices warning them to vacate the buildings.

The municipality said they were also instructed to remove or destroy their own sub-structures, which they erected on or adjacent to the targeted buildings, but they did not heed to the notices.

"Hence, we took a decision to remove them and destroy those illegal structures."

Mangaung has been confirmed as one of the host cities for the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2009 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Source: BuaNews