Johannesburg Metro Police (JMPD) together with the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Department of Home Affairs, were out in their numbers at the Ginger informal settlement in Sandton, where they conducted a raid early on Friday morning, in an attempt to root out crime.
The operation was led by Johannesburg Mayor, Dada Morero.
More than a dozen illegal immigrants were arrested after officers approached the settlement from all entrances, not allowing anyone to get away. Morero says the City’s goal is to completely eradicate informal settlements.
“Well we have arrested a few undocumented, they are already in the police vans, and they will be taken into custody. Hopefully, then Home Affairs will act on them and take them back to their countries of origin. We are also identifying if there are any other criminal activities that are happening here.
We have already established someone who sells nyaope, and the police are acting on that. So we will continue to act and look at illegality and criminal activity but the central objective is to get rid of these informal settlements.”
Morero says such raids will become more frequent in informal settlements, as lawlessness will not be tolerated.
“We will continue to do the raids, we are telling the residents we are acting and dealing with lawlessness in Johannesburg. We are enforcing the law, by-law enforcement, crime prevention, that’s basically what we are doing, and we are not going to shy away.
What is critical is the court orders. We have them prepared and we can act in accordance with the law. We can’t allow lawlessness to continue in our city.”
Residents of the Ginger informal settlement say they are pleased to see law enforcement cracking down on crime in the area and hope such operations will be conducted more regularly.
“I feel happy now about what they are doing. We always see them and they are protecting us. I am feeling very happy because people are always changing and you won’t know when they are thinking to do crime. So when we see them all the time we feel safe like really.”
We will conduct more raids in informal settlements throughout the city to combat crime. Lawlessness will not be tolerated in Johannesburg. #FixingJoburg #ReclaimJoburg #WeServeJoburg pic.twitter.com/TH1tjsdfrT
— Executive Mayor of the City Of Joburg (@DadaMorero) July 25, 2025
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