WATCH: Acting Joburg Mayor Kunene leads raid on buildings suspected of harbouring undocumented immigrants
Kenny Kunene was accompanied by JMPD officers and immigration officials to enforce city bylaws in the CBD.
Acting Johannesburg Mayor Kenny Kunene (centre) addressed the media on 1 July 2025 during raids on buildings in Johannesburg's CBD suspected of harbouring undocumented immigrants. Picture: Simphiwe Nkosi/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - Acting Johannesburg Mayor Kenny Kunene was in the inner-city on Tuesday, leading raids on buildings suspected of harbouring undocumented immigrants.
Kunene was accompanied by JMPD officers and immigration officials to enforce city bylaws in the CBD.
Along Marshall Street in Johannesburg's CBD, several hijacked buildings stand, with crowded shacks on each floor.
Kunene was escorted by a team of police officers in one of the buildings where electricity cables hang from the ceiling, feeding power to the shacks inside.
He vowed to spare no mercy on illegal immigrants, who he believes are occupying the buildings.
"We will also check those who don't have the right papers to be in the City of Johannesburg and once find them… van!"
Several people, believed to be undocumented immigrants, have also been arrested in the operation.
[WATCH] Kenny Kunene, acting mayor of Johannesburg, finds shacks erected on each floor of a hijacked building in the CBD. @JusstAlpha pic.twitter.com/Iq3MVLRJjS
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) July 1, 2025
WATCH] Acting Johannesburg mayor Kenny Kunene and Public Safety MMC Mgcini Tshwaku bust into a room in a hijacked building, where they find a couple.
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) July 1, 2025
Kunene and Tshwaku are raiding dilapidated buildings in the CBD. @JusstAlpha pic.twitter.com/T6PeWWhxtZ
Kunene destroys a cable feeding electricity to a hijacked building in the CBD. @JusstAlpha pic.twitter.com/Ynn4XmAMKJ
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) July 1, 2025