City of Johannesburg Closes Down Illegal Chicken Farm in Hijacked Building

• The City of Johannesburg's raid of dilapidated and hijacked buildings in the Central Business District unveiled various kinds of bylaw violations
• The City's MMC for Community Safety, Dr Mgcini Tshwaku, uncovered an illegally-operating poultry farm in one of the buildings that were raided
• South Africans were stunned by the discovery and slammed the business owner for violating the City's health and safety bylaws

Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News’ Deputy Head of the Current Affairs desk, South Africa, covered a range of criminal activities, including cash-in-transit heists, kidnappings, taxi violence, shootings, police investigations, police shootouts, and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.

JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG — South Africans were angry after a raid of one of the hijacked buildings in the Johannesburg CBD uncovered an illegal chicken farm operating in unsafe and unhygienic conditions.

The City's MMC for Public Safety, Dr Mgcini Tshwaku, posted a video of the raid, which took place on 23 December 2025, on his @PublicSafetyMMC X account. The video shows where the secret chicken farm was kept and the conditions of the chickens.

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Illegal chicken farm found in hijacked building

In the video, a man opens a door made of corrugated iron. Tshwaku enters the chicken coop and asks if people purchase the chicken. Tshwaku informs him that he can be arrested for feeding residents chicken reared in unsanitary conditions. He then asks the man where he is from, to which he replies that he is from Zimbabwe. The man then makes a call while Tshwaku says that the chickens will be impounded.

View the video on X here:

Since the beginning of December, the City of Johannesburg has raided some hijacked properties. Tshwaku led a raid on a hijacked home in Bryanson on 4 December 2025. A total of 40 foreign nationals renting the property were arrested during the raid.

Tshwaku said that Johannesburg plans to raid dilapidated buildings linked to hijacked building syndicates. His announcement came after media personality DJ Warras was shot and killed on 16 December 2025. He said that the buildings could be rented out by the syndicates.

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South Africans not impressed

Netizens weighing in on the raids were not pleased and instead attributed the mushrooming of hijacked buildings to the government. Some were worried about the unsanitary conditions in which the chickens were kept.

Bheks said:

"We can only laugh. Politicians allowed Jozi CBD to deteriorate to such an extent that it looks near impossible to revive it."

Star Jay said:

"Food safety is compromised. Who were they supplying with their products?"

V12 asked:

"Where is the Department of Home Affairs during all of this? Is it not a time to kill the current Home Affairs department and systems and come up with a more effective department?"

The Seed said:

"This is madness. They turn flats into farms now."

Johann Kruger said:

"This shouldn't have been allowed to happen in the first place. We can't applaud when politicians and officials do their jobs once in a while for the cameras."

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Dada Morero calls for Home Affairs intervention

In a related article, Briefly News reported that Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero called for the Department of Home Affairs to intervene in the influx of illegal foreigners in the CBD.

Morero said the ongoing struggle in the inner city centres on the problem of the widespread presence of undocumented migrants embedded in the local trading economy.

Source: Briefly News