PART ONE: City held to ransom | Inside the Marshalltown building takeover

JOHANNESBURG - In 2018, a building on 80 Albert Street in Marshalltown was hijacked when a group of women allegedly revolted against a non-profit company (NPO), and refused to leave what was then a women’s and children’s shelter.

The shelter was being run by Usindiso Ministries.

According to a research paper, that focused on the shelter as a case study, Pastor Jean (Jay) Bradley, who had been working with the shelter since 2001, took over its running in 2003.

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In July 2007, the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) Department of Arts, Culture and Heritage declared the building a heritage site.

Usindiso Ministries only registered as a NPO in 2010, with five directors.

Bradley ran the shelter for women and children for 15 years before things allegedly took a turn for the worse in 2018.

CoJ city manager Floyd Brink said there were challenges regarding the occupants, and “because of the hostility and stalemate, the building was then invaded.”

Former director and chairperson of the Usindiso Ministries board, Pastor Glyn Weldschidt, said depending on a woman’s circumstances, the shelter would house them for between six months to a year.

“The shelter was there for the ladies to be there for six to eight months to be rehabilitated with certain programmes, social workers speaking into their lives and transforming them. And they were given certain skills. So, the ladies would need to move after eight months - up to a year for some of them.”

He told Eyewitness News how the building was allegedly hijacked.

“There were a couple of women that needed to move because they were becoming an issue, and so when those women were told to move, they started to rebel. They just stood up and said they’ve got ‘connections’ and they are going to hurt us, as the board, if we don’t move - and so we moved. Jay (Bradley) ran for her life because she was told ‘if you come here, we will kill you’.”

Weldschidt said they allegedly engaged the city about the situation, but to no avail.

He further alleged a case was opened with police - although he could not recall details of the case, claiming Bradley had been involved in registering it.

He alleged Bradely had gone into hiding.

“I honestly can’t get hold of Jay. I would have told you if I could and I probably would have told you why she’s feeling the way she’s feeling, what she’s feeling, or where she even is. She might not even be in Joburg anymore; she might be in Cape Town for all I know.”

Attempts to reach Bradley proved futile.

Brink said the building was owned by the city and leased to the Department of Social Development.

But social development disputed this, claiming the department was only involved in finding a suitable NGO to run the shelter.

Provincial spokesperson Nkosana Mtolo said the department did not have any lease agreement with the CoJ.

“Our involvement is not necessarily with the building, but with the NPO [Usindiso Ministries]. Between 2011 and 2013, about ten years ago, we were funding them. They were running a shelter which caters for women, so that is as far as our involvement was. We did not get involved on any other issue or level, except our interaction with the NPO that we were funding at the time.”

This is confirmed in a letter to the Gauteng social development department, dated 24 January 2013, and signed by Weldschidt, which reads:

“As our foundation is Christian based, we have to chart a new path forward, and therefore regret to advise of our decision to become self-sustaining, and therefore will no longer require funding from the Department of Social Development, as agreed by our Board.”

Weldschidt said thereafter, they began applying to the National Lotteries Commission for funding.

“Majority of the funding we were then getting from the lottery. We would also get some funding from churches, but the majority was through our applications for funding to the lotto.”

The Johannesburg Property Company (JPC), mandated to manage and develop the CoJ property assets for council, were in charge of repairs and maintenance of the building.

JPC spokesperson Lucky Sindane said they were aware the building was hijacked in 2018.

“When the NGO left the building, people took control. You leave a building today, and someone comes in tomorrow. It makes it difficult to get access because people move in within 48 hours.”

Sindane said once a building is hijacked, a lengthy legal process would need to follow.

“We have to rely on other departments. That’s where GFIS [Group Forensic Investigation Services] and JMPD [Johannesburg Metro Police Department] come in. They have to go in and profile the people who live there to ascertain whether the building was hijacked or not, and open a case, go to the court, and move people. You can’t just go into a building and move people - it doesn't work like that.”

CoJ puts the figure of hijacked buildings within the inner city at 188 - 17 of which belong to the CoJ.