Tshwane Mayor Moya launches major clean-up to shut down brothels

Pretoria’s inner city has been buzzing this week, not from nightlife, but rather a major clean-up blitz led by Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya.

Several buildings posing as bars, clubs and so-called 'gentlemen’s spots' have been shut down after being exposed as fronts for brothels, human trafficking rings and other illegal activity.

Moya explains that the clean-up started earlier in the year as part of the Reclaim Our City initiative.

"We've been doing this block-by-block."

But she admits progress has been slow. "We were not hitting where we were worried about."

She describes the popular Ipi Ntombi sports bar as a 'symbol of the chaos in the CBD'.

"We kept going to this establishment to understand what the business is in that block."

I couldn't ignore it anymore, adds Moya. "It's walking distance from my office."

Moya explains how there is a 'concentration of men' loitering around the premises at all times of the day.

"One day I went up to observe there, ah, the massage is sold there, it is full all the time, it tells you they are not only selling alcohol, as it would seem, but other things are also happening."

Ipi Ntombi is just one example, says the mayor.

She describes how some of these establishments appear to be legitimate, but that it's a front.

"They're selling takeaways outside, and when you go in, it looks like a tavern, but when you go in, that's when you find these girls from different countries. So, we're dealing with human trafficking."

City teams have been moving through the CBD, closing unsafe establishments, arresting suspects and cracking down on by-law violations that have been ignored for years.

"People will say to me, Ipi Ntombi is protected, you won't touch these people because they are protected. The question is, who is protecting them?"

But the Mayor says this campaign is just the beginning and Tshwane is taking its city back.

To listen to Moya in conversation with 702's Bongani Bingwa, click below: