Bid to stop Operation Fiela fails

150520. Cape Town. SANDF members walking past Helen Court in Mannenberg. Members of the police, metro police and the SANDF are conducting raids in Manenberg early on Thursday morning. This forms part of government's Operation Fiela recently launched to clamp down on criminal activity. Manenberg has been gripped by a deadly spate of gang violence over the past few weeks. Picture Henk Kruger/Cape Argus

150520. Cape Town. SANDF members walking past Helen Court in Mannenberg. Members of the police, metro police and the SANDF are conducting raids in Manenberg early on Thursday morning. This forms part of government's Operation Fiela recently launched to clamp down on criminal activity. Manenberg has been gripped by a deadly spate of gang violence over the past few weeks. Picture Henk Kruger/Cape Argus

Published Jun 24, 2015

Share

Pretoria - Operation Fiela-Reclaim can go ahead with its crime-fighting operations after Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) failed in its urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria to interdict the authorities from carrying out raids without a search warrant.

Judge Jan Hiemstra removed the matter from the roll on Tuesday, finding that it was not urgent.

He also slapped LHR with the hefty legal bill.

Operation Fiela-Reclaim has been in effect across the country since April.

LHR turned to court as it was concerned about the manner in which the government – the police, SANDF and immigration officers – conducted the raids which took place in the Joburg CBD in May.

LHR said people’s homes were invaded in the early hours of the morning and while many were arrested for legitimate reasons, others, especially foreign nationals, were unfairly targeted. They said the raids were conducted without the government first obtaining search warrants, which had to be obtained from a magistrate.

In this case the authorities conducted the raids in terms of a section 13(7) authorisation.

But LHR said this section was only reserved for dire situations, where the safety of people were at stake and to install public order. Judge Hiemstra was told that the manner in which the authorities raided the homes of people in the Joburg CBD, including those who took refuge in the Central Methodist Church, was unconstitutional.

It was argued that by first obtaining a search warrant, a magistrate could determine whether the raid was warranted or not.

LHR said the manner in which Operation Fiela-Reclaim was conducted – especially in the Joburg CBD – raised serious concerns. People’s privacy was invaded and it resembled an immigration clampdown “under the auspices of a crime clean-up operation”.

It was said that the authorities abused their powers by kicking down people’s doors in the early hours of the morning and arresting even those who had valid papers allowing them to be in the country.

Counsel representing the government institutions argued that the raid was warranted without a search warrant, as it concerned public safety. Judge Hiemstra was told that people complained that criminals were staying in the buildings. Drugs, weapons and other illegal goods were found during the raids, the advocates said.

LHR, however, could not argue their points fully before the court on Tuesday, as counsel for the police, SANDF and Home Affairs said the matter was not urgent. After first hearing arguments in this regard, Judge Hiemstra agreed and removed the matter from the roll.

He said LHR could not prove that the authorities would again in the near future conduct an operation using the section 13(7) authorisation. According to him this could have been a “once-off”, while he did not pronounce on whether the use of this authorisation at the time was lawful or not. “I have no reason to believe that the respondents will do so again in the near future,” he said.

But LHR national director, Jacob van Garderen, afterwards said they had no choice but to enroll the matter on the ordinary roll, which could take months. “We are concerned that the government can go ahead conducting the operations in this manner. We are disappointed by the outcome,” he said.

Pretoria News

Related Topics: