Johannesburg - The ministers of police and home affairs were interdicted on Tuesday from deporting dozens of foreigners arrested on Friday after police raided Joburg inner-city buildings, including the Central Methodist Church.
Those detained following the pre-dawn raids by police and the army were expected to be deported back to their countries on Wednesday.
But the plans were put on ice for two weeks after a last-minute settlement between Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and government lawyers.
Johannesburg High Court Judge Zeenat Carelse made the agreement an order of court, giving the ministers a stern warning before adjourning proceedings.
“This is quite an unpleasant matter. Kindly advise your clients that this is a settlement. Next time I’ll hear the matter, there should be complete compliance,” said Judge Carelse, who was also hearing a contempt of court application against the two departments after they failed to heed an order she had made on Friday.
In that ruling, she had ordered Home Affairs officials and the police to allow LHR to consult the foreigners detained at Johannesburg Central police station and the Lindela Repatriation Centre after the raids earlier that day.
But there was no compliance, sparking the contempt of court application, which was due to be heard along with the deportation interdict on Tuesday. However, the parties met in one of the consultation rooms outside courtroom 9F and reached an agreement.
Under the order, LHR will be furnished with a list of all the foreigners who were arrested, the reasons for their detention and the facilities in which they are being held.
Speaking outside court on Tuesday, LHR lawyer David Cote said: “We’ll know who’s at Lindela and who’s at police stations. We’ll have an idea of who had the papers, and then we’ll know how to proceed.”
Cote said some of those threatened with deportation were asylum-seekers and that their deportation, irrespective of whether their asylum papers had expired, contravened the Immigration Act.
Raids were held in other parts of the country on April 27, with 889 people arrested in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and North West.
Police said the arrests were for possession of drugs, assault and murder, among other crimes.
The Star