Cape Town - Operation Fiela-Reclaim has been instructed to conduct a minimum of two operations a week in each province until its mandate ends in March, it emerged before the parliamentary police committee on Wednesday.
Described in Wednesday’s presentation to MPs as the “multi-disciplinary integrated national action plan to re-assert the authority of the state”, the police told MPs the operation led to 9 968 arrests between its establishment in April to June, and another 3 050 arrests over just two days at the end of July.
The operation, which the Cape Argus has confirmed will stay in place until the end of the financial year on March 31, was launched amid the attacks on foreign nationals in April. It was announced by the inter-ministerial committee on migration on April 28, as part of a broader briefing on government action to ensure calm amid the violence which killed six people and displaced thousands.
“Operation Fiela-Reclaim is an operation to rid our country of illegal weapons, drug dens, prostitution rings and other illegal activities… Fiela is a seSotho word for sweep… And that is exactly what we intend to do. We want to sweep our public places clean so that our people can be and feel safe,” the committee said.
The operation is run by National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints), which amid April’s violence – centred in Durban and Johannesburg – was called into action “on a 24-hour basis to co-ordinate a response to this situation”.
Meanwhile, the Cape Argus has learnt the Presidency has been requested to allow the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to rejoin the national anti-crime operation. The SANDF mandate ended in June, and the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, must permit the deployment of troops inside the country.
Operation Fiela-Reclaim has been criticised by human rights organisations – Lawyers for Human Rights unsuccessfully brought a court challenge – but government has repeatedly publicly dismissed such criticism.
On Wednesday, police operational division head Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela, who also chairs Natjoints, said he wanted to “dispel the perception” that Operation Fiela-Reclaim was aimed at foreign nationals. Instead it was a beneficial inter-disciplinary operation.
Cape Argus