Operation Fiela case struck off roll

Lawyers for Human Rights was dealt a blow on Tuesday when its bid to challenge the lawfulness of aspects of Operation Fiela was ruled as not urgent and struck off the roll by the High Court in Pretoria.

The joint police, army and home affairs operation, which has seen searches and raids across the country, is intended to combat crime. But it has been criticised as being targeted at foreign nationals and used to harass and unlawfully arrest and detain them.

The departments of defence and home affairs launched Operation Pyramid at the weekend. This will pave the way for the country’s mooted Border Management Agency.

Judge Jan Hiemstra said the case before him concerned only one operation — a raid on inner city building Fatti’s Mansions and the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg — on May 8.

"There is no evidence that this was a trend, and was going to happen again in the near future," the judge said. "I find that the application is not urgent and it is removed from the roll."

Lawyers for Human Rights lodged an urgent application to court on Tuesday, saying aspects of the operation were unlawful, even though its objective could not be challenged. Its counsel, Paul Kennedy SC, said the question for the court was whether the police could lawfully conduct these operations under the auspices of section 13(7) of the South African Police Service Act. The section allows the police to cordon off an area and search premises without a warrant, when this is necessary "to restore public order or to ensure the safety of the public in a certain area".

The police had to do their job, but not in a way that violated the law, he said. Section 13(7) was meant to deal with situations of public disorder and did not permit this type of operation.

However, counsel for the police and army Bantubonke Tokota SC, said the last section 13(7) authorisation was on May 8 and no further authorisation had been given until now. It was just "speculation" that the section would be used again to authorise further raids.

The case was academic because the May 8 operation was over and done with, Mr Tokota said.

Mr Kennedy said there was a "reasonable apprehension" that future unlawful operations were imminent.