[PRESS RELEASE] LHR Seeks to Challenge Discriminatory Policing in "Residents of Industry House" Case

On 13 March 2020, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) will appear before the Johannesburg High Court seeking to be admitted as a friend of the court in the matter of Residents of Industry House & Others v Minister of Police & Others which concerns the contested constitutionality of section 13(7) of the South African Police Service Act 68 of 1995 (“the SAPS Act”) Act. The Act contains provisions that allow for far-reaching invasion of the right to privacy contained in section 14 of the Constitution which we argue cannot be justified as a limitation of rights under section 36 of the Constitution. This matter will be heard by the court on 16 March 2020.

The applicants in this matter are residents of various buildings in inner-city Johannesburg represented by Socio-Economic Rights Institute of SA (SERI). These buildings had been subjected to over 20 police raids whereby the applicants were forcibly removed from the premises and directed to produce copies of their identity documents, passports or asylum seekers’ permits and resulted in detention of a number of the residents.

Section 13(7) of the SAPS Act permits the National or Provincial Commissioner, where it is reasonable in the circumstances and in order to restore public order or to ensure the safety of the public in a particular area, to authorise that the particular area or part thereof be cordoned off.

LHR intends to argue that the impugned provision violates the Constitutional rights to equality and access to courts unjustifiably by effectively applying a different legal standard for people of a different class, geographical location and nationality. If admitted, LHR will make substantive written and oral arguments during the hearing on 16 March 2020 in support of the Applicant’s challenge.

Wayne Ncube, the head of the Strategic Litigation Programme at LHR said, “The matter is important in addressing discriminatory policing that is a legacy of the apartheid era. LHR’s mandate is to protect the constitutional rights of marginalized communities and ensure they have access to the same rights afforded to affluent communities.”

For queries, please contact:

Wayne Ncube, Tel: 011 339 1960, E-mail: wayne [at] lhr [dot] org [dot] za

Thandeka Duma, Tel: 031 301 0531, E-mail: thandeka [at] lhr [dot] org [dot] za