Residents of Industry House, 5 Davies Street, New Doornfontein, Johannesburg and Others v Minister of Police and Others

The applicants were 2 852 poor and vulnerable residents living in 11 inner‑city Johannesburg properties. Between June 2017 and May 2018, members of the South African Police Service, often accompanied by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department and Home Affairs officials, conducted repeated large‑scale raids on the applicants’ homes. These raids involved cordoning off buildings, forcibly removing residents, fingerprinting them, demanding identity documents, arresting those suspected of being undocumented immigrants, and searching rooms and possessions, often by breaking down doors. Most raids were purportedly authorised under section 13(7) of the South African Police Service Act 68 of 1995, but no search warrants were produced, and some raids were conducted without any written authorisation. The applicants alleged that the raids were cruel, degrading, racially discriminatory, and aimed at harassment and intimidation, infringing their rights to dignity and privacy.

The declaration of invalidity of section 13(7)(c) of the SAPS Act was confirmed, but varied by severing the portion authorising warrantless searches and reading the provision to require searches to comply with sections 21 and 22 of the Criminal Procedure Act. The appeal against the validity of sections 13(7)(a) and (b) was dismissed. Claims for constitutional damages were dismissed. A final interdict was granted in favour of the seventh and eleventh applicants, restraining further raids without a court order or warrant. The Minister of Police was ordered to pay the applicants’ costs.

This case is a major affirmation of the constitutional protection of privacy and dignity against abusive policing practices. It limits the scope of police powers under the SAPS Act, clarifies that large‑scale crime‑prevention operations do not justify warrantless searches of private homes, and strengthens safeguards for vulnerable communities against arbitrary and discriminatory raids.