A policeman confiscates goods in an Operation Fiela raid on Cape Town Station on 20 June. Photo courtesy of SAPS.
7 July 2015
Operation Fiela was instituted in May for two months in response to xenophobic violence in Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the South African Police Service (SAPS) carry out its raids.
The operation has been criticised by civil society organisations for targeting foreigners and using the SANDF in raids on civilians. Now according to a publication that specialises in defence news, DefenceWeb, the operation might be extended until March 2016. The article, published on Friday, cited an anonymous source.
In response to the article, Right2Know has sent a letter to the Presidency requesting confirmation of the report. The letter asked whether Operation Fiela would be extended, why it was being extended, the number of people involved, where the operation will take place and the length of the operation.
Right2Know Organiser Murray Hunter told GroundUp the purpose of the letter is to ensure “there is transparency around these decisions.” Hunter said, “The Constitution provides that the President must inform Parliament when he authorises troop deployment.”
“Operation Fiela is unfolding as a deeply non-transparent project, with a mandate that is ever expanding and no apparent limit on its timeframes. It’s clear that many people have concerns with Operation Fiela in general, and the deployment of the army in particular. It’s clear that there are concerns about Fiela’s legality, its cost, and what it’s even trying to achieve,” Hunter said.
Hunter also said, “It’s clear that Fiela’s original pretext — an urgent response to the immediate threat of xenophobic violence — has slipped very far down the list of priorities. It’s becoming a catch-all campaign for the security cluster to rifle through the pockets of the poorest and most marginalised people in the country, just to see what they find.”
“For now, we just want to get this information and continue to support the efforts of legal organisations like Lawyers for Human Rights, as well as migrants’ rights groups like the Africa Diaspora Forum, to combat any infringement of people’s rights that may happen under Operation Fiela,” Hunter said.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) attempted to interdict aspects of Operation Fiela via an urgent court application on 23 June, but the Pretoria High Court ruled that the case was not urgent and dismissed the application with costs.
The president’s spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication. SAPS spokespeople were also unable to comment.