The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has ruled that the search warrant used by the Hawks during their raid on City Power’s headquarters was “defective”.
The Hawks, also known as the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), conducted a search and seizure operation at City Power’s head office on 17 September.
The raid formed part of an investigation into alleged corruption involving questionable tenders, including a 2023 contract for R67 million in electricity transformers that were reportedly paid for but never supplied.
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Following the operation, City Power approached the high court, seeking an urgent interdict to suspend the execution of the search warrant.
The City of Johannesburg entity argued that the raid was “procedurally flawed” and “inconsistent with due legal processes”.
The interdict was initially scheduled to be heard on Tuesday but was postponed to Friday after the Hawks requested additional time to file their responding affidavit.
City Power granted interdict against Hawks
On Friday, the High Court ruled in favour of City Power, a decision the entity described as a vindication of its position.
“City Power has, from the outset, maintained its willingness to cooperate with all lawful investigations.
“However, what transpired under the guise of a lawful operation was nothing short of an abuse of power and a reckless disregard for established legal principles.
“The court’s decision today sends a strong message that no authority, no matter how powerful, is above the law,” Isaac Mangena, City Power’s spokesperson and general manager for PR and communications, said in a statement.
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The entity’s CEO, Tshifularo Mashava, also welcomed the ruling.
“We are pleased that the court upheld our applications and agreed with our view that the affidavit on which the Hawks relied was not only defective but also careless.
“You cannot raid a public institution based on a document that is neither commissioned properly nor grounded in fact.
“We see this as a fishing expedition disguised as an investigation,” Mashava said.
Court arguments
City Power’s legal team had contended that the search warrant itself was fundamentally flawed, claiming that two Hawks officers had improperly commissioned it.
“Shockingly, it had no official stamp, rendering it legally invalid before the presiding judge,” Mangena said.
The court also heard during Friday’s proceedings that the affidavit supporting the warrant was “riddled with hearsay and lacked specific details regarding alleged offences”.
“The document merely cited pieces of legislation without identifying a single clause or factual link to any criminal conduct, which fell far below the standards expected of a competent investigative authority.”
City Power claimed that Judge Seena Yacoob had pointed out that the sections of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) cited by the Hawks did not correspond to any specific offences related to the alleged procurement irregularities and corruption.
The judge observed that the affidavit failed to present prima facie evidence of wrongdoing, and stressed that “a warrant of this nature could not stand when its supporting documents fail to identify a clear and defined offence”.
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