Hawks' raid at City Power's headquarters unlawful, rules Johannesburg High Court

The Johannesburg High Court has ruled that the Hawks’ recent raid at City Power’s headquarters was unlawful.

On Friday, the court delivered its judgment on City Power’s urgent application, in which the utility sought to have the operation set aside.

City Power argued that the search warrant used by the Hawks to conduct the raid at its headquarters was invalid and defective.

Last month, the Hawks carried out a search-and-seizure operation at City Power’s headquarters as part of an investigation into a R64 million contract for the supply of electricity transformers.

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EWN has reliably learned that although payment was made, the transformers were never delivered by the agreed deadline of December 2023.

During the raid, the Hawks sought to obtain the purchase order for the tender and also attempted to access a copy of the utility’s entire server.

City Power, however, argued that the search warrant presented was vague and failed to clearly outline the scope or purpose of the operation.

On this basis, the utility challenged the validity of the warrant in court.

The Johannesburg High Court has now ruled in favour of City Power, declaring the warrant defective.

City Power's spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, asserted that the ruling validates the utility's long-held view.

“The ruling affirms our strongly held view that the so-called investigation against the utility has been marred by irregularities, procedural flaws, and a flagrant disregard for due legal process,” Mangena said.

He further noted that during the proceedings, City Power's legal counsel, Adv. Musa Mthembu exposed fundamental defects in the Hawks' application.

These include that the affidavit accompanying the search warrant was never properly commissioned, with two Hawks officers, Tlou Martin Nailana and Ramasela Lindy Molepo, who are investigating City Power, allegedly writing and commissioning it themselves.