The Johannesburg High Court has ruled in favour of City Power, granting an urgent interdict to suspend the Hawks’ execution of a search warrant that the court found was unlawfully issued and legally defective.
The elite crime-fighting unit raided City Power’s premises in September as part of a corruption probe involving five employees. However, the warrant authorising the raid, dated 17 September 2025, was found to contain serious procedural and legal flaws.
City Power welcomed the ruling, saying it vindicated the utility’s long-held position that the investigation was “deeply flawed” and marred by irregularities.
“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,”
said City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena.
According to Mangena, City Power’s legal representative, Advocate Musa Mthembu, exposed several defects in the Hawks’ application during the court hearing. Among the most serious was that the affidavit supporting the search warrant had never been properly commissioned — it was written and signed by the same two Hawks investigators, Tlou Martin Nailana and Ramasela Lindy Molepo, and lacked an official stamp.
“Shockingly, it had no official stamp, rendering it legally invalid before the presiding judge,” Mangena said.
Adv. Mthembu further argued that the affidavit was “riddled with hearsay” and failed to present factual evidence linking the alleged misconduct to specific legal breaches. It also cited sections of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) without referencing any identifiable offence or clause, falling short of evidentiary standards required for a warrant.
In her ruling, Judge Seena Yacoob found that the PFMA sections relied upon by the Hawks did not establish any identifiable offence, and that a warrant cannot stand when its supporting documents fail to present prima facie evidence of wrongdoing.
The court’s decision effectively halts the Hawks’ probe until a lawfully obtained warrant is issued, if at all.
City Power said the outcome reinforces the need for accountability in law enforcement processes.
