Heavily armed police conducted a compliance inspection at the premises of Calvin and Family Security Services in Durban North.
Image: Tumi Pakkies / Independent Newspapers
Heavily armed members of the South African Police Service’s Operation Buyisa tactical unit raided businessman Calvin Mathibeli’s security company headquarters in Durban North on Thursday, following a court decision allowing a firearms compliance inspection, IOL reported.
Several police vehicles were stationed outside the premises, with armed officers deployed around the building during the operation.
The raid followed a ruling by the Durban High Court on Wednesday, which dismissed Mathibeli’s urgent application to interdict the South African Police Service (SAPS) from conducting a firearms compliance inspection at his company, Calvin and Family Security Services.
Mathibeli had approached the court after SAPS notified him on March 11 of a planned compliance inspection scheduled for March 19, under Operation Buyisa.
“The court found that Mr Mathibeli’s application lacked urgency and dismissed it with costs. He was ordered to pay legal costs to SAPS,” police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Mukhathi said.
Mukhathi said members of Operation Buyisa proceeded with the inspection on March 19 as mandated by the Constitution and in terms of Section 109 of the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000.
Operation Buyisa is a nationwide SAPS initiative aimed at removing illegal firearms from circulation and addressing non-compliance among security companies and firearms dealers.
“As part of SAPS’s priority to curb the proliferation of firearms in the country, members of Operation Buyisa continue to conduct operations across multiple provinces to track down and confiscate firearms from security companies operating outside the ambit of the law, including illegal firearms,” Mukhathi said.
He added that compliance inspections are being conducted nationwide to ensure that security companies, dealers and individuals adhere to firearm regulations.
“In combating gun-related violence, SAPS is intensifying efforts against the proliferation of firearms by conducting licence and compliance inspections at security companies holding firearms,” he said.