Listen here.An anti-immigration raid on a private housing estate in the Western Cape is causing a furore. In this interview with Chris Steyn, Eva Crouwel, a property owner on High Riding Estate, describes how police in a fleet of about six vans - accompanied by Home Affairs officials - descended on the estate last week, gained entry without a warrant, “stopped their vehicles at multiple properties, were knocking on doors, were hooting their cars, effectively in an effort seemingly to gain access to the properties” until they were escorted off the estate by several residents and security. Crouwel, a trained lawyer, says: “I have done some investigation into the various applicable legislations and have not been able to ascertain that there is in fact a permission for access to private residential properties without producing a warrant…And if we allow the Police Force of South Africa to enter those premises without due cause or warrant, then that becomes a very slippery road that we are going to find ourselves on.” While the matter is now under further legal advisement, Crouwel has this advice for other estates: “Unless somebody has a warrant against you or something on your property in a very well described matter, on duly documented legal documents, you are not under any responsibility to let them onto your property.”.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..Edited transcript of the interview.Chris Steyn (00:00.857)An anti-immigration raid on a private housing estate in the Western Cape is causing a furore. With me is Eva Crouwel, a property owner on High Riding Estate. Welcome, Eva.Eva Crouwel (00:14.712)Thank you very much for having me, Chris.Chris Steyn (00:16.647)Please describe to our viewers the scene at the gatehouse of your estate on 23 July.Eva Crouwel (00:24.652)It was quite a conundrum to be honest, because obviously as a private homeowner, we weren't expecting a police force and an immigration service to simply rock up at our house, at the gate of our estate. High Riding is a very rural estate. It is at the bottom of Sir Lowrey’s Pass and it's a very peaceful, very quiet estate….there's there's people having animals there, horses, so you can really think of it as as a little bit of you know, a bit of a farm life within within the Western Cape. So none of us were expecting such a force of police officers to show up at our gate on Thursday morning. There were about five to six police vans there; clearly they were expecting to to transport quite a few people from the estate and there were police officers present. The commissioner for Somerset West, sorry the captain for Somerset West himself was also present at that time. There was immigration service and yeah, that was quite an unexpected visit for us that day.Chris Steyn (01:33.499)What transpired once they had gained access onto the estate?Eva Crouwel (01:37.942)So they drove into the estate… and in High Riding is quite a large estate. the circumference is roughly six and a half kilometers, so you can just imagine the plot sizes are about a hectare. So there's quite a lot of road to cover. There is a communal tar road that goes through the estate, which effectively shows all of the houses from the front, and then there's a large bridal path around it, which is a sand bridal path.And SAPS proceeded to take the tar road and and as well as the bridal path to effectively yeah surveil the properties. There are allegations that they have stopped their vehicles at multiple properties, were knocking on doors, were hooting their cars, effectively in an effort seemingly to gain access to the properties - and then after about twenty minutes they were in fact escorted off the estate by several residents and our security force.Chris Steyn (02:41.767)Did they produce a warrant at any stage?Eva Crouwel (02:45.14)No, they did not. At no stage was a warrant actually presented - and in fact there was some further follow up done by our Homeowners Association who have established that the warrant wasn't actually presented and they are still also investigating the matter in terms of the legalities around SAPS actually entering the estate like this.Chris Steyn (03:09.927)The police captain involved in the operation allegedly told a resident over the telephone that warrants were not needed for, under immigration law. What do you say to that?Eva Crouwel (03:22.338)I am a trained lawyer by profession. I'm not a practicing lawyer in South Africa but I obviously have a large affinity to the law and and more importantly to the rule of law, which you know especially in a country of South Africa is an extremely important instrument to keep reminding ourselves of. As such I have done some investigation into the various applicable legislations and have not been able to stay ascertain that there is in fact a permission for access to private residential properties without producing a warrant. There are various pieces of immigration legislation that gives immigration officers the right to enter premises and search individuals and properties and request documentation. But those rules seem to explicitly not blanketly apply to the South African Police Force, but only to duly appointed immigration officers. And I want on a personal note as it should, in my personal view. So no, there doesn't seem to be a hard legal opportunity here for SAPS to enter premises without a warrant. That being said, we still also have this under advisement with an attorney. Myself as well as the homeowners association has sought further legal counsel on this, but at face value there doesn't seem to be any legal basis for what transpired on Thursday.Chris Steyn (04:51.312)So on what basis did they gain access …sheer intimidation of presence?Eva Crouwel (04:57.92)I think it kinda boils down to that. I can imagine that we as an estate have two security guards, external security guards at our entry gate. And and I can only imagine that when confronted with five to seven police vans and the captain of SAPS and the immigration officer of Home Affairs, you're standing there as a security guard and also obviously you feel potentially that you have no other option but giving these people access.Chris Steyn (05:28.954)Workers on the estate have also been reporting very disturbing encounters with the police off the estate. Can you share some of those with us, please?Eva Crouwel (05:38.646)Yes, so most of the workers that are working in the estate actually reside either in an informal settlement that is quite close to Sir Lowrey’s Pass or in Sir Lowry’s Pass itself. Now obviously these are all the stories that we are being told by our workers, but there's multiple similar stories going around and that is that it effectively seems to be a recurring theme. There seems to be a course of events happening currently where police officers regularly surveil the areas of the informal settlements, pick up individuals seemingly at random from streets and knock on houses and get them to open and and and pick them up from their houses and then they detain them.Unfortunately with these stories also come several allegations of again bribery where the SAPS officers subsequently request bribes to be paid in order for these individuals to be released, whether they are in fact legally papered or not.Chris Steyn (06:56.688)So how do you intend to take this further? You're not going to leave it here.Eva Crouwel (07:01.196)No, I do not. One of the reasons why I decided to go public with this story and thank you very much for you guys to give this platform as well, is because I I think it's vital that we need to draw a line somewhere. It is extremely important that when premises are entered, private residences are entered by police authorities, that there is a level of responsibility and accountability and legality on the basis of which that is done.These are our very fundamental rights that we have as human beings and residents and citizens of South Africa to have safety and sanctuary in our own homes. And if we allow the Police Force of South Africa to enter those premises without due cause or warrant, then that becomes a very slippery road that we are going to find ourselves on. So my intention is to firstly get all facts and circumstances properly documented and legally analysed as well, so that we can have a a legal basis or or lack of a legal basis to further take this up with with the South African Police Force, but also with obviously the Premier of the of of the Western Cape. As much as immigration is a national responsibility, the Premier I feel has a strong responsibility towards the safety and security of its residents. Chris Steyn (08:31.824)After your experience, what would your advice be in the meantime to estate homeowners?Eva Crouwel (08:38.957)I think my initial advice is unless somebody has a warrant against you or something on your property p in a very well described matter, on duly documented legal documents, you are not under any responsibility to let them onto your property. I think that's very important. As even if you have workers on your property, you can show the paperwork of the workers obviously. But that doesn't necessarily require access for the police force to properly obtain those documents. You can just hand them over at the gate. And in addition to that, whether or not you are an actual employer and whether or not a private residence is actually a place of employment is also still a very grey area.So I feel the main message is that residents and homeowners should feel empowered to ask questions when asked to give access to police authorities.Chris Steyn (09:37.392)Thank you. That was Eva Crouwel of High Riding Estates speaking to BizNews after an anti-immigration raid by police and Home Affairs officials without a warrant. Thank you, Eva.