By Brig Dirk Lambrechts
Question
Given the vast number of case law Servamus has published in the recent past about unlawful arrests, a reader wants to know which factors a court takes into account when deciding whether an arrest and/or detention is lawful.
Answer
Background
Pollex welcomes this type of question and has based his response on the extremely informative, instructive and educative court decision of Ms Felicia Longman v Minister of Police, Case no 20/2023, High Court, Mahikeng dated 15 January 2025 (NWM). Pollex suggests that the verbatim (word-for-word) judgment of this case – and maybe this discussion – should form part of the study material regarding lawful arrests and/or detention, at the relevant training facilities.
Maybe, by doing so, it will decrease or even end unlawful arrests and detentions and thus save billions of rand for the SAPS/State and win back the esteem (Afrikaans: “agting/aansien/ waardering”) of South Africans for the SAPS.
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[This is only an extract of an article published in Servamus: November 2025. This article is available for purchase.]