Cape Town seeks expanded policing powers to fight gang, gun and drug crime

08 August 2025

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the City has filed a game-changing proposal for municipal police to be granted powers to investigate crime and up convictions for gang, gun, and drug offences. This forms part of the City’s official comment on new draft regulations for municipal policing powers, published by the National Police Minister for public participation. See the City’s full submission here:  https://bit.ly/4oGBvrk

‘We absolutely must improve conviction rates for gang, gun, and drug crime in Cape Town. This is the only way to remove more criminals from the streets of long-suffering communities, where the poorest and most vulnerable are hardest hit.
‘We’re glad the Police Ministry is willing to grant more powers to City officers, but the draft regulations don’t go far enough. To make a meaningful difference for communities, our officers must have the all-important power to investigate crime to really help SAPS and prosecutors succeed.

‘The City takes 400 illegal guns off the streets per year, but the conviction rate for these cases is just five percent due to our broken criminal justice system. With investigative powers, we can vastly improve this situation.
‘I’ve also written to new Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to ask for his support. It is my hope that, far from being a placeholder, the Acting Minister will actually help us make Cape Town safer by advancing these regulatory proposals and supporting us to get the existing Cooperation Agreement with SAPS working well in our city,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
The City’s proposal would see the new regulations grant investigative powers to City Police for offenses linked to:

• The Firearms Control Act
• Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act
• Prevention of Organised Crime Act
• National Road Traffic Act
• Certain property-related offences, including theft and house-breaking (various statues)
• Violent crime, including public violence, robbery, domestic violence, assault, and intimidation of City frontline services (various statutes)

Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, said it was irrational for City officers to be granted incomplete powers related to crime prevention, without the power to investigate.

‘Our officers need more than just the existing powers to search and arrest – they need criminal investigative powers to build prosecution-ready case dockets. City police are often the first responders at crime scenes, and must have the authority to preserve and lawfully obtain evidence, maintain an unbroken chain of custody, and initiate a prosecutable case file. Without these powers, time-sensitive evidence is at risk of degradation or loss, witness recollections are not formally captured, and prospects of successful prosecution are diminished.

‘Our case-tracking data shows that low conviction rates are largely due to the lack of detectives and investigative capacity within SAPS, outstanding ballistics and DNA reports, and slow court and prosecution processes.

‘We believe that our track record has shown that despite limited resources and policing powers, City police have made a massive impact in the fight against crime. With the necessary investigative powers, we are ready to do much more to improve the unacceptably low conviction rates. Granting only partial powers – as the regulations currently do - undermines the purposes of crime prevention and justice,’ said Alderman Smith.

The City is further recommending that the power to investigate crime be accompanied by:

- power to conduct forensic, ballistic or other forms of examination of exhibits that require expert analysis

- the ability to take witness statements and open dockets

- integration with the SAPS CAS system and/or acceptance of an independent system of crime-recording

- Real-time access to SAPS crime stats info and criminal case status updates

In the interim, the City has introduced a special training module to ensure all its officers have the necessary statement-writing and docket-building skills in anticipation of the devolution of investigative powers.

In its comment, the City further recommends that the Minister consider introducing a framework for tiered or differentiated devolving of policing powers, where expanded powers may be granted to municipalities that meet criteria of capacity, accountability, and oversight. This would ensure that only capable municipalities are entrusted with investigative functions, while incentivising others to build their readiness.

Cape Town continues to invest in growing its policing resources, including:

• Over 1 200 officers deployed to major crime hotspots via the LEAP initiative in partnership with the Western Cape Government
• Further growth of over 1 100 uniformed officers since 2021, including the upcoming deployment of 700 more officers to provide dedicated neighbourhood policing capacity in each ward and to escort service delivery teams in unsafe areas
• A major R800m safety technology investment for smarter policing, including drones, dashcams, gunshot detection, aerial surveillance, CCTV, dashcams, bodycams, automated number-plate recognition, and the digital system to coordinate it all, known as EPIC.

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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office