More Policing Powers Now: Cape Town lodges intergovernmental dispute
03 August 2026
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced that he has today lodged an intergovernmental dispute ‘as the next crucial step in the fight for expanded powers for Metro Police’. See the full dispute notice issued to Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia. The Mayor made the announcement at the City’s Bishop Lavis LEAP base together with Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security.
The formal dispute - under the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act - follows extensive attempts by the City to engage the Acting Police Minister and his predecessors.
The dispute will now trigger mandatory and prompt mediation with the Acting Minister to try and resolve the issues collaboratively and in good faith without the need for litigation.
‘We refuse to accept that communities must live in daily fear of gang, gun, and drug crime. The time has come to “catch and convict”, which our Metro Police stand ready to do in support of SAPS and the NPA.
‘The City believes we must make full use of all policing resources in Cape Town. SAPS really do need our help as they are under severe pressure to combat violent crime with limited policing resources.
‘Put simply, when a metro police officer confiscates an illegal gun – and we take around 400 of these off the streets annually – the City should be empowered to build a successful docket for prosecutors to gain a conviction. Right now, City officers hand the gun over to SAPS and, due to a broken criminal justice system, just 5% of these cases end up in a conviction, forcing our officers to repeatedly police the same offenders.
‘The City has appropriately trained officers and technology that will strengthen crime investigations, but successive Police Ministers have shown no urgency to expand these powers for Metro Police.
‘And so we have now taken a decision to formally declare an intergovernmental dispute with the Acting Minister of Police, Minister Firoz Cachalia.
‘Crime investigation powers for Metro Police can most easily and urgently be achieved via the SAPS Amendment Bill that Minister Cachalia has introduced to Parliament. If all parties can agree on the necessary amendments via formal dispute mediation, we can find a good faith solution that avoids the courts and puts the residents of Cape Town first,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
The Mayor stressed that the City doesn’t seek to replace or compete with SAPS, but rather to work with police and prosecutors to build winnable dockets and get more convictions for specific crimes - especially gang, gun and drug crime.
Metro policing powers can be expanded within months
The Mayor said that the Constitution makes provision for the prospect of crime investigation taking place in the local government policing sphere, but the SAPS Act – which must give effect to this – does not do so in its current form.
‘Section 205 of the Constitution says that the SAPS Act must establish a framework for policing powers and functions to be discharged by a police service in the local government sphere “where this is appropriate”.
‘We have demonstrated, over and over, that it is indeed appropriate here in Cape Town – that our Metro Police are prepared, resourced and ready to take on investigations for specific crimes.
‘Crime investigation powers can be expanded to Metro Police within months if we can achieve the necessary SAPS Act amendments via formal dispute mediation and the current parliamentary process. If not, the City will seek a court order declaring section 64E of the SAPS Act unconstitutional,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
The SAPS Act Amendment Bill will on 5 August serve before a sitting of the Police Portfolio Committee.
City officers ready to help SAPS
Alderman JP Smith said expanding policing powers to non-SAPS agencies has been done before and is not a new request.
‘Previously, Municipal Peace officers were granted additional crime prevention powers in 2018 that led to the establishment of LEAP, which has without a doubt proved that local government can make a significant impact when given the opportunity.
‘Recently LEAP made a significant arrest while confiscating four semi-automatic rifles in Nyanga, again reminding all of the crucial role they play within our most vulnerable communities. The City is in a position to help SAPS as we are already doing through our SSIU and SSIMS departments along with our enforcement agencies.
‘This is about helping SAPS - not replacing them, but we cannot accept the current norm. Our communities are bleeding and if we can stop the flow of illegal firearms, we can significantly decrease violent crime - the ‘catch and release’ status quo must end.
‘Along with increasing our investigative and information systems, we are also investing into technology that will enable a modern police force to flourish. A lack of technological investment in SAPS is a key contributor to the challenges they face. I want to commend the Safety and Security Portfolio for initiating this process with their motion and the Mayor for following through,’ said Alderman JP Smith.
The City has already made a major safety technology investment for smarter policing, including drones, dashcams and bodycams, CCTV, automated number-plate recognition, and the digital system to coordinate it all, known as EPIC.
City stonewalled by successive Police Ministers
Mayor Hill-Lewis said the City had been stonewalled over the past five years, ‘exhausting every available channel of communication with national government but reaching the same dead end with multiple Police Ministers’.
In 2022, the City sent then Police Minister Bheki Cele a comprehensive motivation for extending investigative powers to our police officers, along with the options for how this could be achieved, with no response.
The City has further engaged with successive Ministers of Police for several years to expand our metro policing powers and immediately wrote to Acting Minister Cachalia when he was sworn in on 1 August 2025.
‘At the Acting Minister’s request, we submitted detailed proposals for policing power regulations in addition to those that have already been issued for public comment. This led to several follow-up letters and engagements.
‘Hopeful that we were now getting somewhere, I again wrote to the Acting Minister in February this year to ask for an urgent way forward on crime investigation powers for Metro Police. The Acting Minister wrote back in April stating that a SAPS Act amendment would be needed, but failed to include this in the Bill he recently tabled in parliament. This was yet another opportunity squandered, which has now led to us lodging this dispute,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
Caption: Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced the lodging of an intergovernmental dispute for more metro policing powers. The mayor was speaking the at the City’s LEAP base in Bishop Lavis on 3 August together with Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security.
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
