Quarterly Crime Stats: City ready to help SAPS fight crime

30 May 2023

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the City is crowding crime prevention resources into hotspot areas to help SAPS fight crime, but much more can be achieved with the devolution of policing powers. 

'While crime remains unacceptably high across the board, the quarterly crime stats do show encouraging quarter-to-quarter declines in both murder and contact crime across Cape Town stations in the Top 30 for these categories nationally. These account for most of the crime hotspots where the City has deployed 1 200 law enforcement officers under the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) together with the Western Cape Government. We are also investing R860 million over three years in crime-fighting technology such as CCTV, drones, body and dashcams, aerial surveillance, and gunshot detection tech.

'Just today, the City announced the further deployment of 80 Facility Protection Officers and 200 monitors to guard frontline staff and public buildings in crime hotspots, with a focus on precisely the areas consistently showing the highest crime levels,' said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

Hill-Lewis said that with more policing powers, particularly to investigate crime, the City can help SAPS by building prosecution-ready case dockets on gang, gun, and drug crime.

'All that is required to devolve more peace officer powers is a declaration from the Justice Minister under the Criminal Procedure Act, as was already done to an extent in 2018. We are also calling for a simple amendment to the SAPS Act, to expand the definition of 'criminal investigation' to include municipal law enforcement. So far, our requests to the President and relevant Ministers have fallen on deaf ears, but we will never stop standing up for Capetonians living in daily fear of crime. We will continue to use every available means to escalate the voices of those impacted by crime directly to the powers-that-be in national government,' said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security said of the country's Top 30 stations showing a year-on-year decline in murder, 36% of these are LEAP deployment areas.

'Of the 11 Top 30 stations with murder rate declines nationally, four of these, or 36% are LEAP areas. These stations are Harare (-18%), Kraaifontein (-14%), Khayelitsha (-13%), and Mfuleni (-5%). We also note that 50% of the Top 30 stations showing contact crime declines are LEAP areas, namely Khayelitsha (-10,8%), Harare (-7%), and Delft (-5%).

'We are further heartened by the quarter-to-quarter declines across the Cape Town stations in the Top 30 nationally. While this is partly due to less prevalence of crime outside of the festive season, we are seeing sustained declines in some of the key precincts over time. The City will continue doing everything we can to help SAPS fight crime, including with smarter, tech-led policing interventions,' said Alderman Smith.

Alderman Smith said that declines from Q3 22/23 – Q4 22/23 in murder in LEAP deployment areas in the Top 30 stations nationally include: Gugulethu (25,5%); Mitchells Plain (26,2%); Delft (30,2%); Mfuleni (47,2%); Nyanga (48,5%); Kraaifontein (33,3%); Harare (29,3%) and Khayelitsha (10%).

Quarter-to-quarter contact crime declines include Gugulethu (14,8%); Mitchells Plain (3,9%); Delft (9,3%); Mfuleni (14,8%); Nyanga (9,8%); Kraaifontein (15,7%); Harare (18,8%) and Khayelitsha (15,3%).

End

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office