SONA: Cape Town ready to help President reform policing, rail and more
07 February 2025
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the City is ready to work with President Cyril Ramaphosa to urgently improve policing, passenger rail and more following a State of the Nation Address (SONA) full of promises for major reforms.
‘We welcome the President’s commitment to crime-fighting partnerships between SAPS and metro’s. A Memorandum of Agreement is already in place to guide policing cooperation in Cape Town, and we are already sharing valuable crime-fighting data generated by the City’s safety technology investments of over R800m.
‘We are especially encouraged by the President’s emphasis on taking illegal guns off the street to bring down violent crime in our most vulnerable communities.
‘Our well-trained municipal officers already confiscate hundreds of illegal firearms annually and make thousands of drug arrests. We can do far more - and gain convictions – if our officers are given crime investigation powers to help SAPS and prosecutors build prosecution-ready case dockets for gang, gun, drug and extortion-related crime.
‘This immediate boost for the State’s criminal investigative capacity can be quickly achieved by the Police Minister issuing regulations under the SAPS Act. Based on the President’s SONA promise to fight gun crime, we will soon approach the Police Minister with draft regulations for more policing powers for our well-trained municipal officers. Issuing regulations will be much quicker than amending the SAPS Act, and we are already discussing draft regs with SAPS and the Western Cape Government as part of the legal workstream of our cooperation agreement,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
On passenger rail, Cape Town is set to have complete business plans in place by mid-2025 to take over the management of passenger rail services following the metro’s completion of a Rail Feasibility Study last year.
‘We are encouraged by the President’s commitment to better passenger rail infrastructure and more trains in the coming years. In Cape Town, we have a vision to massively scale up passenger numbers, new train sets, new routes, and to upgrade stations and surrounding areas with affordable housing over the next two decades.
‘This year, Cape Town will be ready to take over running of passenger rail, with complete business plans in place. We are ready to work with the President and PRASA to revive our city’s rail network in a devolved system in line with the City’s constitutional mandate of providing an integrated public transport system. This is especially urgent for lower income households, who would save an estimated R932m a year if trains worked as they should,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
Mayor Hill-Lewis also welcomed various positive housing reforms announced by the President, including the intention to release more well-located land, improve state-subsidies for affordable housing, review building regulations to enable low-cost development, and focus on reclaiming hi-jacked public buildings. The recent undertaking by the National Government to re-commit funding to emergency housing provision is also welcomed.
‘Regarding ports, while the President spoke of a general intention to invest in port infrastructure to improve efficiency together with private partners, the speech was lacking in specifics regarding the urgent reforms needed at the Port of Cape Town, currently ranked among the worst in the world for efficiency.
‘We will follow-up directly with the President on the specific plans to turn the situation around. An efficient port will raise exports of locally produced products and drive job creation in these industries, and especially in our vital agricultural sector. We need a clear and urgent deadline for greater private sector involvement in Cape Town’s port operations,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
