Cape Town mayor urges police minister to sign off on expanded city policing powers

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has renewed pressure on the national government to approve long-delayed regulations that would allow the City of Cape Town to expand the investigative powers of its municipal police.

Speaking on CapeTalk, Hill-Lewis said recent comments by the police minister acknowledging that the South African Police Service (SAPS) lacks the capacity to defeat gangs made the delay harder to justify.

“It was a frank and quite alarming admission,” Hill-Lewis said. “It seemed like an opportune time to remind him again that those draft regulations are sitting on his desk. He just needs to page to the last page, affix his signature, and we can start to do something about this.”

Draft regulations ‘ready to go’

The mayor said the city had already done the legal groundwork after earlier indications from the minister that he was open to devolving certain policing powers.

“We drafted a set of regulations which are in the right PA format, properly legally drafted and really ready to go,” he said. “That is what we’ve been waiting for an answer on for a long time now — too long.”

Hill-Lewis said discussions around the regulations had dragged on for more than two years, spanning multiple ministers.

“We’ve had lots of warm words, lots of supportive words, but no action,” he said. “We really do just need a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ now.”

Focus on gun crime

If approved, the City plans to prioritise firearms investigations, which Hill-Lewis described as the biggest driver of violence in Cape Town.

“Let’s help investigate the thing that is causing the most distress and the most violence, and that is firearms crime,” he said, pointing to an ‘abysmally low’ conviction rate of about 5%.

He argued that improving arrests and convictions would help break the cycle in which repeat offenders are ‘recycled through the system and back out onto the streets’.

Beyond law enforcement

While defending the focus on criminal investigations, Hill-Lewis acknowledged that policing alone cannot defeat gangs. He highlighted investments in sports facilities and community infrastructure in gang-affected areas such as Manenberg, Bishop Lavis and Khayelitsha.

“High-quality community facilities provide young children, particularly young boys, with healthy physical alternatives,” he said, adding that economic growth was another key pillar.

A caller to the radio station cautioned that gang involvement is often driven by poverty and survival rather than lifestyle choices, arguing that meaningful employment opportunities are essential to steer young people away from crime.

For more information, listen to Hill-Lewis using the audio player below: