'Good old-fashioned community policing' as Cape Town residents get dedicated safety officers

Amy MacIver (standing in for CapeTalk's John Maytham) chats to Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis.

Listen below:

The City of Cape Town will start deploying 700 new neighbourhood safety officers across every ward in the coming weeks.

The move, announced as part of the City’s latest municipal budget, aims to improve visible policing, reduce response times, and foster stronger relationships between officers and local communities.

Hill-Lewis describes it as a return to "good old-fashioned community policing", where officers are embedded in their communities and know both residents and local crime hotspots.

He adds that the initiative has been in the planning for several years, but only recently became feasible thanks to budget availability. 

"This has been on the cards for a couple of years... it's just been about trying to find a way to be able to fund it because it's quite a significant investment from our rates base. We must thank Cape Town's ratepayers for making it possible."

- Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town Mayor

Hill-Lewis says the programme intends to fill the gap left by declining national SAPS resources, and reflects growing frustration among local authorities over slow national responses to crime.

While the recent spike in gang violence has highlighted the urgency, he confirms that the safety officer deployment is part of a long-term city-wide plan.

"We've put 1,000 officers into the gang hotspots. Now, because of this flare-up, we've put an extra 200 officers into those hotspots, really to help do SAPS' primary function."

- Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town Mayor

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