Cape Town - Mayor for the City of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis has pleaded with Ministers of Police and Justice, Bheki Cele, and Ronald Lamola to formally respond to the city’s request for more policing powers.
This week President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his parliamentary response, opposed more policy-making powers for provinces on policing.
The Western Cape Government (WCG) has called for the devolution of more powers to shape policing policy and accountability.
In a letter dated August 18, Hill-Lewis called for more policing power to help the South African Police Service (SAPS)fight crime and stated the City already had the law enforcement capacity to do so.
More policing powers for municipal officers would enable them to compile prosecution-ready case dockets, especially on key crime categories such as firearms, drugs, gangs, and metal theft plaguing the metro.
Hill-Lewis said Ramaphosa missed an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in combating crime and was silent on specific constitutional means of devolving the powers the City proposed to Cele and Lamola.
While the City has its own municipal police service, it seeks more power via section 99 of the Constitution or by expanding the existing legislative framework for policing.
“‘I am appealing to President Ramaphosa: do not abandon our communities who are living in daily fear of violent crime, and support our call to empower local law enforcement with more policing power.
“Our fight is with criminals, not politicians. The City already has officers on the ground who can help SAPS fight crime, and we are investing millions in safety technology and coordination for more effective policing.
“Together we can take more guns and drugs off the streets, and prevent the many tragedies and lives needlessly lost in our communities.
“This is about children being able to play safely outside, and for residents to have simple freedom of movement and a chance at a better life.
“We can help SAPS fight crime and make Cape Town safer together. We keenly await Minister Cele and Lamola’s positive response to this sincere offer of support,” Hill-Lewis said.
He said the request to Cele to consider a devolution of policing powers under section 99 does not conflict with the constitutional provision for a single police service as the Constitution allows for the SAPS to be structured differently at national, provincial and municipal levels.
The mayor further offered the SAPS more immediate assistance by extending existing peace officer powers granted to municipal law enforcement.
This would require the issue of another declaration by the Justice Minister, as was done in 2018 when more powers were conferred to municipal law enforcement.
“Municipal law enforcement has more than tripled its arrest rate in recent years due to increased investment, with 50% of these arrests being drug-related.
The City is investing in more than 230 new Law Enforcement and Metro Police officers in this financial year alone, and hundreds of millions of rands in crime-fighting tech in the city - from cameras to drones to gunshot location technology, with a record R5,4bn Safety budget in 2022/23,” Hill-Lewis said.
He said in partnership with local government, the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) has delivered 1 100 new officers in communities impacted by high crime rates, including Delft, Nyanga, Khayelitsha (Site C), Philippi (inclusive of Hanover Park), Bishop Lavis, Mfuleni, Harare, Gugulethu, Kraaifontein, Mitchells Plain, Atlantis, Philippi East, and Samora Machel.
“As of July 31, 2022, LEAP officers have made 8 500 arrests overall since the first deployment in February 2020. Over 220 guns have been taken off the streets in line with LEAP’s aim of helping the SAPS reduce murders and other violent crimes,” Hill-Lewis added.
IOL