Cape Town – Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the City is not seeking to replace the South African Police Service (SAPS) but wants greater policing powers to strengthen the fight against crime.
Hill-Lewis announced a formal intergovernmental dispute with acting Police Minister Feroz Cachalia over the devolution of policing powers to the City’s Metro Police, citing ongoing gang violence, gun crime and extortion affecting communities.
He said the City had lobbied national government for years without success and criticised the recently tabled SAPS Amendment Bill.
🚨👮♂️ BREAKING NEWS: The City of Cape Town has officially declared an intergovernmental dispute with the Acting Minister of Police, over his failure to extend investigation powers to Cape Town Metro Police Officers.
We have tried every collaborative effort to get successive… pic.twitter.com/WmoKt6GlOr
— Geordin Hill-Lewis (@geordinhl) August 3, 2026
“The acting police minister recently tabled the SAPS Amendment Bill, which was the ideal opportunity to rectify this, but it was yet another… opportunity squandered,” SABC News quoted Hill-Lewis as saying.
He argued that the legislation fails to give Metro Police meaningful investigative powers.
“The SAPS Act is effectively being used to block investigative powers for metro police officers,” he said.
Hill-Lewis maintained that the City’s aim is to bolster law enforcement efforts, not replace SAPS.
Meanwhile, according to IOL, Hill-Lewis said the City wants Metro Police officers to be empowered to investigate crimes linked to illegal firearms, gangs and drugs, instead of handing cases over to SAPS after making arrests.
He argued that this would improve prosecution rates, saying City officers recover about 400 illegal firearms annually, but only around 5% of those cases reportedly result in convictions.
WATCH | Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the city has filed an intergovernmental dispute with the acting National Police Minister over the devolution of policing powers, specifically for crime investigations, for all metros, including the City of Cape Town. pic.twitter.com/HemrTSn5B5
— SABC News (@SABCNews) August 3, 2026
“We refuse to accept that communities must live in daily fear of gang, gun and drug crime,” Hill-Lewis said.
He stressed that the City was “not attempting to replace SAPS or compete with national police officers”, but wanted Metro Police to assist SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority by building stronger cases.
Hill-Lewis added that Metro Police already have access to technology such as drones, body cameras, CCTV, automatic number plate recognition systems and the City’s EPIC digital policing platform, which could support criminal investigations if the SAPS Act is amended.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
