The City’s Safety and Security chief, JP Smith, is planning to take legal action against the SAPS if additional policing powers are not granted to the metro police.  

In a social media post, Smith said the formal process to do so began last year, following years-long calls for more policing powers for the municipality.  

Smith reiterated this position during a mayoral committee meeting on 20 January, where he said progress was discussed on a motion to challenge the South African Police Service through legal channels.  

“This is a formal process that was initiated in 2025 to give Metro Police more powers to fight serious crime. It would allow them to investigate things like illegal firearms, drugs, and extortion, the crimes that are driving violence in our communities,” said Smith.  

Smith believes this is the necessary next step in the hopes of addressing a broader issue of crime in the city.  

“We can play a bigger role in the fight against violent crime because the type of violence our communities are experiencing are premeditated and executed by professional criminals.” 

He maintained that convictions, rather than arrests alone, are what is needed to allay violent crimes, especially in high-crime areas. He said it’s what the residents in high-crime areas “need and deserve”.

While emphasising that the City is not seeking to replace the SAPS, Smith said it is ready to play a stronger supporting role.  

But he believes that progress is unlikely under the current system.  

“The criminal justice system needs to stop being a tool for corrupt politicians, stop fishing for guppies, and start deep-sea fishing using POCA and other legislation available to them. But I don’t see this happening, so we need to devolve additional policing powers to local and provincial government now,” Smith insisted.  

He also criticised what he called the “gatekeeping of policing powers”, saying the resistance has prevented local government from responding effectively to violence. 

Smith further noted that devolving additional powers would not only benefit Cape Town but could serve as a national intervention in addressing South Africa’s violent crime crisis. 

“In the last 17 years, the City of Cape Town has built enforcement agencies that are supporting SAPS with boots on the ground, information, technology, and assisting with investigations where allowed. The only thing that can be done is the destruction of an institution that has seen stable governance for more than a decade, something extremely rare in post-Apartheid South Africa,” said Smith. 

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