Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, has called on community safety structures to support the City’s draft budget for the 2025/26 financial year. With a strong focus on getting more boots on the ground, the draft budget proposes investments for safety, security and to improve the City’s response to crime and emergencies.
Metro police for every ward
For the first time, Smith has suggested that every ward in Cape Town have its own dedicated Metro Police team. He said these teams will be made up of young, qualified officers who will work closely with community structures, SAPS, and neighbourhood watch groups.
“For every one of our 116 wards, we will then have a dedicated presence that works specifically in that area that builds on the investment we made in LEAP and the priority wards and ensures that residents in every part of the city feel the benefit of this additional Metro Police deployment across the city,” said Smith.
More firefighters and emergency response agents
Other key proposals is the recruitment of more firefighters to address the growing demand for fire and rescue services. Smith said the budget will allocate additional resources to help tackle increasing fires and medical rescue incidents. Earlier this month, he earmarked a R17,2 million increase for staffing and resources for this department.
“The fire department is required to respond to more and more incidents every year, both of vegetation fires, structural fires, but also medical rescue incidents. So this draft budget will do something essential in that it will add a significant boost of firefighters to help respond to these incidents citywide,” said Smith.
He said the budget also includes plans to boost staffing for the Public Emergency Communication Centre (PECC). He earlier earmarked an additional R3,6 million for this. He said the PECC has faced pressure as more people rely on the city’s emergency services.
“The call centre will also be getting an additional boost of staff in the draft budget.”
SWAT team, safety & service delivery
A significant addition to the budget is the establishment of a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team to combat violent crime and gang violence.
“With additional boots on the ground to ensure that we can respond to gang and drug incidents across the city, we can respond more effectively to gang violence and to public order policing incidents.”
The City is also set to strengthen its approach to protecting service delivery. Smith has proposed private security services for contractors and city service departments, while they attend to repairs and maintenance of infrastructure like electricity, water, and roads.
In his call to action, Smith highlighted the importance of public support during the budget’s public participation phase. He said this will determine whether it receives approval by the end of May.
“To all the neighbourhood watchers, the CPFs, all the community structures, please support it when the budget is advertised for public comment and help us make this very significant investment a reality in July this year.”
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