The Western Cape Police has labelled City of Cape Town figures, which suggest a low 5% conviction rate for the possession of illegal firearms, as inaccurate and misleading.
These figures have been linked to the 1,670 firearms confiscated by the City’s law enforcement from January 2021 to January 2025.
In a statement dated 22 May 2025, the City said its policing operations are removing over 400 illegal guns from the streets every year, but that a broken criminal justice system secured convictions in just 5% of these cases, which comes to 81 convictions out of the 1,670 firearms seized.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and the MMC for Safety and Security again urged the government to devolve policing powers to the Metro, especially criminal investigative powers, to help build “prosecution-ready” case dockets for gang, gun, and drug crime.
But the office of the Western Cape Police Commissioner says, contrary to the inaccurate figures being circulated, an analysis of its conviction record paints a far more encouraging picture.
The SAPS says their detectives have consistently achieved high conviction rates:
- 2021/2022 Financial year: 86% conviction rate
- 2022/2023 Financial year: 86% conviction rate
- 2023/2024: Financial year: 89% conviction rate
Commissioner Thembisile Patekile’s office says firearm-related crime remains a top priority for SAPS in the Western Cape, where firearms are frequently used to commit serious and violent offences.
“In response, SAPS members are relentlessly pursuing armed criminals, aiming not only to remove illegal firearms from our communities but also to ensure the successful prosecution of those found in possession of them.”
Colonel Andre Traut says misinformation, especially when it undermines public confidence in policing and the justice system, can generate unwarranted fear and mistrust.
“It is therefore essential that accurate and verified data be shared responsibly to support, rather than hinder, our collective efforts in fighting crime.”
The City’s research, however, stands in stark contrast to the police’s conviction rates for illegal weapons.
The Metro maintains that of the 1,670 illegal firearms that were recovered by Safety and Security services from the period January 2021 until January 2025:
- 81 cases (4,8%)resulted in a guilty verdict.
- 126 cases (7,5%) are enrolled and the trial under way, many suffering months or years of delay waiting for ballistics testing.
- 75 cases (4,5%) await the NPA’s decision to prosecute
- 38 cases (2,3%) have warrants of arrest issued, some as far back as 2021, with the accused on the run.
- 152 cases (9%) have outstanding ballistic or DNA reports.
- 180 cases (10,8%) were ‘provisionally withdrawn’, meaning the case is not dropped, but that suspects remain out on bail because the NPA and SAPS still need to finalise the criminal docket before it is ready to be brought to court.
- 826 cases (49,5%) were deemed by the NPA to either have insufficient evidence (320) or no prospects of successful prosecution (506), a stark indication of the lack of detective resources to conclude a comprehensive investigation.
- 111 cases (6,6%) are either being transferred between stations or deemed to have the incorrect case particulars.
- 12 persons (1%) cannot be tried as they are deceased, and a further five cases resulted in a not-guilty verdict.
Hill-Lewis maintains that low conviction rates are largely due to the lack of detectives and investigative capacity within SAPS, outstanding ballistics and DNA reports, and slow court and prosecution processes.
“We have the necessary policing resources, which are immediately available to help police and prosecutors dramatically raise conviction rates and remove hundreds of violent criminals from communities suffering due to gang, gun, drug, and extortion-related crime.”
JP Smith also echoed that the Metro stands ready to help with investigations and the completion of dockets to gain more convictions.
“All we need now is the necessary investigative powers to go ahead and build prosecution-ready case dockets together with the SAPS and NPA. All City police officers are receiving training in docket-building in anticipation of these powers being devolved. We remain hopeful that the recently signed Memorandum of Cooperation with SAPS in our region will lead to a solid partnership in removing violent criminals from our streets. It is vital that, together with SAPS, we now settle the implementation protocol to give life to this cooperation agreement.”
A high-level meeting with provincial SAPS top brass on 17 March 2025 led to a SAPS invitation for District Commanders to work more closely with the City to provide status updates on firearms cases. Smith says these engagements are ongoing.
The City says it has further submitted a PAIA application seeking to gain more insight into why there appear to be delays in specific cases.
