Hill-Lewis takes Police Minister to task over Metro Police powers

The City of Cape Town says expanded Metro Police powers would help strengthen criminal cases, while Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis argues SAPS needs support in combating gang, gun and drug crimes. Cape Town MayorGeordin Hill-Lewishas lodged an intergovernmental dispute withActing Police Minister Firoz Cachaliaover the City’s demand for expanded powers for Metro Police officers to investigate certain crimes. The dispute, lodged in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, follows years of engagements between the City and successive Police Ministers over allowing municipal policing structures to take on a greater role in crime investigations.

The City said the dispute will now trigger mandatory mediation with Cachalia in an effort to resolve the matter collaboratively and in good faith without resorting to litigation. Hill-Lewis said Cape Town’s Metro Police were ready to assist theSouth African Police Service(SAPS) and theNational Prosecuting Authority(NPA) in dealing with violent crime, particularly gang, gun and drug-related offences. “We refuse to accept that communities must live in daily fear of gang, gun, and drug crime.

The time has come to ‘catch and convict’, which our Metro Police stand ready to do in support of SAPS and the NPA,” Hill-Lewis said. He said the City believed all policing resources in Cape Town should be used, arguing that SAPS was under severe pressure to combat violent crime with limited resources.