Minister Cachalia’s month of silence on investigative powers for Cape Town Metro Police
26 August 2026
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia is yet to fulfil constitutional obligations to engage with the City on powers for Metro Police to investigate gang, gun, and drug crime. This is despite the Acting Minister recently stating he has an “open mind” to investigative powers for Metro Police, which the City is asking him to trigger by amending his SAPS Act Amendment Bill currently before parliament.
Mayor Hill-Lewis lodged an intergovernmental dispute on 29 July, legally obligating the Acting Minister and City to ‘promptly’ convene a meeting to chart the dispute mediation process under Section 42 of the Intergovernmental Framework Relations Act.
'It has been a month of silence despite Minister Cachalia’s constitutional obligations to engage us promptly on our intergovernmental dispute.
‘Investigative powers for Metro Police are urgent for the sake of communities living in daily fear of gang, gun, and drug crime. We must make full use of all policing resources in Cape Town as SAPS are under severe pressure and really do need our Metro Police’s help to gain more convictions.
‘In good faith, we will presume the Minister was not available for the initial dispute mediation dates we proposed. I have now written again to propose new dates for an initial online meeting and we await the Minister’s urgent response.
‘Our goal is to gain the Minister’s agreement to amend his Bill currently before parliament - this is a simple practical way to expand metro policing powers. The time has come to “catch and convict”, which our officers stand ready to do in support of SAPS and the NPA,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
Acting Minister claims to have “an open mind”
In recent remarks before the Police Portfolio Committee, Acting Minister Cachalia claimed to have an “open mind” on investigative powers for Metro Police, but that “cross party consensus” was required.
‘The Minister stated that it is necessary to “build a cross party consensus” on the matter. It is not clear what he means. He is the Minister. All that is needed is for him to show leadership and amend the SAPS Act Amendment Bill he has tabled in parliament. It is unclear what further consensus building is needed, and this sounds like an effort to delay doing the right thing.
‘Section 205 of the Constitution says that the SAPS Act must establish a framework for policing powers and functions to be discharged by a police service in the local government sphere “where this is appropriate”.
‘We have demonstrated, over and over, that it is indeed appropriate here in Cape Town – that our Metro Police are prepared, resourced and ready to take on investigations for specific crimes.
‘The dispute mediation is an opportunity to put the residents of Cape Town first and find a good faith solution that avoids the courts,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
City officers ready to help SAPS
Alderman JP Smith said expanding policing powers to non-SAPS agencies has been done before and is not a new request.
‘Previously, Municipal Peace officers were granted additional crime prevention powers in 2018 that led to the establishment of LEAP, which has without a doubt proved that local government can make a significant impact when given the opportunity.
‘Recently LEAP made a significant arrest while confiscating four semi-automatic rifles in Nyanga, again reminding all of the crucial role they play within our most vulnerable communities. The City is in a position to help SAPS, in fact we are already doing so through our SSIU investigations unit and SSIMS information management department.
‘Our communities are bleeding and if we can stop the flow of illegal firearms, we can significantly decrease violent crime - the ‘catch and release’ status quo must end,’ said Alderman Smith.
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