Under South Africa's constitutional framework, SAPS is the national police service. Metro police and municipal law enforcement officers are limited largely to traffic policing, by-law enforcement and visible crime prevention. They do not have full criminal investigative powers. Because of this, the City's specialised units are deployed to back up and support SAPS rather than replace it. The City of Cape Town has campaigned for years to have investigative powers devolved to its police through changes to the SAPS Act. It said it had submitted formal comments on draft national regulations on municipal policing powers, but that these had not yet led to changes.
The dispute escalated recently. On 3 August 2026, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced a formal inter-governmental dispute with acting Police Minister Feroz Cachalia over devolving policing powers to Metro Police. The City said the newly tabled SAPS Amendment Bill contained no changes to the section of the Act that would give metro police meaningful investigative abilities. The City says it does not want to replace SAPS. It wants Metro Police to help SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority build stronger cases. Critics counter that expanding municipal powers risks creating a second police service operating alongside SAPS.
The City's capacity figures are part of this argument. The City says 1,263 new officers were added between 2021 and 2025, a 48% increase, while SAPS personnel in the province fell by an estimated 15%. The debate also bears on conviction rates, which remain low even as arrests and specialised task teams increase. On crime trends, SAPS reported that 17 community-reported serious crime categories fell 4.3% in the Western Cape between April and June 2026 compared with a year earlier. Carjackings dropped 14.6% and residential robberies fell 15%.
