Geordin Hill-Lewis, the Democratic Alliance (DA) candidate for Cape Town mayor, pledged to establish a Metro Police Detective Branch if his party wins [1].
The proposal seeks to shift the balance of law enforcement by placing a dedicated detective unit under municipal control to combat violent crime [2].
Hill-Lewis campaigned in Delft, a township on the Cape Flats, on Wednesday to outline the plan [1]. He said the initiative would create the first detective branch of its kind for a metro police service in South Africa [2].
The move is intended to improve policing efficiency and response times in high-crime areas. By integrating detective capabilities directly into the metro police structure, the DA aims to provide a more localized approach to criminal investigations [2].
While Hill-Lewis was previously announced as the party's mayoral candidate in Hanover Park, his recent visit to Delft focused specifically on the security expansion [3]. Hill-Lewis said the unit would specifically target violent crime to increase safety for residents of the Cape Flats [1].
The plan remains a central pillar of the DA's strategy for the upcoming local government elections. The party intends to leverage municipal resources to fill gaps in national policing services, provided they retain power in the city [2].
“establish South Africa's first Metro Police Detective Branch”
The proposal represents a significant push for the devolution of policing powers from the national government to the municipal level. If implemented, a city-managed detective unit would allow Cape Town to bypass certain national bottlenecks in criminal investigations, potentially creating a blueprint for other South African metros to manage their own specialized crime-fighting units.
