The Democratic Alliance (DA) has accused the national government of letting policing in the Western Cape disintegrate, warning that the South African Police Service (SAPS) is on the verge of total collapse.

Party leader in the province, Tertuis Simmers, said detectives are overloaded and short-staffed while violent crime continues to devastate communities.

The party said it would be launching a "Power to Protect" campaign which would lobby the Acting Police Minister and Justice Minister to make two legislative changes which would improve policing in both the province and the country.

Simmers said the campaign firstly calls for devolving policing powers to capable municipalities. The party wants the Acting Police Minister to amend the SAPS Act so municipal police can also investigate crime, and not only prevent it. The current Act says the function of municipal police services is to only prevent crime, with no reference to investigations, a change which would strengthen city police forces.

Secondly the party wants the Justice Minister to allow municipal peace officers (which includes metro police and municipal traffic officials) to respond to a wider variety of crimes. This could be done through the amendment of one schedule in the Criminal Procedures Act.

The DA said severe police understaffing was a serious problem in the province. Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis reinforced the alarm, revealing that SAPS deployment in the city has dropped by 1 313 officers over the last five years, with a parallel decline in vehicles leading to slower response times.

While national policing resources shrink, the City of Cape Town has expanded its own safety network, training over 1 000 new Metro Police and law enforcement officers. Through the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP), launched in 2020, local enforcement units have made 45 447 arrests, including 31 237 drug-related offences, and seized 841 illegal firearms.

“Every week, families in our province mourn loved ones who have been gunned down in their own streets and homes,” said Simmers. “Mothers bury sons, children lose parents, and communities live in constant fear not because of a lack of will to fight crime, but because national government has failed to provide the policing resources our people deserve.”