Police Oversight and Community Safety

(1)    (a)   In partnership with the City of Cape Town, the LEAP programme has been deployed to various hotspots in the City of Cape Town area, including Nyanga, Manenberg, Hanover Park (Philippi) and Lavender Hill (Steenberg) over the course of 2024/25 financial year. The LEAP aims to consistently assist the SAPS and Municipal police in the recovery of illegal firearms and ammunition.

               (b) From all the areas where LEAP was deployed during 2024/25 financial year, LEAP alongside the South African Police Service (SAPS) confiscated 169 firearms, 15 homemade or zip guns, 58 imitation firearms, over 5 000 live ammunition rounds and 126 blank ammunition rounds. Notably, the LEAP officers recovered 10 firearms in Nyanga during that period. The LEAP Reaction and ShotSpotter units which were deployed in the Steenberg, Hanover Park, Manenberg, Elsies River and Nyanga recovered 27 firearms during the year. The LEAP is complementing the SAPS and thus patrol problematic areas and thus promote visibility.

  (2)  The Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety, together with all Western Cape Government departments, City of Cape Town, and the South African Police Service signed a 5-year Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) aimed at increasing safety in the province. These institutions have committed to work together to share expertise, resources and technologies to address crime in the Cape Metropole.

This Agreement primarily focuses on integration, collaboration and jointly finding solutions to prevent the onset of violence by addressing its root causes and creating safer communities. Targeted proactive and preventative interventions and programmes will be implemented and will include early childhood interventions, youth intervention programmes, parenting programmes, community programmes, school-based educational programmes, substance abuse prevention programmes and gender-based violence programmes that will inform on social preventive measures and build long-term community resilience. The intention is to promote and encourage positive changes in behaviour, environments, and social norms.

This will require building long-term sustainable partnerships with key stakeholders and ensuring buy-in from communities, and therefore the Department will work with and capacitate community safety structures such as Community Policing Forums, Community in Blue and Neighbourhood Watches thereby enabling public and community participation in the development, planning, and implementation of interventions.

               Moreover, the Department intends to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation with the District and Local municipalities with the aim of increasing safety in the rural areas. The Department is leading the process of finalizing the Western Cape Safety Plan version 2 which affords all three spheres and civil society to collaborate and form partnership on interventions aimed at promoting safety in the province. In this regard, all municipalities outside the Metro have been consulted and made their contribution to the plan.

1. The Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety has institutionalised several mechanisms to ensure community oversight and participation in shaping local safety strategies, particularly through the involvement of Community Policing Forums (CPFs):
2. CPF Functionality Assessments: Community Police Fora (CPF) are assessed annually to determine their level of functionality, in line with the Western Cape Community Safety Act. The assessment tool focuses on compliance with statutory responsibilities, community engagement, and participation in safety initiatives. CPFs in areas such as Nyanga and Philippi (Hanover Park) were assessed in the 2024/25 financial year.
3. Participation in Safety Planning:  Community Police Fora (CPF) contribute to the development and review of local safety plans. In high-crime precincts, CPFs participate in Area-Based Team (ABT) engagements, where they share insights into local crime trends and community needs, fostering a more responsive and community-focused approach to safety. The Provincial CPF Board has created a Safety Plan Template, which is fully supported by the Department, for local CPFs to use in documenting their safety plans, projects, and activities.
4. Inclusion in Integrated Safety Forums: Community Police Fora (CPF) participate in various stakeholder platforms and safety forums that facilitate collaborative planning and coordination among SAPS, municipal structures, and civil society. These platforms aim to ensure alignment and shared accountability across the local safety environment. For instance, Sub-Council 13, which encompasses Gugulethu and Nyanga, has become a vital structure for fostering community safety discussions. At the most recent Nyanga Sub-District meeting, CPFs were urged to raise safety-related concerns with their respective Sub-Councils. This strategy supports the department's broader goal of integrating safety into local governance structures and ensuring that community oversight is actively part of formal decision-making processes. Additionally, the CPFs from Philippi (Hanover Park) and Steenberg (Lavender Hill) regularly attend Mitchells Plain Sub-District Meetings and hold their own local CPF meetings with SAPS and safety partners.

These mechanisms enable CPFs to play an active role in shaping safety strategies, ensuring that community voices are reflected in safety planning, implementation, and oversight at the local level.