Premier

           Since the 2019 declaration of an intergovernmental dispute, the Western Cape Government has made a number of good-faith efforts to engage with national government, including the SAPS and the Ministry of Police, in order to facilitate a resolution to longstanding problems of insufficient and inefficient allocation of police resources to the Western Cape.

         The comment referenced in the question referred to my growing frustration with the slow progress of these efforts, and my personal view that decision makers at the national level have thus far failed to take the Western Cape’s policing needs seriously enough. As demonstrated by the below response, the Western Cape Government has faced a number of challenges in working collegially with relevant bodies at the national level, and thus while a further intergovernmental dispute has not yet been declared, we will not take this option off the table as we fight for the fair and equitable allocation of policing resources to our province.

         I have thus consulted with the Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety, and have been informed that:

         (1)(a) Yes, an intergovernmental dispute was declared by the Premier of the Western Cape on 25 April 2019 in relation to the determination of national policy in relation to policing needs and priorities in the Province and notice was given to the then Minister of Police, Mr  Cele, in terms of section 41 (1) of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act 13 of 2005 (“IRFA”).

         (b) The Premier requested that Minister Cele convene a meeting to determine the nature of the dispute and to identify mechanisms, other than a court of law, to assist in the resolution of the dispute, and to designate a facilitator to arrange the resolution of the dispute. Thereafter, the then MEC for Community Safety, Adv Fritz, met with Minister Cele in June 2019 to discuss a possible resolution outside of the formal legal process. It was resolved to engage the SAPS and various stakeholders to unpack and address the recommendations made in the Policing Needs and Priorities (PNP) report.

         (c) Following the meeting in June 2019, the formal intergovernmental dispute resolution process as contemplated in IRFA was not pursued further as the parties had agreed in good faith to engage further to resolve the dispute without having to proceed with the IRFA process. The parties continued to engage around numerous issues following this period. In 2019, the SANDF was deployed into the Western Cape to address high levels of gang violence, which continued into 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic required a national lockdown. The Western Cape further funded the establishment and deployment of the Law Enforcement Advancement Programme (LEAP) from March 2020 in the highest murder precincts in the City of Cape Town. This was an initiative which aimed to increase law enforcement resources in the worst affected areas, to address some of the policing shortages in those areas. The province was further given the opportunity to contribute to the development of the National Policing Policy which places a greater emphasis on the policing needs and priorities of the provinces in terms of section 206(1) of the Constitution. However, this policy was only finalised and adopted in 2025, and progress in its implementation by SAPS in this regard has been slow.

         As part of the commitment to improve relations between the SAPS, the province and the City of Cape Town, the three parties entered into a cooperation agreement in August 2024. This agreement has enabled improved collaboration with the SAPS and City of Cape Town, but has not been able to fully resolve longstanding issues in relation to policing resources and resource allocation.

         Additionally, I have personally engaged the acting Minister of Police, Professor Firoz Cachalia, as well as his predecessor, several times with regard to the policing needs of the Western Cape. I have repeatedly suggested that the Western Cape Government be allowed to assist in terms of certain areas where the SAPS has failed.

         The Policing Needs and Priorities reports have since 2019 consistently pointed out shortcomings in human resources and made repeated calls to SAPS to increase the number of human resources and to amend the system for the allocation of human resources at police stations – especially in relation to the areas of investigative capacity and crime intelligence. The Western Cape Government continues to engage the SAPS with a view to ensuring these issues are addressed.

         (2)    While the SAPS and/or Ministry of Police have thus far refused to enter into any binding agreement with regard to increasing policing resources to the Western Cape, the Western Cape Government continues to use as many avenues as possible to achieve this outcome.

         (3)    As stated above, the Western Cape has thus far made great effort to engage in good faith with national government on the issue of police resourcing. Additionally, a matter in this regard is currently ongoing. In December 2018, the Equality Court in the matter of Social Justice Coalition and others v Minister of Police and others (EC3/2016) found that the system for the allocation, and the actual allocation of police resources in the Western Cape, unfairly discriminated against black and poor people on the basis of race and poverty. The hearing on the remedy was separated from the hearing on the merits of the case. During 2019, the case regarding the remedy was underway, with various submissions by opposing parties. The Western Cape Government decided to allow the judicial process to proceed to determine a remedy.

                  There have been many delays in the case, which is still pending. I have been informed that the South African Police Service recently requested that the matter be postponed to June 2026 so as to allow it to engage in a public participation process around the Theoretical Human Resource Requirement (THRR) – which is the strategy for determining the allocation of police resources. The applicants have agreed to the postponement. The Western Cape Government is closely monitoring the progress of this matter, and will factor in its progress in its decision making going forward.

(4), (5), (6) and (7): When read in full, the comment made during the 2026 State of the Province Address makes it clear that a further intergovernmental dispute remains an option of last resort should the many good-faith efforts made to engage and work with the SAPS and Ministry of Police continue to proceed at a slow pace. Thus, while no further intergovernmental dispute has yet been initiated, the WCG continues to view this as a possibility in future.

         (8) Police resourcing provincially has largely remained stagnant since 2019. While the total number of SAPS officials in the Western Cape has increased by 2% between 2019 and 2025, the number of SAPS members in the Western Cape has not kept pace with population growth, with the result that the Western Cape’s police to population ratio remains higher than the national average. There are still disparities in the way that human resources are allocated to police stations, with some of the stations with the highest murder figures still receiving markedly less than the provincial ratio. Accordingly, the Western Cape Government has continually called for an amendment to the Theoretical Human Resource Requirement, to ensure a more equitable allocation of policing resources and to ensure that more resources are placed in police stations where they are most needed. As mentioned above, in the pending litigation in the Equality Court the applicants have agreed to afford SAPS an opportunity to embark on a public participation process around their THRR in order to make revisions. The Western Cape Government has also taken what steps it can to alleviate the critical shortage of personnel through the LEAP programme, which currently deploys over 1 000 law enforcement officers to nine of the highest murder precincts to support SAPS and increase policing visibility.

The Western Cape Government will continue to use all available avenues to fight for a fair and equitable allocation of SAPS personnel to the Western Cape.