Premier
In the light of his recent calls for urgent reforms to the SAPS’ Operation Prosper, citing poor intelligence, weak investigations and continued gang violence despite deployments:
(a) What specific engagements has he had with the national government to address these shortcomings and (b) what measures has he put in place to ensure that the LEAP officers support the SAPS and the recently deployed army?
I am informed that:
1. (a) Minister Marais, several officials, and myself have engaged with the SAPS several times in relation the deployment and other relevant matters. As this House will be aware, I met with Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia a number of times last year, and also engaged with him on 4 February and 13 March of this year – the latter of which was during the Western Cape’s Police MINMEC engagement. I further wrote to him to discuss our views on the deployment of the military to gang hotspots on 23 January 2026.
Additionally, on 26 November 2025, before the deployment was first announced, I wrote to both Minister Motshekga and Provincial Commissioner Patekile to request their assessments of the successes and failings of the 2019 SANDF deployment. While PC Patekile delivered a brief reply, essentially stating that the SAPS was unable to draw firm conclusions of the deployment due to the overlapping effects of the COVID lockdowns on crime, Minister Motshekga never responded.
Since the Operation was announced, the matter has been discussed at the Western Cape Safety Council meeting of 22 April 2026. Additionally, I have been informed that officials from the Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety attended an Operation Prosper PROVJOINTS briefing on 23 March. That same month, the Anti-gang Priority Committee was briefed by the SAPS. Additionally to this, Minister Marais and the HOD of POCS met with provincial SAPS management on 21 April 2026. A presentation was also delivered at the meeting of the Western Cape Cabinet on 20 May 2026.
As should be clear, this government has been at great pains to engage with senior decision-makers at the national level to ensure that Operation Prosper is a success. However, our efforts to engage and offer input have not always been met with enthusiasm.
We must be clear on this matter. The question would see to imply that it is the mandate of the Western Cape Government to fix the shortcomings of Operation Prosper. Sadly, this is not the case. Since the outset, we have welcomed the additional resources made available through the operation, but have warned that these resources must be deployed with the benefit of strong intelligence capabilities in targeted operations that result in arrests and convictions so as not to replicate the failings of the 2019 Operation Lockdown. Thus far, our warnings have been ignored, and we now see the same mistakes being made. The fact is that this deployment takes place on the initiative of the President, and under the exclusive control of the South African Police Service and South African National Defence Force. Due to the centralised model of policing that some members of this House so strenuously defend, we do not have a mandate to resolve the very notable shortcomings in Operation Prosper.
- Authorisation has been granted for LEAP Officers to provide support to the South African Police Service when Operation Prosper interventions are carried out in their deployment areas. However, it must be noted that the purpose of LEAP is to act as a force multiplier for the SAPS during intelligence-led operations. The Western Cape Government has been abundantly clear in its position that the commitment of LEAP officers must be matched by a more equitable deployment of SAPS personnel and resources, as well as a restoration of the SAPS’ investigative capacity in order to build prosecution-ready dockets in cases of repeat offence and gang-affiliated offenders. Thus far, the SAPS has not acted to address these challenges. As such, while the LEAP initiative is comparatively small compared to the resources of the SANDF and SAPS, it is increasingly viewed as a solution to the problems senior SAPS management have created through continuous under-resourcing and neglect of investigative capacity within their own organisation.
While LEAP officers will assist with any workable effort to make our communities safer, they cannot be expected to fill the gaps left by inadequate resourcing, inequitable deployments, and failures to address the collapse of investigative capacity within the SAPS.
