City of Cape Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has called on Acting National Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to find urgent solutions to the resource crisis faced by the Police Anti-Gang Unit.

Hill-Lewis says the lack of vehicles, firearms and even bulletproof vests is of concern given the ongoing gang violence plaguing the city’s most vulnerable communities.

The Mayor says a part of the solution would be for the City’s officers to join forces with police in the fight against gang, gun and drug crime. He adds that testimonies from police officers in anti-gang units in the Western Cape about the growing sense of crisis inside the South African Police Service should be a wake-up call to government.

“Officers say that they don’t have sufficient weapons, bulletproof vests, or vehicles while they are expected to do dangerous work. This underscores that it is increasingly irrational to resist the City’s request for our officers to be granted criminal investigative powers so that we can help SAPS to ensure more convictions in Cape Town,” says Hill-Lewis.

It’s becoming increasingly irrational to resist our request for additional policing powers to be devolved in Cape Town.

Just read this in the ST today. Police officers in gang units with no weapons, no bulletproof vests, a handful of working vehicles, no spare tyres for the… pic.twitter.com/uyvIGA1vCk

— Geordin Hill-Lewis (@geordinhl) August 24, 2025