The ANC wants the Western Cape to fail on crime – Solly Moeng

Political commentator Solly Moeng said that the ANC is using rampant gang violence and drugs as a political weapon ahead of elections.

Moeng shared his views about South Africa’s political and economic environment during a discussion on Biznews.

He said he interviewed JP Smith, the mayoral committee member for safety and security in Cape Town, about crime in the Western Cape.

“The DA in the province has been asking the national government to devolve some of the policing powers,” he said.

“They wanted to enable the province to take care of the rampant criminality, especially the gang violence and drugs that we see in the streets.”

However, the ANC refused. “The political interpretation of it is that the ANC wants the DA to fail,” Moeng said.

He argued that the ANC cannot afford to see the DA succeeding where it fails elsewhere in South Africa.

“Besides, it is a great political weapon for the ANC to use against the DA ahead of elections, claiming the DA is failing to reduce levels of violence in the Western Cape.”

Moeng said that it is entirely reasonable for Smith to request certain things which will help the SA Police Service to fight crime in the province.

“That will help the National Police focus its resources elsewhere and let the province do things like crime investigation and the preparation of dockets,” he said.

“This ensures that cases end up with the prosecution authority in a very firm presentation, rather than being thrown out of court on technicalities.”

He said that this approach will allow the DA to act against crime and also remove the ability to make excuses.

Cape Town plans to build its own detective branch to fight crime

On Saturday, 13 June 2026, Cape Town Mayor and DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said they want to build a Cape Town detective branch to take criminals off the streets.

Hill-Lewis, who announced his candidacy for the DA mayoral position on Saturday, shared this idea with Biznews.

He said that unless the detective branch in South Africa is fixed, the country will not turn the tide on crime.

“Rebuilding SAPS will be a 10-year, perhaps even a 15-year project, because the South African Police Service (SAPS), like all other departments, has crumbled,” he said.

“The thing that actually delivers convictions, the thing that gets a criminal off the street and into prison, is a good detective and a good investigation.”

He cited a study in Cape Town that tracked every gun that their officers have taken off the streets. They checked the status of every case in court.

“We found a shocking result: 95% of those cases had gone nowhere. Only 5% led to a conviction,” Hill-Lewis said.

“The cases were either dismissed due to long delays or had been sitting and waiting for ballistics tests from SAPS forensics for 2 years or more.”

He said that the City of Cape Town can do more of its own investigations. “We must win this fight on investigations so that we can look into these crimes,” he said.

He said that their investigations team can produce the investigation and docket reports, and hand over a solid, convictable case to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

“If we can do that, we can actually get criminals off the streets. It is all well and good to arrest them, but if they are back the next day or the next week, it does not help.”

“Therefore, what I really want to do is build our own Cape Town detective branch, take on this fight regarding investigations, win it, and build our own investigative capacity.”