By Akani Nkuna
Democratic Alliance leader and Cape Town mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis has pledged to establish South Africa’s first Metro Police Detective Unit if re-elected, saying the move will strengthen criminal investigations and improve conviction rates.
Hill-Lewis was addressing hundreds of DA members and supporters in Delft, Cape Town, on Wednesday, where he launched the party’s “Stronger Policing Pledge” ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
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“We are going to take Cape Town forward by building South Africa’s first Metro Police Detective Unit. This has never been done anywhere in South Africa,” Hill-Lewis said.
“For four years I have worked with three police ministers and they all tell me the same thing: ‘We will think about it. We will get back to you.’
“We are not going to wait for you to do the right thing anymore. We are going to get on with the job of investigating crime ourselves. We are not going to wait for you to fill those 200 detective vacancies in Cape Town while our people suffer.”
He said the proposed detective unit would focus on gathering evidence to strengthen criminal cases and improve the conviction rate, arguing that too many arrests fail to result in successful prosecutions because of inadequate investigations.
Hill-Lewis also pledged to root out corruption within law enforcement, saying the detective unit would investigate corrupt police officials to promote accountability and ethical policing.
“The DA government will clean out corrupt SAPS officials. Catch, convict and clean. We are going to build on the technology investments we have made and on the LEAP deployments by making the City of Cape Town the first municipality in South Africa to have a Metro Police detective branch,” he said.
He said the DA remained committed to improving safety across Cape Town, particularly in gang-affected communities on the Cape Flats.
Hill-Lewis accused the ANC of allowing the South African Police Service to deteriorate, saying chronic detective shortages had weakened criminal investigations and left residents vulnerable to crime.
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“It is heartbroken mothers who are paying the price because crimes are not being investigated. When crimes are not investigated, ordinary people are forced to live behind bars while criminals walk free on the streets,” he said.
Hill-Lewis said increasing the number of officers on the streets, as the City had done during his first term, was not enough on its own.
He argued that a dedicated Metro Police Detective Unit was needed to ensure arrests resulted in successful prosecutions and safer communities.
