Cape Town grapples with illegal firearms: Only 5% of cases lead to convictions

Cape Town municipal officers have confiscated 1,670 illegal firearms between 2021 and January 2025; however, only 81 of these cases have resulted in convictions, raising concerns about what the City describes as a failing criminal justice system.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis revealed the figures during a safety briefing in Hanover Park on Thursday, stating that while City policing operations are successfully removing hundreds of illegal guns from the streets every year, the vast majority of these cases collapse before trial.

“Our investments to grow policing operations are now resulting in over 400 illegal firearms confiscated annually,” Hill-Lewis said.

“These efforts should lead to the removal of hundreds of violent criminals from society each year, but a broken criminal justice system has so far secured convictions in just 5% of the 1,670 cases.”

City data shows that nearly 50% of cases were rejected by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) due to insufficient evidence or poor prospects for prosecution.

In many others, delays are caused by outstanding ballistics or DNA reports, and cases waiting for an NPA decision to prosecute. Some suspects have even remained at large for years despite warrants of arrest being issued.

The City believes a significant part of the problem stems from the fact that municipal officers are prohibited from investigating or compiling criminal dockets.

Hill-Lewis now calls on the National Police Minister to devolve investigative powers to City police officers under the SAPS Act.

“We have the necessary policing resources which are immediately available to help police and prosecutors dramatically raise conviction rates,” he said.

“We stand ready to help gain more convictions for the sake of long-suffering communities where the poorest and most vulnerable are hardest hit by violent crime.”

Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, said the lack of SAPS resources is crippling gun crime cases.

“It is important to note that there are killers still walking free even after being caught as far back as 2021, simply because SAPS lacks the capacity to complete the dockets necessary to go to trial and win,” Smith said.

The City has since introduced training for its officers in statement writing and docket preparation and established a Safety and Security Investigations Unit (SSIU) to assist with building stronger cases.

Cape Town is also investing heavily in crime-fighting infrastructure, including a R800 million rollout of gunshot detection, bodycams, dashcams, drones and the EPIC digital coordination system, but says none of it will matter if convictions remain this low.

“We’re doing our part. SAPS must do theirs,” said Hill-Lewis.

“The devolution of investigative powers is not a political demand; it is a practical solution to a deadly problem.”