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Graduation ceremony of new metro police officers at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, 9 September 2025.
The City of Cape Town has conceded it needs to do more to curb gang violence on the Cape Flats.
This as 700 new Metro Police Officers are set to graduate at the Athlone Stadium on Tuesday.
The City’s Member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety and Security JP Smith says the officers will be deployed to various wards where they will be involved in neighbourhood policing.
Video | City of Cape Town to deploy 700 newly trained Metro Police officers:
Smith says running around the street trying to prevent people from shooting at each other will not solve the problem, emphasising that when they do catch them, it cannot be that 95 out of 100 walks free.
Smith maintains that for as long as that is the case, they will struggle.
“It’s good that the Minister Cachalia will walk around in different communities today and I hope while he is doing that that he is thinking about these things because that’s in his hands. The entire process from the investigation, crime intelligence, prosecution, convictions, incarceration, that whole value chain sit exclusively in the hands of national government as much as the city tries its best, we can’t fix that broken part of the criminal justice machine,” says Smith.
💙 The DA-led City of Cape Town is proud to celebrate the Project 1000 Graduation Ceremony at Athlone Stadium!
This momentous day means more Metro Police officers on the ground, making our communities safer!#DAatWork pic.twitter.com/oISt2WRXQi
— DA Western Cape (@WesternCapeDA) September 9, 2025
