Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has called on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to stop the ‘catch and release’ of drug dealers harming local communities. The Mayor was speaking at the Mitchells Plain Magistrates Court where a suspect arrested by Metro Police in Woodlands for possessing 30 packets of tik, has been granted unrestricted bail without opposition by the NPA, despite a prior conviction for drug possession and charges for murder and assault.
Metro Police first arrested the man for suspected drug dealing on 9 April – an arrest the Mayor witnessed first-hand. The NPA failed to oppose bail or even check if the suspect had a prior criminal record. Metro Police however obtained the record of past convictions and charges, which Mayor Hill-Lewis brought to the Regional NPA’s attention, calling for stricter bail conditions to prevent further drug dealing.
Despite this, the matter was today postponed for a second time until 14 August, with the NPA again failing to ask the court to impose any restrictions on the suspect’s bail.
‘The NPA and SAPS practice of “catch and release” is not acceptable to communities living in fear of gang, gun and drug crime.
‘I again witnessed first-hand today how a suspected drug dealer was simply released on unrestricted bail by the Mitchells Plain Magistrates Court, without the NPA arguing for strict conditions to keep him away from schools, restrict his movements, or prevent him from dealing to the vulnerable. This is the same drug dealer I personally witnessed our Metro Police arrest for possession of 30 packets of tik back in April. It is now July and the trial has not proceeded while the suspect freely operates in the community.
‘We call on the NPA to instruct its prosecutors to oppose bail for violent drug dealers in gang-impacted communities on the Cape Flats, and to advocate for strict bail conditions wherever needed.
‘Low conviction rates for gang, gun and drug crime is exactly why the City is calling for more policing powers for Metro Police, particularly to investigate crime and build case dockets.
‘The time has come to “catch and convict”, which our Metro Police stand ready to do in support of SAPS and the NPA,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, said Metro Police routinely make over 2 000 drug arrests annually and participate in over 1 000 drug raids.
‘As it stands, our officers find illegal narcotics, make an arrest, and hand the suspects over to the relevant authorities, only for the criminal justice system to fail to secure a conviction. This forces City enforcement agencies to repeatedly police the same offenders.
‘If Metro Police and Law Enforcement had the power to go a step further and build the docket, we could get many more gangsters off the streets and disrupt the drug trade which fuels violent crime and gangsterism,’ said Alderman Smith.
The City’s full submission on expanding draft regulations for municipal policing powers, published by the National Police Minister, can be viewed here: https://bit.ly/4oGBvrk
