Cape Town Mayor claims SAPS officer numbers down by 1,300 in four years

The City of Cape Town claims the South African Police Service (SAPS) has been steadily reducing the number of officers deployed in the metro.

Speaking during a virtual council meeting on Thursday, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis claimed that SAPS personnel numbers in Cape Town have dropped by about 1,300 over the past four years.

He said this conclusion is based on data gathered from parliamentary replies, public records, and police-to-population ratios.

Hill-Lewis also claims the Cape Town Metro Police Department now has more officers on the ground than SAPS in the city.

"The data tells us that SAPS resources in Cape Town are in steep decline. Since 2021, the number of operational SAPS officers in the Cape Town metropolitan area has declined by approximately 15%, from 8,668 officers in 2021 to only 7,355 in 2025. That’s a reduction of more than 1,300 officers over the past four years," said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

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