*CRIME STATS REVEAL TRUTH BEHIND CAPE TOWN’S CRIME SPIN* By *Jonathan Cupido*, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor & Caucus Whip Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the justice system is “broken.” But the real breakdown is in the City of Cape Town’s policing priorities and its obsession with spin over substance. The City’s statement, citing only a 5% conviction rate for illegal firearms seized, is not only misleading but exposes the core failure of its own Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) on which hundreds of millions has been spent, thousands of boots deployed, and yet, crime stats show a city still ravaged by violence. A review of all four quarters of 2024–2025 Crime stats, the data clearly shows overall violence remains entrenched, proving that simply confiscating guns doesn't disrupt the criminal systems that keep replenishing them. The City of Cape Town remains a national crime hotspot despite its claims of progress. With Delft, Mfuleni, Nyanga and Phillipi East once again filling 4 out of the 5 top spots for the most murders reported in the final quarter of the year. Despite deploying over 1,200 LEAP officers and spending R800 million on tech, communities in the Cape Flats are still gripped by fear. The fact that nearly half of gun cases (49.5%) handed to SAPS by the City were deemed unprosecutable due to poor quality evidence, is not a SAPS failure alone, it is a failure to prepare proper dockets, gather compelling evidence, and maintain reliable chains of custody. But the City is now using this to demand the devolution of investigative powers. Shifting the blame from their own incompetencies to make the crime problem a national failure. We repeat our demand for a comprehensive cost-benefit review of the LEAP programme. Cape Town deserves safety and transparency, not more politics dressed up as policing. It is time for real investment in community-rooted crime prevention, youth programmes, addiction services, and job creation. Until then, the idea that confiscating 400 guns a year amounts to progress is nothing more than political theatre. Because for every gun taken, a new one replaces it, and the violence continues. The only thing we agree with the mayor on is that “No Capetonian should live in daily fear of crime in their neighbourhood“