And Leadership Is Failing Us
CCN NEWS
Cape Town residents deserve honesty, transparency, and leadership that puts public safety first. 
But the latest traffic report tells a different story, one of rising chaos on our roads and a City administration that refuses to take responsibility.
Between July 2024 and June 2025, more than 2.7 million traffic offences were recorded.
Red-light violations increased by 49%.
Speeding offences reached 1.84 million.
These figures are not signs of a city in control. They are signs of a system collapsing.
Yet JP Smith continues to promise “world-class enforcement” while blaming motorists, staff shortages, and anything else except his own failing department. Millions are being collected from old warrants, but new offences continue to rise sharply. High-tech tools like dashcams and licence-plate recognition look good in press releases, but they are not stopping reckless driving on our roads.
Worse still, the City’s own revenue figures expose a dramatic decline in enforcement:
July 2025: R23.8 million (down from R28.2 million)
August 2025: R23.5 million (down from R30.4 million)
September 2025: R24.2 million (far below R30.2 million two years earlier)
Last year saw an even bigger shock, August brought in R30.48 million, then September crashed to R20.65 million. Nearly R10 million disappeared in a single month, with zero explanation. And nine months of the current financial year have no data at all.
This is not transparency.
This is not accountability.
This is hiding failure.
Meanwhile, the Safety and Security Portfolio Committee, the very structure meant to hold the department accountable, sits silently and rubber-stamps reports with a simple “noted.”
“No questions. No oversight. No concern for the safety of the public they are meant to serve.
Cape Town residents see the truth:
More crashes.
More reckless driving.
More lawlessness.
Less enforcement.
Less accountability.
Cape Town deserves better.
We need leaders who treat public safety as a priority, not a political performance. We need councillors who speak up, not those who protect the status quo. And we need JP Smith to answer for rising offences, missing data, and millions in lost revenue.
You cannot claim “world-class safety” when enforcement is collapsing.
You cannot blame the public when your own systems are failing.
Cape Town needs real accountability, and it needs it now.
Grant Pascoe – Social Media
