Cape Town: The Roads and Public amenities will be key focus areas as Cape Town heads into the peak festive season celebrations. The public is urged to refrain from throwing caution to the wind.
The City of Cape Town has created the festive season safety plan that includes increased patrols on the roads and places of public interest, like CBDs, beaches and other public open spaces.
SAPS officers have also kept close tabs on public transport vehicles leaving major interchanges on long distance trips. Those operations resulted in 3,323 fines issued for various offences which are most notably for:
- not wearing seatbelts
- unlicensed motor vehicles and drivers
- overloading
The liquor pound of the City of Cape Town has taken receipt of 1,942.74 litres of alcohol (4,201 units) since December 01, 2025 and the enforcement services have made at least 157 arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety and Security – Alderman JP Smith said that these statistics will increase in the days ahead, considering how many times they’ve sung the same refrain about responsible behaviour, particularly around alcohol use.
According to Smith, the arrests, fines and confiscations are also indicators of the work being done to reduce harm. And, while some might feel that they can get away with behaving badly, this is not true for everyone. So, if people want to take that chance this holiday season, they can.
At the waterside recreational facilities of the City of Cape Town, lifeguards have recorded one first aid incident at swimming pools. Beaches by their nature, have been far busier with 22 water rescues, 29 first-aid incidents and 13 incidents involving anti-social behaviour.
Reportedly, there were 11 non-fatal drownings. Three fatal drownings have been recorded in Cape Town, and two are the subject of police investigations, one was bathing-related and none of these fatal drownings took place where lifeguards were on duty.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Services and Health – Councillor Francine Higham expressed another concern that is, eight of the non-fatal drownings to date have been children aged between ten and seventeen.
She urged to remember that children need to be supervised at all times and make sure that they are aware of the dos and don’ts while swimming. Most importantly, let all follow the instructions of the lifeguards at the beaches and pools this season, and do take advantage of the Identikidz programme.
On busy days, it can take a second for a child to become separated from their family or caregivers. And, Identikidz helps reduce the stress and anguish by making sure that they can easily reunite them. The Identikidz Programme registered 25,830 children to date and reunited 30 with their caregivers.