Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba plans to lobby national government to grant big metros the power to prosecute and have their own prisons.

Mashaba revealed this during a presentation of the City of Johannesburg’s monthly crime statistics‚ where the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) provided feedback on arrests.

These included 664 arrests that JMPD officers made for driving under the influence in September‚ 13 arrests for car theft and 22 arrests for the possession of drugs.

Mashaba said no municipality had the power to prosecute crimes in its jurisdiction as Section 179 of the Constitution gave those powers to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

“I am lobbying the new government. I hope in the 2019 elections that the new government can listen to big cities and municipalities like us … so that we can be given the powers to prosecute‚ have our own prisons and do our own investigations.

“Right now‚ unfortunately‚ our poor colleagues in JMPD can only arrest and give (the suspects) to the Hawks and the NPA and that is where it ends.”