(a) A municipality is empowered to establish a municipal police service in terms of Chapter 12 of the SAPS Act.
(b) The expression law enforcement officer must be interpreted in the confines of section 334 of the CPA and other applicable legislation, for instance, the SAPS Act, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, and the National Road Traffic Act, 1996 (Act No. 93 of 1996) (the applicable legislation).
(c) In terms of the applicable legislation a municipality cannot establish a criminal investigation unit that is not a municipal police service as contemplated in Chapter 12 of the SAPS Act, and the Notice cannot confer powers on a municipality to establish such a criminal investigation unit.
(d) In terms of the interpretation in paragraph (b), the expression means—
(i) a member of a municipal police service, established as a municipal police service in terms of Chapter 12 of the SAPS Act; and
(ii) a traffic officer, reserve traffic officer, traffic warden and reserve traffic warden contemplated in the NRT Act, appointed by a municipality.
(e) A member of a municipal criminal investigation unit, which has not been established as a municipal police service in terms of Chapter 12 of the SAPS Act, cannot for purposes of the Notice be regarded as a peace officer.
(f) Section 334(2)(a) of the CPA provides that a person who is a peace officer is only authorised to exercise the power of a peace officer if he or she is in possession of a certificate of appointment issued by his or her employer. The Minister has in terms of the Notice, in terms of section 334(3)(a) of the CPA, prescribed that a certificate of appointment referred to in section 334(2)(a) of the CPA can only be issued if the employer of a "law enforcement officer appointed by municipality" has been furnished with a certificate of competency by the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service in which it is stated that such a "law enforcement officer appointed by municipality" is competent to exercise the powers conferred upon a peace officer in terms of the Notice.
I do not intend to withdraw the Notice as issued by the then Minister of Justice.