The City of Cape Town will pay for tip-offs which lead to arrests in gang violence and drug running on the Cape Flats, it was reported on Monday.

The city's legal team had worked for months to interrogate the legal limits of a system of informant pay-outs, safety and security mayoral committee member JP Smith told the Cape Argus.

He declined to elaborate on the rates, and said the amounts would depend on the "quality and accuracy" of the information.