Police officers lost or were robbed of 371 service firearms in the six-month period between October last year to March 2024.

This is according to Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, who was responding to a parliamentary question by Rise Mzanzi National Assembly (NA) Member of Parliament Makashule Gana.

The firearms, Gana was told, went missing in the “second semester of the 2023/24 financial year”.

Numbers-wise, Gauteng policemen and women mislaid or had stolen 121 firearms, followed by KwaZulu-Natal (74), Eastern Cape (55) with the remaining six provinces accounting for the other 121.

The majority of the 371 missing weapons (349) were stolen, with the remaining 22 lost. Mchunu revealed that 191 police officers were robbed of their service pistols.

Service pistols accounted for by far the majority of the lost/stolen firearms – 350. Others missing – not necessarily in action – were 12 R5 assault rifles, five R1 assault rifles, and four shotguns.

On the credit side of the ledger Gana heard 120 “identifiable SAPS firearms” were recovered during his specified timeframe with 123 arrests in 331 cases during the second semester of the 2023/24 financial year.

As for ammunition, a total of 29 128 rounds of ammunition were recorded as lost/stolen during the second semester 2023/24, with the majority (18 531) coming from Head Office Divisions. Provincially, the Western Cape accounted for the most missing rounds (3 375), with Gauteng in second place at 2 410.