The Western Cape had the highest number of confiscated firearms, and KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng ranked second and third.

According to Dr Guy Lamb, a political conflict lecturer at Stellenbosch University, the vast majority of illegal firearms circulating in South Africa are sourced from within the country.

Lost and stolen handguns, mainly pistols and revolvers, make up the majority of guns on the illegal market.

“They’ve been lost or stolen from licensed firearm owners, and they’re probably the greatest source of illegal weapons,” Lamb said. “Every year, there are anywhere between 6 000 and 8 000 civilian firearms that are legally held that are lost or stolen.”

Also, about 1 800 firearms are lost and stolen from police, military, or other state entities. In 2016, former Gauteng police colonel Christiaan Prinsloo confessed to selling thousands of firearms to Cape Flats gangs, including some semi-automatic and automatic weapons.

Last year, GroundUp reported on inconsistencies in the record-keeping of lost and stolen state-owned firearms.

Lamb said that criminal groups might also establish private security firms as a means to access firearms.

Some weapons flow into South Africa from neighbouring countries. In late August, nine people appeared in a Windhoek court for stealing firearms, including AK-47s, from a Namibian military armoury and attempting to smuggle them into South Africa.

According to a report by Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, one of the ways these weapons are smuggled is through trucks carrying fresh goods, such as flowers or fruit.

More than 40% of murders in South Africa are carried out with firearms. According to Gun Free South Africa, a non-profit organisation, 33 people are murdered with guns in the country daily on average.

To address the illegal firearm market, Lamb said there needs to be targeted policing operations to confiscate firearms and measures in place to reduce their loss or theft. For example, in the past, SAPS has held firearm amnesties, where people can surrender illegal or unwanted guns without fear of prosecution.

He also said there can be better security for SAPS 13 stores, the rooms where confiscated weaponry is held in police stations. Gun Free South Africa has called for tighter control over licensed firearms held by state and civilian users and proper stockpile management with regular audits.

Written by GroundUp and republished with permission. The original article can be found here.

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Free State SA Police Service (SAPS) reports the recovered items as a “large number” of R1 and R5 ammunition, stun and smoke grenades, pencil flares, a thunder flare [flash] and “hand signal smoke”.

The Tuesday 26 November search and seizure operation saw elements from Crime Intelligence, Ladybrand K-9 unit and the Bloemfontein tactical response team (TRT) remove suspected SAPS and SA National Defence Force (SANDF) ammunition and explosives for safekeeping while the investigation continues.

A 56-year-old man was taken into custody and is expected to face charges in connection with possession of stolen ammunition and explosives.

SAPS Free State Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane, said “sharpened intelligence” led to the bust.

The South African Police Service said investigation in the matter will be continuing so as to dig deeper into how such a large amount of ammunition and explosives ended up in the hands of an individual who is not authorised to possess it.

The latest bust follows one on 20 November when police in Gauteng arrested a security officer (Mark Llewellyn Kannemeyer) for allegedly selling an assault rifle and ammunition to zama zamas around the West Rand area. A search of the suspect’s work vehicle revealed an AR-15 rifle with a filed-off serial number wrapped in a towel. Kannemeyer claimed the rifle belonged to G4S, his employer, and he was using his company vehicle.

At his house, three additional firearms and various calibres of ammunition (7.62 mm, 5.56 mm, .38 Special, 9 mm, and shotgun) surpassing 2 300 rounds were seized. The suspect stated that these firearms and ammunition also belonged to G4S and that he possessed a permit for them. A follow-up investigation will be conducted to verify these claims, the SAPS said.

“This operation’s success underscores the dedication and effectiveness of our law enforcement agencies in combating illegal firearm activities. We are committed to ensuring the safety and security of our communities and will continue to pursue justice with unwavering resolve”, Stated, the Provincial Head of the Hawks in Gauteng Major General Ebrahim Kadwa.

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Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) National Assembly (NA) public representative Molebogeng Letlape voiced concern over what she termed a significant number of lost and stolen firearms forming part of the illegal firearms in circulation in South Africa. She asked for details in a written question to Mchunu. Apart from numbers she wanted the police minister to explain what happens to recovered firearms.

Of the missing firearms – 8 241 in total – in the immediate past financial year, only 255 were traced and returned to their owners, she was told in a written reply.

Mchunu further informed her recovered firearms with visible serial numbers are “linked” with owners and returned to them “provided the owner is still fit to possess the firearm(s)”.

Firearms without serial numbers or where these have been removed – “obliterated” is the Ministerial word of choice – go to the SAPS ballistic section where forensic scientists analyse them by way of an etching process. If this is successful the results are used to trace the owner(s).

Firearms that cannot be returned to their legal owners are forfeited to the State for destruction.

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A total of 11 421 handguns, 1 708rifles, 1 205 shotguns, and 28 ‘combination firearms’ were melted down during a destruction process at Vanderbijlpark after being seized by the police or handed in.

Of these firearms, the largest portion, 4 676, were seized in Gauteng. The Western Cape and Eastern Cape followed with 3 117 and 1 834 respectively. February saw a previous batch of 18 077 destroyed. This latest batch of destroyed firearms brings the total of firearms destroyed since 2019 to 263 545. This includes firearms that were voluntarily surrendered during the amnesty period.

SAPS noted that all working firearms were subjected to IBIS (Integrated Ballistic Identification System) testing, in order to determine if any firearms had been used to commit a crime. National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola stated that SAPS intends to increase operations aimed at recovering and removing illegal firearms from South Africa’s streets, due to the “threat to the safety and security of the inhabitants of this country.”

This echoes calls from the ISS in a recent paper, aimed at providing recommendations to the incoming Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and the National Commissioner. One of the recommendations made is for a dedicated anti-firearms unit that specializes in tracing and removing firearms and ammunition used by criminals. This, along with a fully digitized firearm registry would aid the SAPS in not only cracking down on illegal firearms, but further in reducing the loss of firearms by police officers; in 2023, SAPS officers lost 740 firearms.

When asked if reducing the number of firearms lost by SAPS was a priority for his department, the Minister responded, “We shouldn’t be losing those [firearms].” He added that the department would be reviewing how firearms are handled by officers, identifying a need to tighten controls.

Furthermore, the Minister noted that in many attacks on police officers, “often the firearms are the target.” He went on to state that his department would be focusing on statistics to look for results from the incoming policies, and there was a need to recover lost firearms. Although no details were provided, the Minister mentioned that SAPS leadership had been looking into new technologies to aid in preventing any additional loss of firearms.

Due to the prolific use of illegal firearms in crimes across the country, SAPS leadership believes it “pivotal that we double our efforts in removing those that are illegal out of circulation.”

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According to Gareth Newham, Head of the ISS’ Justice and Violence Prevention Programme, “we have to get on top of our murder rate” which is “driven by firearms.”

With guns the leading weapon used in murder in South Africa, the ISS urged that firearm crime and violence be “the initial focus of SAPS.” Key priorities to recover illegal firearms and better regulate legal firearm stocks identified in the ISS report include:

· Mapping all gun-related crimes to ensure that police responses are better targeted, perpetrators are identified, and sources of illegal firearms are disrupted more effectively. In this regard the report calls for the establishment of dedicated firearm units with adequate intelligence support in all provinces.

· Implementing measures to address problems facing the Central Firearms Registry, which include rigorously addressing corruption in SAPS firearm management, fully digitising the system, and substantially enhancing oversight and accountability for lost firearms.

The report also calls on other stakeholders, such as the National Prosecuting Authority to prioritise the prosecution of firearm violence and other related firearm offences, and for parliament to oversee crime and violence prevention interventions.

Gun Free SA said in a statement that it welcomes the ISS’ recommendations. Says Adèle Kirsten, Director of GFSA, “gun violence in SA is at crisis levels: 34 people are shot and killed every day with mass killings becoming increasingly common. Addressing gun violence must be a priority for the whole of government.”

She notes that a key intervention to addressing gun violence in SA that was not included in the ISS report is the strengthening of South Africa’s gun law. “Since the Firearms Control Act was passed into law in 2000 a range of developments mean it is no longer fit for purpose e.g. loopholes are exploited by gun owners to accumulate guns and ammunition, while gun ownership for self-defence is allowed despite overwhelming evidence globally and in South Africa that guns are not effective for self-protection,” Gun Free SA maintains.

“The power of the law to reduce gun violence is evident from South Africa’s own experience. In the first years of democracy SA’s gun violence levels were as high as today, with 34 people shot dead daily. As a result of effective gun control that focused on both recovering and destroying illegal guns and restricting licensed guns to stop their leakage and illegal use, the number of people shot dead almost halved in 10 years,” Gun Free SA said.

“SA’s own experience shows that gun control is crime control,” says Kirsten, a fact that was recognised by Newham, who said that controlling guns is an “immediate and short-term focus that will have the biggest impact.”

Gun Free SA urged government to seriously engage with the IS’ report and prioritise gun violence reduction.

One of the big problems is not heavily controlled legal guns but illegal guns falling into criminal hands – sometimes via the police. Men and women in National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola’s SA Police Service reported 742 firearms stolen in the 2022/23 financial year with just a third of them – 245 – recovered, for example.

Criminals have also resorted to opening security companies to access firearms.

An earlier ISS report on multiple murders and gun crime found that rising firearm-related crime, often linked to the activities of criminal groups, partly reflects chronic dysfunction and corruption in the SAPS, including in crime intelligence and the firearm registry. These two components of the police should be vital to the control of illegal guns and organised crime, the ISS said.

Some suggestions for addressing these interlinked problems include a specialised firearms unit, or targeted police operations that confiscate illegal guns and ammunition. It is generally agreed that responses should include better intelligence gathering and analysis of crime data.

“These measures could be helpful, but a piecemeal approach will have limited impact. South Africa’s crime and violence challenge extends beyond firearms and organised crime to chronic problems such as gender-based violence, corruption and infrastructure theft.

“These problems can only be tackled through a strategic approach to strengthening the SAPS and criminal justice system. Until there’s a clearly defined programme for doing so, the state’s ability to deal with the deteriorating public safety situation is unlikely to improve,” the ISS cautioned.

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