"The Minister of Police, Mr. Nathi Mthethwa's statements that only law-enforcers should be carrying weapons is an acknowledgement that the government wants to de-arm civilians. The Minister is fumbling and contradicts himself. Mthethwa now says that since 2005 nearly one million firearms have been taken out of circulation. Last year in Parliament he answered my question (attached below) and said that since 1 July 2004 (when the new law cam into force) 125 716 firearms had been handed in to the police. In the same answer he says that from 1 July 2004 until 30 June 2009 only 104 880 firearms had been seized. It is practically impossible to remove approximately 800 000 firearms in one year alone. The Minister is misleading the public about firearms," Mr. Pieter Groenewald (MP), chief spokesperson on Police for the Freedom Front Plus.

"Commissioner Bheki Cele also misleads the public. The Minister had acknowledge in an answer to another of my questions in Parliament that he could not say how many crimes had been committed by owners of legal firearms or by persons with stolen or illegal firearms (answer attached below). If the Minister does not even know how many criminal acts had been committed with illegal firearms, how can Cele say that the impact which the police are making in the number of illegal firearms in circulation can be seen in the increase of crimes committed with knives? The Minister and Commissioner contradict themselves and each other and it proves that they are running a campaign against legal firearm owners," Mr. Groenewald said.

"Since the inception of the new Firearms Control Act the government has been running a vendetta against legal firearm owners. It is now being continued and it is clear from the statements made by Mthethwa in October of last year when he said that the extra-ordinary high level of crime in South Africa is partly due to the large number of firearms in the possession of civilians. This was followed by President Jacob Zuma who had in the same month said in Tzaneen in Limpopo that too many firearms can be found in the hands of civilians. Civilians need firearms to defend themselves against criminals because of the high crime rate in South Africa . If crime figures were low, civilians would arm themselves less and there would then be fewer firearms in circulation. The duty is on the shoulders of the Minister and Commissioner to effectively combat crime; then there would be fewer firearms," Groenewald said.

MINISTER'S ANSWER

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY - QUESTION NO 150 - (INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 2 - 2009)  -  Date reply submitted: 20 July 2009

Mr P J Groenewald (FF Plus) to ask the Minister of Police:

(1) In respect of each year until the latest specified date for which information is available, how many (a) legal owners' licensed firearms and (b) illegal firearms have been handed in to the SAPS for disposal since the Firearms Control Act, Act 60 of 2000, came into force;

(2) whether he will make a statement on the matter?

NW150E

REPLY:

(1) (a) The following number of legal firearms have been handed in by legal firearm owners at the various police stations:

(b) An amnesty has been declared by the Minister for Safety and Security to cater specifically for the surrendering of illegal firearms to the South African Police Service. The amnesty period was from 1 January 2005 to 30 June 2005. During the period, a total of 33 823 illegal firearms have been surrendered to the South African Police Service for destruction.

2. Yes, The Firearms Control legislation make provision for legal firearm owners to in a responsible manner hand in obsolete, redundant or unwanted firearms to the South African Police Service for the necessary destruction. This ensure that legal firearm owners did contribute through preventative behavior that a total of 125 716 unwanted firearms did not end up in the hands of criminals in South Africa .

The South African Police Service will continue as in the past to address the proliferation of illegal firearms through day-to-day policing operations. As from the date the Firearms Control legislation came into force (1 July 2004) until 30 June 2009 the South African Police Service recovered a total of 104 880 illegal firearms which is a testimony of their commitment to react at all illegal firearms in circulation in South Africa.

Reply to question 150 approved by Minister

SECOND QUESTION:

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY - FOR WRITTEN REPLY -  QUESTION NO 1987 - DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 2 NOVEMBER 2009 - (INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 26 - 2009) - Date reply submitted  :  15 December 2009 -

Mr P J Groenewald (FF Plus) to ask the Minister of Police:

(1) How many crimes were committed (a) in (i) 2007 and (ii) 2008 and (b) during the period 1 January 2009 up to the latest specified date for which information is available (aa) by owners of licensed firearms, (bb) with stolen licensed firearms and (cc) with illegal firearms;

(2) whether he will make a statement on the matter?

NW2614E

REPLY:

The detailed information requested can only be obtained by submitting an ad hoc request to the Information and Systems Management component of the South African Police Service to obtain the Crime Administration System (CAS) numbers of the individual crimes under discussion.  This entails a lengthy process, as priority is always given to information requests from operational divisions which need information to plan their day-to-day activities.  Once the above information is received from the Information Systems Management component, correspondence will have to be directed to all police stations involved country-wide in an effort to determine the status of each such case, thereby placing and extra burden on limited human and financial resources.  Members will in such a case have to be withdrawn from other duties to be specially allocated to peruse dockets and registers.

Even if returns are received from the provinces after such an exercise, the information can not be verified without physical inspection at all the affected stations.

Reply to question 1987 approved by Minister

Statement issued by Pieter Groenewald, MP, Freedom Front Plus spokesperson: Police, February 9 2010

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