SAPS failed to destroy a single illegal firearm in the Western Cape last quarter

12 May 2023

The DA in the Western Cape is disappointed but unsurprised to learn that the SAPS failed to send a single illegal firearm for destruction last quarter. Despite having confiscated 699 illegal firearms within the reporting period, these remain intact and in storage – ripe for the taking by corrupt officers, who are known to sell them on the black market.

These numbers were revealed by SAPS through Minister Reagen Allen in a response to DA parliamentary questions on the matter.

The DA has repeatedly called for the decentralisation of firearm destruction facilities to the provincial level, as this would enable the timeous destruction of confiscated illegal firearms, thus lessening the risk that they might find their way into the wrong hands. However, Minister Bheki Cele and national SAPS leadership have resisted these calls. As a result, the status quo remains in place, with firearms being stored for months on end in inadequately secured facilities before being sent to destruction facilities in Pretoria only a few times per year.

DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Community Safety Gillion Bosman says: “It is tragic to note that SAPS has failed in its duty to destroy illegal firearms confiscated from our streets. With corruption so deeply entrenched within every level of the national policing service, it is unacceptable that firearms remain ready for the taking for months on end.”

“Minister Cele has repeatedly ignored DA suggestions and calls to improve the situation, such as allowing provinces to destroy firearms, or to fix the chronically dysfunctional Central Firearms Registry in Pretoria. Once again, the top-heavy, overly-centralised model of policing espoused by SAPS and the ANC has shown itself to be totally inefficient and inadequate.”

Issued by Gillion Bosman, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Community Safety, 12 May 2023