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During SAPS’ briefing to the Standing Committee on the firearms destruction process, it was revealed that no guns were lost when transporting confiscated firearms from the Western Cape to Pretoria for destruction. Instead, it was confirmed that previous cases of theft or loss only occurred at the national facility.

Not only does this prove that the centralised approach from the national government has resulted in more complications, but it also undermines the efforts of our LEAP officers who continue to confiscate more illegal guns off our streets.

Due to the sensitive nature of these operations, much of the specific details were kept classified. As such, the Standing Committee has resolved to do the following:

Host an in-camera meeting with SAPS to enable them to freely share confidential crime intelligence without it being used by syndicates;

Conduct an oversight visit to Cape Town Iron and Steel Works (Cisco) in order to ascertain their willingness to accommodate firearm destruction at their premises. Owing to it being too costly for SAPS to build its own facility, they require private companies to do so;

Compile research to determine the international best practices of destroying firearms; and

Organise a study tour to Pretoria to inspect the current facility being used.

MPP Gillion Bosman says: “Nonetheless, we welcome SAPS in the Western Cape’s interest to find a local facility to destroy the firearms. This is a crucial development and we hope that our further engagements would be fruitful in finding innovative solutions for this problem. Illegal firearms pose a significant risk to our crimefighting efforts and requires us to adopt a whole-of-society approach to solve it.”

Issued by Gillion Bosman, MPP - DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Community Safety