Rise Mzansi sounds alarm after Mchunu reveals police lost 371 firearms in six months

Andisiwe Makinana Political correspondent
Parliament has heard 371 SAPS firearms were recorded as lost/stolen during the second semester of the 2023/2024 financial year. Stock photo.
Parliament has heard 371 SAPS firearms were recorded as lost/stolen during the second semester of the 2023/2024 financial year. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF

Police minister Senzo Mchunu has revealed almost 400 police guns and 29,128 rounds of ammunition were lost or stolen in the six months between October 2023 and March 2024.

Mchunu told parliament 371 firearms were recorded as lost/stolen during the second semester of the 2023/2024 financial year. However, 120 were recovered during the same period. The minister said 191 police officers were robbed of their service pistols

He was responding to a written question by Rise Mzansi MP Makashule Gana.

Mchunu said 123 arrests were made on 331 case dockets.

The number of rounds of ammunition recovered could not be identified as police-owned or privately-owned because they do not have unique identification markings, such as serial numbers.

Gauteng led with almost a third of the firearms (121) going missing, followed by KwaZulu-Natal (74) and the Eastern Cape (55). The Free State had the lowest number (10).

Of the 371 missing firearms, 350 were pistols, 12 R5 rifles, five R1 rifles and four shotguns.

Of the 29,128 missing ammunition rounds, 18,531 were recorded as stolen from head office divisions.

Gana said the “horrific figures” translated to about 60 police firearms lost or stolen every month. The theft or loss of rifles was worrying as they were used in cash-in-transit heists.

“The proliferation of state firearms and ammunition into the hands of criminals, some of which may be crooked officers, is a crisis,” he said.

Gana called on police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola to table a crisis plan before parliament’s police portfolio committee on how the SAPS will:

  • prevent lost/stolen firearms and ammunition;
  • implement consequences for lost/stolen firearms and ammunition; and
  • develop intelligence, forensic and detective capacity in the SAPS to recover lost/stolen firearms and ammunition.

“Every lost/stolen firearm or round of ammunition further empowers criminals and disempowers and undermines the ability of the state to keep the people of South Africa safe,” he said.

“Rise Mzansi views the loss and theft of state firearms and ammunition as a crisis that needs to be addressed with urgency.”

TimesLIVE


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