Question NW3664 to the Minister of Police
14 December 2017 - NW3664
Mbhele, Mr ZN to ask the Minister of Police
(a) What number of illegal firearms were seized by the SA Police Service (SAPS) in each province (i) in the (aa) 2014-15, (bb) 2015-16 and (cc) 2016-17 financial years and (ii) from 1 April 2017 to the latest specified date for which information is available and (b) in each case, what number of the specified weapons were recovered from (i) members of the SAPS, (ii) members of private security firms and (iii) private persons?
Reply:
(a)(i)(aa) to (cc) The total number of firearms, which were circulated as found, without serial numbers and duplicated serial numbers, are as follows:
|
Province |
2014/ 2015 |
2015/ 2016 |
2016/ 2017 |
|
Eastern Cape |
540 |
1 089 |
1 741 |
|
Free State |
128 |
255 |
306 |
|
Gauteng |
1 043 |
596 |
3 069 |
|
KwaZulu-Natal |
1 149 |
1 212 |
4 332 |
|
Limpopo |
135 |
210 |
1 781 |
|
Mpumalanga |
355 |
396 |
1 178 |
|
North West |
185 |
325 |
276 |
|
Northern Cape |
23 |
96 |
36 |
|
Western Cape |
1 779 |
1 024 |
675 |
|
TOTAL |
5 337 |
5 203 |
13 394 |
(a)(ii) The requested information is part of the statistical information, which must be published by the Minister of Police.
(b)(i)(ii)(iii) The number of firearms, as mentioned in paragraph (a) supra, were recovered by the South African Police Service (SAPS). Due to the fact that the majority of the firearms are unidentifiable (i.e. serial number erased), it is not always possible to link these firearms to official institutions such as the SAPS, security service providers and private persons.
Taking the above into consideration, this office cannot provide reliable figures, regarding part (b) of this question.