Statement by MEC Plato, Possibility of National Firearms Amnesty period welcomed

Statement by Dan Plato, Western Cape Minister of Community Safety

Possibility of National Firearms Amnesty period welcomed

Date: 25 July 2018

Release: Immediate

I welcome reports this morning that the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Police is willing to consider a request from Police Minister, Beki Cele, to implement a National Firearm Amnesty period between 1 September 2018 and 28 February 2019.

More than a year ago the announcement by then Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, that a gun amnesty period will be implemented never materialised due to his procedural missteps and his successor’s unwillingness to see the process through.

Minister Cele’s proposal for a national gun amnesty period is welcomed in principle as it is one of the recommendations the Western Cape Government made in 2015 already to the Civilian Secretariat of Police, to help reduce the circulation of illegally owned firearms and encourage people to hand in their unwanted legal weapons.

The continued scourge of gun-wielding gangsters and drug lords in our communities requires all authorities to look at what else can be done to disarm the criminals and stop the bloodshed.

In the Western Cape’s most gang-ridden communities, ill-gotten guns are too readily available and accessible.

The threat of firepower by gangsters - keeping our communities hostage - cannot be left to continue unabated.

However, I reiterate that people in the Western Cape and the rest of the country need to be assured about the operational readiness of the Police to effectively manage a Firearm Amnesty.

Key to the operational implementation of the amnesty period is to ensure that weapons and ammunition handed over are traceable, disabled and prevented from being used again or finding their way back into criminal hands.

As part of my oversight mandate over policing in the Western Cape, I will be requesting further details on the amnesty period from the National Minister of Police, Acting National Commissioner and Provincial Commissioner.

My request for details will include:

• The various locations, operations and campaign drives to allow people to hand over their weapons;

• Process of disabling the weapons on site without compromising forensic firearm investigation and cataloguing;

• Process and timeframe for ultimately destroying the weapons and ammunition to prevent loss, theft or corruption peddling weapons back into communities;

• Who will be appointed to monitor the process to oversee and ensure compliance; and

• What international standards, protocols or existing best practice models will be included to ensure success.

The proposed Firearm Amnesty period, will be a great opportunity to reduce the number of illegal firearms in circulation and to prevent unnecessary deaths at the hands of those who should not be able to have a weapon in the first place, or who do not comply with the prescripts of owning a firearm.

The Amnesty period is a necessary step in the right direction towards reducing the proliferation of gun related crime in the country, especially in the Western Cape.

Safety is everyone’s responsibility and the Department of Community Safety will support a well-planned, communicated and secured drive to get the guns off of our streets – not back into the hands of criminals.