An estimated two million illegal firearms are circulating in South Africa, posing a major threat to public safety, opposition party Rise Mzansi has warned.
The party accused the South African Police Service (SAPS) of failing to adequately track illicit weapons, saying the lack of detailed firearm data undermines crime detection and enforcement.
In a parliamentary response to Rise Mzansi, the Minister of Police confirmed that SAPS’s Enhanced Firearms Register System (EFRS) records only the type of weapon—such as handgun, shotgun, or rifle—but not the make or model. This means the system cannot distinguish between weapons like AK-47s, Norincos, or AKMs, despite their reported use in violent crimes across the country.
Rise Mzansi MP and National Assembly Caucus Whip Makashule Gana said this gap makes it harder to track and remove illegal firearms from communities. “These guns should not be on the streets! None of us is safe,” he said, citing widespread reports of the AK-47 being used in cash-in-transit heists, political killings, and mass shootings.
The AK-47 is banned under South Africa’s Firearms Control Act but continues to appear at crime scenes. Gana called on SAPS to boost its crime intelligence capacity, improve its weapons tracking systems, expand national firearms amnesties, and introduce an anonymous reward program for tip-offs on illegal guns.
He also raised concerns over police complicity in the illegal arms trade, alleging that some confiscated firearms have been stolen and resold, later surfacing in murders and gang violence.
“The negligent loss of a SAPS-issued firearm must be a dismissible offence, for which senior SAPS officers must be held accountable,” Gana said. Between October 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, SAPS reported the loss or theft of 371 firearms and more than 29,000 rounds of ammunition.
Rise Mzansi says it will bring the issue before the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Police at its next meeting.
