Impounded guns go missing

2004-03-12 11:50

Lizel Steenkamp

Johannesburg - Weapons Free South Africa says 14 charge offices in five provinces don't know what has happened to nearly 70% of firearms confiscated between 1997 and 2001.

It was also found that only one out of every four firearms found by police officials was sent for ballistic tests to determine if it could be linked to other crimes.

The organisation issued a report on Thursday about the police's ability to find and destroy illegal firearms.

The report is based on research conducted by the Institute for a Democratic Alternative, Idasa, at 14 charge offices in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western and Eastern Cape.

Idasa analysed 2 483 crimes where firearms were used from 1997 to 2001, and found that police only retrieved 713. A total of 99 firearms were destroyed and 83 were handed back to the legal owners.

Although the dockets had been finalised during the research period, the police couldn't say what had happened to the rest of the firearms (482).

"There was no indication of what had happened to 67.6% of the firearms. It's possible that the firearms could have been in the police storerooms or had gone missing, but there was no way to determine exactly where they were," the statement said.

Elias Mahlabane of the police's central firearm register in Pretoria said that the research referred to only to 14 charge offices.

"A national audit will be carried out at all police stations throughout the country to determine what happened to the confiscated firearms."

However, Mahlabane could not say when the audit would be completed.

Idasa also found that "very few" firearm-related crimes went to court, because most of the dockets were either closed, "couldn't be found" or cases had been withdrawn.

- Beeld