Cele: Hand in illegal guns now
2010-01-11 20:40
Pretoria - There will be big trouble for South Africans who fail to voluntarily hand over their unregistered or illegal firearms during a four-month amnesty, Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa said on Monday.
"If they don't volunteer, come April 11 die poppe gaan dans [the fur will fly]," Mthethwa told the national press club in Pretoria at the launch of a firearms amnesty.
Added National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele: "As soon as amnesty if over, life is going to be really, really rough."
The amnesty gives law-abiding citizens who failed to register or renew their firearm licenses in 2009 four months to voluntarily hand over their weapons for destruction.
It was part of the strategy to get illegal firearms off the streets.
Compensation
Those who made use of the opportunity would not be compensated, said Mthethwa.
They would also have to show proof of identification when handing in the weapons, which would then be sent for ballistics tests.
Where a firearm was proved to have been used during criminal activity, the person who handed it in would be arrested.
"To those who fail to heed the call and are later found in possession of illegal firearms, the police will through continuous operations arrest such persons," he said.
Mthethwa said the "significant pool" of illegal firearms in circulation contributed to the country's high rate of serious and violent crime.
The source of the illegal firearms ranged from those stolen from law-abiding citizens and police stations to those smuggled over the borders or inherited by family members.
"It has not been our stance to criminalise law-abiding citizens, but we note that missing cut-off dates [to register or renew firearm licenses] is often a human error," he said.
Leniency
It was for this reason that the government was exercising some leniency.
"We need to caution though that this must not create an impression that this will be a given stance in the future," said Mthethwa.
In the last amnesty period in 2004/2005 17 665 illegal firearms were seized and confiscated by police during operations.
Just under 140 000 illegal firearms were handed in under the amnesty.
Of these, 46 631 were licensed firearms voluntarily surrendered and 98 631 were firearms removed from circulation.
Mthethwa said police leadership was "absolutely" certain that the firearms amnesty would be a success.
- SAPA