Cape Town - Western Cape police management remained tight-lipped about firearm destruction and transportation processes, citing security and confidentiality reasons.
Members of the Standing Committee on Cultural Affairs and Sport at the Western Cape legislature were frustrated on Tuesday as police said they could not be fully transparent about firearms for destruction at provincial and national levels.
Briefing the committee, Western Cape Provincial Commissioner Thembisile Patekile said regarding progress followed for the destruction site, there were premises that were identified before and even visited recently which were previously utilised for this purpose.
“The first company was in Saldanha but has been closed. They cited financial problems due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Another one was in Atlantis, which we found could not accommodate SAPS. As for the one at the airport industrial site in Bishop Lavis, on our inspection the premises were not suitable. The company was also not that interested in assisting. The fourth facility was in Kuils River and this company was previously used and posed a security risk to the organisation. There were also issues around legal requirements and operational procedures the company could not comply with.
“On the establishment of a destruction site in the Western Cape, due to budgetary constraints the province cannot afford to build its own destruction site and the maintenance of the facility has its own extremely high budget constraints. The process of the destruction requires melting the firearms which is costly,” Patekile said.
He said due to the sensitive nature of the process about the impact on provincial resources to transport firearms and ammunition to Pretoria, the issue remained highly confidential.
ACDP MPL Ferlon Christians said the lack of answers meant they were back to square one.
“We have had a debate in the chambers about this. Everything being confidential means we are back at square one. I believe the information that we have of disposal is that firearms are only taken twice to Pretoria and we are worried that some of these firearms don’t reach their destination. We are interested to know the number of firearms stolen and it’s crucial to know. We have seen in the newspaper reports about police stations being robbed and firearms stolen. There are a lot of safety questions regarding transportation. I am not happy that we cannot be given the information required,” said Christians.
DA MPL Deidré Baartman requested information about the number of hands that the firearms pass through before being destroyed.
“We would also love to have a firearm destruction (facility) in the Western Cape if every (requirement) can be met. Due to security, specific processes are followed which cannot be disclosed due to the high risk involved.
However, I can disclose that even the site used nationally for destruction is privately owned.
“We have not lost any firearms while we transported them over the past years.”
Committee chairperson Gillion Bosman said they needed to understand the complex process.
“It was revealed that no guns were lost when transporting confiscated firearms from the Western Cape to Pretoria for destruction. Instead, it was confirmed that previous cases of theft or loss only occurred at the national facility.
“Not only does this prove that the centralised approach from the national government has resulted in more complications, but it also undermines the efforts of our LEAP officers who continue to confiscate more illegal guns off our streets,” he said.
Cape Times