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Reply by Minister of Police N Mthethwa on questions posed in the National Assembly for written reply
3 July 2009
Question No 315
Ms D Kohler-Barnard (Democratic Alliance) to ask the Minister of Police:
(1) What is the current backlog of (a) applications for firearm licences and (b) appeals against the rejection of applications in terms of the Firearms Control Amendment Act, Act 43 of 2003 in each province;
(2) Whether there were any instances where crimes were committed with firearms that were handed in to the South African Police Service for destruction; if so, what are the relevant details in each case?
Reply:
1. (a) As of 8 July 2009, the following number of applications for firearm licences were received in terms of the Firearms Control Act, 2000 (Act No 60 of 2000) and are being processed in the various provinces:
Gauteng
Number of applications: 16 0278
Free State
Number of applications: 3 967
Limpopo
Number of applications: 4 078
North West
Number of applications: 5 792
KwaZulu-Natal
Number of applications: 3 034
Eastern Cape
Number of applications: 3 547
Mpumalanga
Number of applications: 2 679
Western Cape
Number of applications: 6 362
Northern Cape
Number of applications: 3 102
1. (b) The firearms control legislation provides for the appellant to lodge an appeal directly to the appeals board in Pretoria. All appeals are, therefore, received and captured at the appeals board and not in the respective provinces. A total of 1 821 appeals lodged at the appeals board in terms of the Firearms Control Act, 2000 (Act No 60 of 2000) are currently (from 8 July 2009) being considered.
2. No. According to the records of the South African Police Service, no firearm that had been voluntarily surrendered to the South African Police Service for destruction could be linked to any case of crime.
Issued by: South African Police Service
3 July 2009