Cele accused of undermining Parliament over gun licence amnesty

Minister of Police Bheki Cele. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)

Cape Town - Gun Owners SA (Gosa) is accusing Police Minister Bheki Cele of undermining Parliament, saying he proclaimed a firearms amnesty in the Gazette without following the correct procedures.

Gosa chairperson Paul Oxley said Cele had also undermined the processes prescribed by law, as well as the members of the police portfolio committee and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

Oxley said the law was very clear on how a firearms amnesty is supposed to occur. “An amnesty can only be proclaimed once the National Assembly (NA) and the NCOP have given the green light. Both the NA and the NCOP on September 11 specifically did not agree to the amnesty,” he said.

“Gosa has an interdict against the police, preventing them from taking in firearms on the basis of their expired licences. I note with great pleasure that the portfolio committee on the police in the NA by way of the committee chairperson, MP Tina Joemat-Pettersson, has again seen through attempts by the police to circumvent our interdict, and she has reminded them that their attempt to hold an amnesty in light of Parliament's refusal to recognise or accept it are illegal and unlawful,” Oxley said.

He said Gosa was continually debunking falsehoods proclaimed by the police that amnesties stop crime, “when in fact the opposite is true”.

“Gosa is warning its members that the police are again ignoring a court order in our favour regarding the confiscation of firearms from owners with expired licenses. Ever intended for anyone to renew their expired licenses.”

Oxley said not a single firearm handed in during the last amnesty was used to commit a crime at the time they were handed in, “as law-abiding citizens obey the law, however, police Colonel Chris Prinsloo saw to it that those firearms were later used in crimes, as he sold them to Western Cape gangs, effectively causing surge in gang violence and related crimes. Police cannot be trusted to hold an amnesty,” he said.

According to reports, the intended destruction of firearms which was announced in Wednesday’s Government Gazette was illegal and invalid.

The notice in the Government Gazette was published in the name of national police commissioner General Khehla Sitole, who is also the national registrar of firearms, in terms of section 136 (2) of the Firearms Control Act of 2000.

Director of Gun Free South Africa, Adèle Kirsten said with 58 murders a day, the majority of which are gun-related, it was not surprising that people were scared and were looking for ways to protect themselves, their families and their possessions.

Kirsten said as Gun Free SA they are calling on Cele and Sitole to urgently proceed with actions to recover and destroy unwanted, obsolete and illegally held guns as soon as possible, including holding a national firearms amnesty and vigorously undertaking crime-intelligence operations.

“We are also calling on the review and upgrade weapons storage and destruction facilities to prevent loss and theft and ensure weapons earmarked for destruction are destroyed”.

She said they wanted them to amend the Firearms Control Act (2000) to simplify the administration thereof and to rigorously restrict access to handguns, “as it is handguns that are used overwhelmingly in contact crimes like murder, attempted murder and aggravated robbery,” he said.