THE DA has called on the South African Police Service (SAPS) to ensure that police firearms are safeguarded and recovered, with a total of 297 police firearms either missing or reported stolen from police stations in the Eastern Cape from 2015.
Forty-eight of these have since been recovered.
DA MPL Bobby Stevenson said every lost or stolen firearm became a weapon in the hands of criminals who slaughter countless innocent victims in the province.
MEC for Safety and Liaison Weziwe Tikana confirmed the numbers in a reply to legislature questions sent in by Stevenson.
“In addition, over the three year period, 57 of the missing firearms were lost by SAPS members and another 129 were stolen from members. ”
The SAPS needed to be disarming criminals and not arming them, Stevenson said, adding that twice-yearly inspections and the physical verification of firearms at each station and safes supplied to stations were not enough.
“Last week it was reported that, according to Police Minister Fikile Mbalula, a total of 635 firearms had been stolen in the Eastern Cape between 2009 and 2014, while a further 360 had been reported missing and the province could not account for 732 weapons. ”
Stevenson said serious steps were necessary against SAPS members who were found to have been careless in losing or having their firearms stolen.
“A lack of discipline, accountability and consequence management are the root cause of this negligence.”