South African Deputy Police Minister Polly Boshielo inspects confiscated firearms before they are destroyed during the International Firearm Destruction Day event. Photo credit: SAPS

NNA News - South African police destroyed 11,859 confiscated firearms and firearm parts on Wednesday as the country marked International Firearm Destruction Day, while gun control advocates warned that destroying illegal weapons alone would not be enough to stop firearms from continuing to enter the illicit market. South African Deputy Police Minister Polly Boshielo led the destruction ceremony, which formed part of a United Nations-backed campaign held annually on 9 July to encourage countries to permanently dispose of illegal and confiscated weapons.

According to a statement issued by the South African Police Service (SAPS) on Wednesday, the firearms had been forfeited to the state after being audited and undergoing ballistic testing to determine whether they had been used in crimes. SAPS revealed that “the weapons destroyed included 9,596 handguns, 1,102 rifles, 798 shotguns, 33 combination firearms and 330 firearm parts, bringing the total number of firearms destroyed by police over the past seven years to 317,811.”

Gauteng recorded the highest number of firearms destroyed, with 3,863, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 2,047, the Western Cape with 2,037 and the Eastern Cape with 1,500. The Free State accounted for 800 firearms, Mpumalanga 500, the Northern Cape 419, Limpopo 371 and North West 322.

Addressing the ceremony, Boshielo highlighted that permanently removing illegal firearms from circulation was critical to reducing violent crime, including gender-based violence. “It is pleasing to note that we are also destroying firearms today that were used in incidents of gender-based violence. Firearms are destroying our families and our communities,” Boshielo highlighted. “Today’s destruction demonstrates the government's commitment to detecting and permanently removing illegal firearms and ammunition from our country,” she added.

However, the gun control non-profit organisation Gun Free South Africa (GFSA) warned that destroying firearms must be accompanied by stronger measures to prevent weapons from entering the illegal market.

Confiscated firearms and ammunition recovered during police operations before being destroyed as part of South Africa's firearm disposal programme. Photo credit: SAPS

GFSA spokesperson Claire Taylor explained that thousands of firearms remained in illegal possession because the country’s relicensing system was failing. The organisation identified civilian gun owners as a major source of illegal firearms, citing 24,000 firearms reported lost or stolen over the past three years.

Taylor detailed that the figure amounted to about 22 firearms a day. “When government implements the law, compliance follows. Marking Gun Destruction Day cannot just mean counting how many illegal guns were destroyed this year. Government must close the tap that keeps refilling the pool of illegal guns,” Taylor added.

The organisation called on the government to trace firearm owners with expired licences and reintegrate them into the regulatory system. “It must develop a coordinated plan, and it must urgently amend the Firearms Control Act, so the law is clear about what happens when a licence expires,” Taylor added. GFSA also raised concerns about firearm licence applications, saying they had fallen by about 75% since 2022. The organisation attributed the decline to misinformation following a Constitutional Court ruling involving Fidelity Security Services.

Taylor argued that some gun lobby groups had misrepresented the ruling by claiming firearm owners no longer needed valid licences. “The court never said a valid licence is no longer required. Gun lobby groups have spread that idea, and many gun owners now believe it,” she argued.

A South African Police Service vehicle transports confiscated firearms to a destruction facility during International Firearm Destruction Day. Photo credit: SAPS

She added that relicensing remained important because it confirmed whether firearm owners were legally competent to possess firearms and whether the weapons were still in their possession. SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Amanda van Wyk explained that most of the firearms destroyed had been confiscated during crime-fighting operations, including Operation Shanela.

van Wyk detailed that the weapons underwent auditing and ballistic testing before being forfeited to the state and permanently destroyed. Of the firearms destroyed, 157 were linked to finalised cases involving crimes against women and children, while three were connected to cash-in-transit robberies. Others had been voluntarily surrendered during firearm amnesty periods.

SAPS also destroyed 4,089 blank guns, airguns and homemade firearms as part of efforts to remove improvised weapons from circulation. “Although often regarded as less dangerous, these weapons can be modified to fire live ammunition and are frequently used in the commission of crimes,” Van Wyk explained. Police confirmed that tracing operations, stop-and-searches and targeted crime-combatting initiatives seized more than 100 illegal firearms every week.