THE Western Cape police say they are making progress in removing firearms from the streets.
Western Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile said they have recovered more than 1 365 firearms in five months in the province.
He said currently, they recover a minimum of 40 firearms every week.
Patekile, together with Police Minister Bheki Cele, deputy police minister Cassel Mathale and national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola, held a press conference in Cape Town on Tuesday, 3 October, briefing the media about the state of crime in the province.
The media briefing happened a few days after two separate mass shootings in Gugulethu that saw a lawyer, cop and prison guard lose their lives.
Patekile was explaining the role of the cops’ anti-gang unit in tackling crime in the Western Cape.
“We have 1 365 guns that have been taken away from the streets from 8 May. I’m not talking about January, but just this period. That’s how we are getting guns every week.
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"A minimum of 40 guns are taken from the streets every week. We're looking at the origins of these guns. What we found in most of those is the guns that were the deceased’s estate guns that have not been reapplied for, or the ones that people have lost through break-ins in their homes and cars,” said Patekile.
Patekile said many of the guns they've recovered have their serial numbers filed off, and it's difficult to establish the owners.
He said that some recovered guns belong to security guards and other companies.
Patekile said in most cases, guards are robbed of their guns and end up losing their firearms.
He added that they're intensifying the compliance inspection of the firearm owners.
