36/1/4/1/201000188
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO 2037
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 6 AUGUST 2010
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 19- 2010)
Date reply submitted: 13 September 2010
2037. Mr P J Groenewald (FF Plus) to ask the Minister of Police:
(1) How many R5 assault rifles of the SA Police Service (SAPS) have (a)
been stolen and (b) gone missing (i) in (aa) 2007, (bb) 2008 and (cc)
2009 and (ii) during the period 1 January 2010 up to the latest
specified date for which information is available;
(2) what steps have been taken to combat these thefts and losses;
(3) whether any persons have been apprehended in connection with the
thefts; if not, why not; if so, how many (a) persons and (b) of those
persons were members of the SAPS;
(4) whether he will make a statement on the matter?
NW2431E
REPLY:
(1) I have on a number of occasions stated that there is a process
underway to
audit all weapons within SAPS and to look at steps that need to be
taken in this regard. This is a detailed process and cannot be
completed overnight. I will report back to the honorable member once
this process has been completed.
2) However pending the outcome of this audit the following steps have
been taken to combat these thefts and losses of the R5 assault rifles:
⢠Firearms training is presented to members during different
types of courses presented by SAPS;
⢠During shooting practices emphasis is placed on the
handling of firearms, safeguarding and ensuring that
members comply with the competency criteria as prescribed
by law;
⢠Firearms are marked with the dot-peen and a unique SAPS
emblem to improve on the identification of official
firearms;
⢠Firearms are tested for Integrated Ballistics Information
System (IBIS) purposes to ensure that the SAPS has firearms
profiles for each and every official firearm;
⢠When members report on duty, firearms are booked in the
SAPS 457 registers and confirmed by commanders during
parade inspections on the SAPS 15;
⢠Stock-takings are conducted annually by provinces and
divisions, confirming compliance as prescribed in terms of
Standing Orders Stores 48 and 55;
⢠Audits are conducted by Internal Audit and inspection
capabilities within divisions and provinces with specific
emphasis on firearm management related issues, and
⢠A task team was appointed to visit provinces and divisions
to ensure that firearm losses are properly managed and
attended to.
3) The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations reported the
following successes:
(3)(a) Persons arrested:
|2007/2008 |2008/2009 |2009/2010 |
|Not reported |14 |6 |
(3)(b) Members of SAPS arrested:
|2007/2008 |2008/2009 |2009/2010 |
|Not reported |0 |6 SAPS members |
(4) No.
Response to question 2037 approved by the Minister
: