In mid March Constable Buti shot and killed his wife before turning the gun on himself following an argument; the couple’s 6-year old child witnessed the shootings. A week earlier Sergeant Brooks shot and killed his girlfriend, her mother and himself during a hostage incident. While parliament and police unions have reacted with shock, the tragic reality is that police […]

The purpose of the Firearms Control Act (FCA) is to “establish a comprehensive and an effective system of firearms control.” In other words, the FCA aims to create an integrated system which regulates all guns in South Africa, from cradle to grave; including their manufacture, trade, possession, use and destruction. By controlling all these aspects, South Africa’s FCA-informed firearms control […]

As South Africa marks the fifth anniversary of the Marikana Massacre, this Briefing unpacks a key lesson emerging from the tragedy: If the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS) had had the necessary skills, knowledge and experience, Marikana would never have happened.

But Marikana is not an isolated incident; poor police leadership over the years has led to […]

In September 2015, the United Nations member states, including South Africa, adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, replacing the Millennium Development Goals, with a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets.

A significant shift in the development of these new goals was the recognition that a broader range of factors such as violence and insecurity contribute to […]

In February 2010, three-year-old Leshay Arnold was killed by a stray bullet in Delft on the Cape Flats. The reason Leshay’s murder made headlines is that it was the first death to be linked to a nationwide gun smuggling syndicate in which a police officer, allegedly working with a gun dealer and a businessman, sold guns handed in to the […]

In response to Briefing 3, GFSA was invited to make a presentation on the ten elements of a successful firearms amnesty to the Portfolio Committee of Police on 15 March; at this input Brazil was identified as one of the countries that had been successful in removing hundreds of thousands of guns from circulation through a national buyback programme.

Briefing 4 […]

Briefing 3 responds to a 1 March cabinet briefing at which the Minister of Police announced his intention to declare a six-month national firearms amnesty under the Firearms Control Act (FCA). His announcement follows a groundswell of calls for action (including appeals for an amnesty) to stop rising levels of gun violence in South Africa dating from October 2014 when […]

Briefing 2 analyses three important sources of information on crime in South Africa that were released in February [Quarterly crime statistics, the most recent Victims of Crime Survey (VOCS) and the 2017-18 Budget] to better understand how the reality and perception of crime contribute to a domestic firearms race, which is fuelling gun ownership and gun violence. In sum, quarterly […]

As South Africa prepares for the 2017 budget speech, this first briefing of the year focuses on the costs of gun violence, showing that while strong gun laws save lives; poor enforcement kills, disables and costs.

The starting point is evidence that South Africa’s Firearms Control Act (2000) has not been properly enforced since 2011. Against this backdrop, this Briefing tracks […]