BRIEFING 1 of 2025: Gun-related femicide in SA over 25 years – A call to action
To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March we focus on the most extreme form of violence against women – their murder.
With 15 women killed every day, new research and police crime statistics show the extent to which SA’s femicide crisis is driven by gun violence:
- Guns are the leading weapon used to murder women, with the proportion of women […]
BRIEFING 1 of 2024: Record-keeping is a crime fighting tool
As gun crime in SA reaches levels not seen since the nineties, some police records show a significant spike – of between 130% and 180% – in the number of state guns since 2016.
- If accurate, what measures have been put in place to prevent loss, theft and misuse of state guns which have almost trebled in number in the […]
STATEMENT: Welcome think-tank call for gun control
An Institute for Security Studies report Strengthening the SAPS for a safer South Africa: Recommendations for police reform calls on SA’s new government to prioritise gun control to reduce violent crime nationally. According to Gareth Newham, Head of the ISS’ Justice and Violence Prevention Programme, “we have to get on top of our murder rate” which is […]
PROPOSAL: World’s first Bulletproof Park in Mitchells Plain
In April 2024 GFSA put forward a proposal to develop the world’s first Bulletproof Park in Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats as one way to protect children from being shot and injured or killed in crossfire.
Crafted by architects, community stakeholders and safety experts, the planned park would be entirely enveloped in bulletproof glass, with secure entrances and panic buttons, […]
STATEMENT: Response Q2 crime stats – The weapon matters: Guns leading cause of murder in SA
The latest quarterly crime stats show that gun violence has again increased, with 34 people shot dead every day between 1 July and 30 September, up from an average of 31 people shot and killed a day in previous quarters. While SA’s violence bloodbath is fed largely by men arguing with and then killing other men, this is most often […]
BRIEFING 2 of 2023: Functional Central Firearms Registry key to dealing with illegal guns in SA
South Africa’s Central Firearms Registry (CFR) has the potential to be a powerful crime-fighting tool: If effectively managed – in line with SA’s legal and political obligations – it would help stop legal guns leaking into criminal hands.
However, SAPS sees the CFR as an administrative function, and has repeatedly squandered opportunities to address historic, systemic and persistent dysfunction.
Should the CFR […]
STATEMENT Underperformance and corruption at Central Firearms Registry fuels gun violence epidemic in SA
Cape Town, 11 July 2023: Against the backdrop of a protracted policing crisis around effectiveness and leadership, allegations of underperformance and corruption have for years dogged the Central Firearms Registry (CFR), the police unit responsible for firearms management, including firearm-related recordkeeping. Globally accurate and efficient recordkeeping, which tracks firearms from cradle to grave, is recognised as a cornerstone to effectively […]
STATEMENT: Crime stats – Deeply concerned by increase in gun-related crime, lack of attention to gun violence epidemic
The latest crime stats presented by SAPS to parliament show that gun-related crime has significantly increased e.g. gun-related murders have increased a staggering 35% from 23 people shot and killed a day in 2021-22 to 31 people a day in 2022-2023. GFSA was present during the presentation and deliberation by parliament and is deeply concerned by the lack of engagement […]
BRIEFING 1 of 2023: Class action aims for police accountability in firearms management
In February 2023 GFSA gave official notice that class action proceedings were to be instituted on behalf of affected families to hold the police accountable for deaths and injuries resulting from failed police-controlled firearms management systems.
This Briefing provides additional information on the class action, the ineffectuality of institutions to hold the police accountable, and the implications of this for firearms […]
STATEMENT: GFSA institutes class action against police for deaths and injuries allegedly resulting from corrupt, negligent firearms management
GFSA has given notice to the Minister of Police of class action proceedings in which damages will be sought from the Minister arising from deaths and injuries due to the actions of senior SAPS member Christiaan Prinsloo and David Naidoo who coordinated the sale of guns to gangs.
Says Adèle Kirsten, GFSA’s Director “As the virus of gun violence spreads, it’s […]
