FF Plus slams govt for failing to properly address issue of stolen govt weapons

JOHANNESBURG - The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) has slammed government for failing to address the problem of state firearms getting lost and stolen “with the seriousness it deserves”.

A total of 71 state-issued firearms have disappeared from the armouries of the South African National Defence Force and the Department of Correctional Services over the last five years.

This was revealed by the relevant ministers in written responses to questions FF Plus leader, Pieter Groenewald, posed in Parliament recently.

Their responses also laid out the penalties imposed on the state officials who’d been implicated, which Groenewald maintained were not harsh enough.

Of the 19 officials from the Department of Correctional Services who’d been found guilty of charges linked to the disappearance of firearms and ammunition during this period, only two have been dismissed.

The Freedom Front Plus highlighted how, in some cases, guilty officials were fined a single month's salary or given a written warning which it insisted “will clearly not serve as an effective deterrent”.

It also said there appeared to be “serious delays” in the investigating and prosecuting process.

Groenewald described the situation as “disturbing”.

"Much pressure is put on private legal firearms by government but government itself is a source of providing illegal firearms to criminals in South Africa."

He said government needed to take responsibility and ensure there’s proper control over the firearms in its departments.