SAPS Firearms are Being Used in Crimes

Statement by Lisa Schickerling MP – DA Spokesperson on Police:

The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal, through a Parliamentary Question to the Acting Minister of Police, that 154 firearms belonging to SAPS and 205 firearms belonging to private security companies were recovered after ending up in criminal hands between 1 April 2025 and 31 December 2026.

Every firearm lost from official custody represents a potential threat to public safety. When those weapons are later recovered during criminal investigations, it points to failures in oversight and firearm control that cannot simply be ignored.

Particularly alarming is the recovery of 154 SAPS firearms from criminal possession. The public has a right to know how these weapons left police custody, whether through negligence, theft or deliberate criminal conduct. It is equally important to establish what consequences followed. The DA calls on the SAPS to finalise all disciplinary hearings and institute criminal charges where recommended against all SAPS members found to have lost official firearms.

This apparent lack of accountability risks creating a culture of impunity within the SAPS.

The recovery of 205 firearms belonging to private security companies is equally troubling. These figures should prompt urgent scrutiny of the private security sector and the effectiveness of oversight by the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA).

If criminals are using security companies as a gateway to access firearms and ammunition, PSIRA should be clamping down on this. They must explain how such individuals are obtaining and retaining licences and registrations.

The DA will continue to pursue full accountability for every firearm that leaves the custody of the SAPS or licensed security providers and subsequently ends up in criminal hands.

South Africans cannot be expected to trust the state’s efforts to combat violent crime while firearms from police stores and private security companies continue to surface in criminal networks.