Deputy National Commissioner Lt Gen Sitole
Gauteng Provincial Commissioner  Lt Gen Mothiba
Acting Divisional Commissioner: Visible Policing Major General Pienaar
Other Divisional Commissioners and Provincial Commissioners
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning and thank you very much for joining us here this morning.

This day is indeed a promising one to us as members of the South African Police Service. Today is proof of the fact that we are cleaning up our streets and getting rid of illegal and unlicensed firearms that are being used to terrorise and destroy our communities and threatening the safety of everyone living in or visiting South Africa.

Some of our community members, including some present here today, can attest that whenever the sound of gunfire is heard, whether nearby or echoing far away, it is a disturbing and an unsettling sound.  Whether that shot was intended for a criminal or targeted at an innocent soul, it is worrying and difficult to ignore.

Guns used to commit crime have become a common occurrence in our society and can never be acceptable or accepted as commonplace. Illegal guns give power to criminals and make us victims whenever used against innocent people or members of the South African Police Service.

Colleagues, I know you will agree that today, as we gather here in Vereeniging, we as the police and members of society are disempowering criminals. We are taking some of our power back as we will be destroying 9 477 firearms today in line with the firearm legislation.

Of these firearms, 2659 are from Mpumalanga, 2095 from Eastern Cape, 1146 from North West and 355 from Northern Cape. Supply Chain Management has cleared 3222 official firearms for destruction.

Over the past four years, we have destroyed more than 110 000 firearms and about 1 million rounds of ammunition. We are currently processing a further estimated 15000 firearms which will be destroyed later in July during the International Gun Destruction Day.

Over and above this, we have destroyed about 43 000 knives confiscated all over Gauteng Province over the past six month.

Let me also take this opportunity to thank all the men and woman in blue who go out there day in and day out to confiscate illegal firearms. The continued increase in the number confiscated over the past couple of years is a direct result intensified crime prevention operations and police visibility.

Many of the guns that we are destroying here today have been used in various crimes. Some to murder, others in robberies or used to intimidate in order to rape and some stolen from our very own members to be used by criminals in various criminal activities.

On the 7th January, we heard disturbing news of the passing of two of our members in the Eastern Cape, one of them having been shot dead by criminals while he was on duty. A day before that, we also heard news of an elderly man being shot and wounded during a robbery in Centurion.

These are bothersome stories. It is shocking to realize that a single shot from a gun can remove a life from the face of the earth forever as if it never existed. The recent terror attacks in Europe and on our own continent in Nigeria are further evidence of the devastation that can - and is - being wreaked by such weapons.

Ladies and gentlemen, we will continue to seize illegal firearms which are used to terrorise our communities and kill our colleagues.

The reduction of the proliferation of firearms that are in circulation in our communities will most definitely advance us towards the realisation of our objective of creating safer communities that are free from violent crime and illegal firearms.

There are a number of reasons for the many illegal firearms out there. But one of the contributors is the loss or theft of legal firearms. From the perspectives of the SAPS, we have put several control measures in place to ensure that we reduce the loss of firearms. At some stage we were losing some 4000 firearms per year but we have reduced it to 771 in the previous financial year.

We can still do better in ensuring that we continue to reduce the numbers of lost firearms. Where we find that there is negligence on the part of our members or any criminality, we will not hesitate to take action against the officers concerned.

We commend those who are working with us to save innocent lives and have been surrendering their guns at their police stations. We also have had a successful campaign in our festive season operations and have arrested a number of suspects and confiscated guns and ammunition used to commit various serious crimes over the past December holidays.

In closing, we must also campaign for responsible gun ownership so that licensed owners know that they must make every endeavour to prevent their weapons from falling into the hands of the criminal element. It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that guns, whether illegal or not, do not become a norm in our society and in our communities.

We look forward to a safer 2015.

I thank you