Issued by: Gauteng Provincial Government
IT'S WAR ON ILLEGAL FIREARMS, SAYS SAFETY AND SECURITY MEC JESSIE DUARTE
We have almost daily reports of the cold-blooded use of deadly weapons in robberies. Early this week there was the attack by would-be hijackers on Lee Jeremy Bennett in Johannesburg's northern suburbs. This morning a private security guard, who has not yet been publicly identified, was gunned down in the inner city area of Jeppe.
These are brutal reminders that we will not win the war against crime until we get to grips with the illegal trade in firearms.
In Gauteng, in 9 out of 10 vehicle hijackings the victims are forced at gunpoint to surrender their vehicles. The weapon is only fired in a small number of cases. But the fact remains that lethally armed criminals have taken hold of our lives.
Gauteng's Police Commissioner, General Sharma Maharaj, is committed to the goal of drastically reducing the volume of illegal firearms in circulation. Over the next few weeks police resources will be stretched to the absolute limit in actions towards achieving this goal.
The Commissioner's plan of action has the unequivocal support not only of the Gauteng Ministry of Safety and Security, but also of the entire provincial government.
I want to make it absolutely clear that the mere possession of a stolen or an unlicensed firearm is an extremely serious offence which carries an open-ended sentence under the Arms and Ammunition Act. It is the intention of the police to go out of their way to block the granting of bail to any suspect who might be arrested in the action of the next few weeks.
We are not going to get into debates about what an individual found in possession of an illegal firearm intended to do with that weapon. My message to members of Self Defence Units, Self Protection Units and all other para-military formations is that the time has long passed for them to argue that they need to be armed in this way.
We are no longer talking amnesty. We are talking intensive police action under the Community Safety Plan. We are talking about aggressively pressing the case for conviction wherever illegal firearms are uncovered. We want to attack the trade in firearms by making the price of participation extremely high.
Keeping an unlicensed or stolen firearm is not a mere "techni- cal" offence. It is an act which undermines respect for the law. It is an act which fuels the market on which deadly criminals depend. The police in Gauteng are determined to see that it is punished accordingly and I fully support them.
Jessie Duarte MEC for Safety and Security
November 24 1995
Released by the Gauteng Communications Directorate Queries to Jo-Anne Collinge (240 1712)