Resident Riana Steenkamp is frustrated and disappointed by the service she received at Boksburg North SAPS.
“I had to apply for my firearm competency certificate on April 28 and was fourth in the queue when I arrived at the station at 6am. I’m glad I did a drive-by of the station on the Monday morning though and spoke to friends who have applied, otherwise I wouldn’t have known I needed to take a camping chair for the extremely long wait in front of me. The man in the front of the queue said he had been there since 4am and it was his eighth time returning to the Boksburg North Police Station. As time passed, the queue grew longer and longer and people starting speaking among each other,” Steenkamp said.
“It was shocking to hear how many of these people in the queue had returned time and time again – on average eight to 10 times.”
She said only two officers were working in the firearms department on the day she was there.
“Luckily, I had assistance from a gun shop with the paperwork and documents needed for the application. You can’t even go into the station and ask anyone for application forms or information about completing the forms and documents; you have to stand in the queue outside and wait your turn.
“On the day I was there, one of the officers working in the firearms department came out at about 8.15am and announced he is the only one working with applications this week because the other officer is on leave.
“He then also said he was supposed to be on leave and was only going to work half day.
“So a few of the people in the queue left because they knew they weren’t going to be assisted again.”
Steenkamp said when the first person in line eventually went inside with the officer, he only came out again more than two hours later, telling others in the queue he had to wait to be helped because the officer first had to attend to a back-log of files.
“Finally, when it was my turn, I was shocked to see the actual office where people are assisted – you can hardly see the floor for the number of applications being handled there.
“Frankly, I’m not sure anyone knows if any of the applications there will ever get processed, mine included. It took me six hours and 30 minutes to apply,” she said.
In Steenkamp’s view, the following would be beneficial for the public at the police station under the current situation in the firearms section:
• Some form of shelter for those queuing.
• A rail to lean on while waiting as there was a man with knee problems who really struggled to stand.
• Have someone handing out the correct application forms and explaining what is needed and someone to pre-check documents being handed in.
• More officers on duty to assist applicants.
• Dedicated data capturers.
• Proper toilet facilities.
Boksburg North SAPS responds
Boksburg North police spokesperson Const Justice Ramaube said they will deploy two additional officers to the firearm office to streamline the process and curb the long queues.
“We would like to inform the public that we handle at least 25 to 30 applications per day. However, often one person has up to six applications at a time, so we have to deal with them before we continue to another person. The station apologises for any inconvenience caused,” he said.
Firearm office operating hours
General public: Monday to Thursday, 8am to 3pm.
Commercial companies, security companies, firearm manufacturers, gunsmiths and firearm dealers: Fridays, 8am to 3pm.
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