The DA has called on the public protector (PP) to reopen the investigation into the Ekurhuleni armoury, as a reply to a parliamentary question by Police Minister Bheki Cele has exposed serious contradictions between the PP report and the minister’s reply.
Mike Waters MP, DA Kempvale Constituency Head, said the DA wrote to the PP requesting an investigation into the contradictions between a report tabled before the Ekurhuleni council and an Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department armoury audit report, which still has not been made public.
“The PP’s report of February 17 supported the council report, which found that since the establishment of the metro police in 2002, 48 firearms had been stolen or lost,” said Waters.
“However, the minister’s reply stated something completely different – 334 firearms had been stolen and a further 103 had been lost. The minister could not give any indication as to how much ammunition had been stolen or gone missing during their inspections, due to the fact that ammunition does not have serial numbers.”
In July 2019, the DA revealed, through the possession of the armoury audit report, that:
• Out of the City’s 3 525 firearm licences, only 2 518 could be accounted for, 382 firearms have been reported missing or stolen, 357 firearms are unaccounted for; and five LM6 rifles were purchased from a supplier and although the licences were issued, the supplier was liquidated before the rifles could be delivered.
• Various members did not report for the audit. The armoury forwarded the list of names after completion of the audit to different regions and specialised services in an attempt to get members to comply. This instruction was ignored. No weekly firearm inspection sheets were forwarded to the armoury.
• Lack of communication to the armoury regarding firearm-related incidents. Employees from other city departments are not subjected to the same rules as metro police officers in terms of inspections and compulsory competency evaluations as stipulated by legislation.
• The current filing system is inadequate and not user-friendly. The armoury is currently implementing a new filing system.
• No control over budgetary processes. No money available for holsters, firearm spares and ammunition when required.
“It is obvious that the police were not asked or did not provide the figures mentioned in the minister’s reply to the PP, otherwise she would have picked up the contradictions. What is also of concern is that since the establishment of the metro police, the police have only conducted three inspections into the metro’s armoury, instead of conducting annual audits,” said Waters.
“Section 109 of the Firearms Control Act, 2000 (Act No. 60 of 2000) dictates that the police must conduct an annual compliance inspection at all institutions, including metropolitan police departments. According to the reply, inspections only took place on July 6, 2012, 10 years after the establishment, July 21, 2017, a further five years later and September 6, 2019, two years after the previous inspection,” added Waters.
“Both the contradictions into the PP’s report and the lack of oversight by the police into the armoury of the metro police need serious and urgent investigation.The DA will write back to the PP, requesting she reopens the investigation given the new information provided by the minister and to determine whether the Ekurhuleni council was indeed misled, but also for her to expand the scope of her investigation into why the police failed in their legal obligations.”
