Missing municipal-owned firearms and allegations of abuse of city weapons have resulted in a motion to audit Msunduzi municipality’s firearms to ensure all the city’s firearms are accounted for.

Unresolved issues of missing city-owned firearms in the Pietermaritzburg municipality date as far back as 2016.

In a recent executive committee meeting, councillors supported a move to carry out an audit on municipal-owned firearms. The matter was under confidential items of the agenda and The Witness was not able to establish exactly how many firearms the city has lost.

Lost firearms

In an exclusive interview with the newspaper on Saturday, municipal manager Lulamile Mapholoba said he recently visited the city’s armoury, to assess the facility.

“There is always concern about the handling of our firearms because these are deadly weapons and in the wrong hands, they could cause a crisis for the municipality. These weapons have been abused, hence the decision to have regular audits to ensure that they are available and [safely] kept, including the ammunition.”

“There was an instance, I’m told, where some firearms went missing. The municipality can be held liable if a crime is committed with the use of a municipal-owned firearm. I have already visited the armoury to satisfy myself on the state of the place where [the firearms] are kept.”

Attempts to improve gun handler’s skills

He said as part of improving the handling of the city’s guns, and the skills of the handlers, management is looking at utilising an improved shooting range, with the assistance of other security agencies.

“On the shooting range, we are in collaboration with the police and the South African Defence Force to ensure that our employees [improve their skills] and get the required training.”

“My approach is legal and it’s for the benefit of all Msunduzi citizens. We have a mammoth task to make this city work, hence I made the call to say my door is open for all stakeholders to come forward and report any issues they pick up with regards to services.
The challenges we are facing are not going to be resolved overnight. Opportunistic tendencies will not improve the situation. The solution is to identify the problem, report and propose possible solutions, rather than criticising without giving input towards a solution.

Opposition parties weigh in

IFP councillor Thinasonke Ntombela said they have supported the move for the audit and have requested a consolidated report since there is an ongoing investigation on the matter.

Ntombela said the issue has been dragging on for some years.

“Missing city-owned firearms has been talked about for many years now. If the presentation we were given at the [recent Exco] meeting is anything to go by, there seems to be cover-up stories on the matter. We are expecting to get that consolidated report in the next Exco sitting.”

The newspaper understands that the executive committee confidential agenda item contained a report on the firearms issue, dating back to between 2016 and 2017.

DA councillor Ross Strachan said during that period, all municipal firearms were sent for ballistic testing.

“There are still missing firearms that have not been accounted for. This is a great concern as we could have people who are walking around with those firearms, which could have been used in various incidents of criminality. This report has still not been resolved and it needs to be treated as a priority and an investigation needs to be done on the officials that were responsible for the safeguarding of those firearms.”

He said another concern was that the officials involved are still in the employ of the municipality.