Cosatu accuses AfriForum of trying to block Nedlac’s work on stricter gun laws, defending the Firearms Amendment Bill as vital for public safety.
Union federation the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) is lambasting AfriForum for an alleged attempt to block the work of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) on the Firearms Amendment Bill.
Cosatu, which is part of the labour component of Nedlac, accused AfriForum of throwing tantrums over the Bill, which introduces strict control of private gun owners.
While Cosatu is backing the legislation, along with Gun Free South Africa, AfriForum and other bodies, including game hunters and private security firms, are opposed to the amendments, which they said limited their activities.
Cosatu and AfriForum clash over Firearms Amendment Bill
AfriForum earlier said Nedlac held secret discussions on the amendments to the Firearms Control Act that fell outside its mandate.
It demanded transparency, saying unless there was public trust it would be undermined. It threatened to challenge “any unreasonable amendments to the legislation and the government’s attempt to disarm law-abiding citizens”.
AfriForum’s spokesperson on community safety Jacques Broodryk said such discussions should include representatives from the firearms industry, sports shooting bodies, private security and legal gun owners.
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“Firearm regulation is a matter of public safety and constitutional rights. It has nothing to do with labour policy,” Broodryk said.
He accused the government of ignoring a report indicating legal firearms owners were not the problem.
“It appears these facts are also being ignored for the sake of their agenda,” he said.
Cosatu accuses AfriForum of trying to block Nedlac’s work
But Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator, Matthew Parks, responded: “Cosatu, unlike these peace-time warriors, fought and suffered to achieve this constitutional democracy. It is not a matter that the federation takes lightly and no amount of temper tantrums by bored, ageing juveniles will deter Nedlac from doing its work.”
He said the Police Secretariat gazetted the Bill for public comment and, in the process, engaged stakeholders, including the gun lobbies, industry, hunting and sporting associations and made adjustments to the Bill where reasonable proposals were made.
Firearms are directly related to extreme levels of violent crime, which greatly affect millions of working class families.
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The federation cited statistics indicating that a police officer is murdered every week, mostly by gunshot, 33 South Africans are killed by firearms daily and the rate has doubled over the past two decades.
“Over 24 legal firearms are stolen every day; 29% of murders are gun-related.
“Gun owners are four times as likely to have their firearms stolen than to use them in self-defence and 2.5 times as likely to be killed in burglaries,” Parks said.
Link between legal firearms used by criminals and gun-related crimes
He said since the government introduced the Firearms Control Act in 2000, within five years of becoming effective, 800 000 firearms were recovered by police and the SA National Defence Force.
There were also 4 500 fewer deaths due to firearms and a 35% decrease in the number of stolen firearms. There is a direct link between legal firearms that find their way into the hands of criminals and “unacceptably” high levels of gun-related crimes.
“The constitution guarantees all South Africans the right to life and places an obligation on the state to provide society with safety and security,” Parks said.
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