VANDERBIJLPARK – A total of 12 499 firearms were destroyed at the Firearm Destruction at Cape Gate Steel in Vanderbijlpark on July 9.

National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola officiated the event.

With this year’s earlier destruction of 16 049 firearms, the total number of firearms and parts destroyed by police over the past five years sits at 291 993.

Speaking during the pre-presser, Masemola said each one [firearm] represents a potential life saved, a family spared from grief, and a community fortified against chaos.

“These are firearms that once filled terror in our society. This act is not just symbolic, it’s a strategic blow against the crime that threatened the safety of our people,” he said.

“The destruction of weapons that once fuelled terror, now reduced to scrap, is not symbolic; it is a strategic blow against the violence that threatens our nation’s soul,” he added.

Masemola said Gauteng brought the majority of firearms.

“With the firearms that we are destroying today, Gauteng brought in the majority of firearms with 5 099, followed by Western Cape with 2333, KZN with 1574, the Eastern Cape with 1432 firearms, and 460 from the Free State.

Limpopo brought in 343, and Mpumalanga contributed 519 each of these firearms while North West contributed 417 and Northern Cape 322,” he said.

According to Masemola, firearms remain the most preferred weapon used in serious and violent crime, and that’s why it’s important to ensure authorities remove them permanently from the streets.

“Through operation Shanela, we are seizing no less than 100 firearms per week. In the last seven days, 106 firearms were seized.

We remain resolute and focused on our targeted operations to completely remove these firearms from the hands of community’s especially young people,” he concluded.