Some of the firearms stolen by former police colonel Christiaan Prinsloo and an accomplice, which were meant for destruction but instead sold to Cape Flats gangs, remain unaccounted for.
This was revealed by Western Cape deputy provincial commissioner for visible policing Maj-Gen Luyanda Damoyi during the signing of a #SilenceTheGuns pledge in Manenberg, Cape Town, on Saturday.
Prinsloo, then commander of the Gauteng firearm, liquor and second-hand goods control unit, admitted to smuggling more than 2,000 firearms stored by the police — some handed in for destruction. Many of those firearms ended up in the hands of criminal gangs, unleashing bloodshed on the Cape Flats.
Prinsloo was in 2016 handed an 18-year jail sentence for a slew of charges including corruption, racketeering and theft after entering into a plea-and-sentencing agreement with the state. He was released on parole in 2020.
According to the NGO Gun Free SA, more than 2,000 “Prinsloo guns” were stolen from police stores in Silverton, Pretoria, and distributed to criminals between 2007 and 2015. “The majority have been recovered, but not all of them,” Damoyi said.
“They are still a concern.”
The Nyanga subdistrict community police board, which comprises the policing precincts of Nyanga, Elsies River, Bishop Lavis, Gugulethu, Mannenberg, Philippi East, Samora Machel, Delft and Ravensmead, signed a #SilencingTheGun pledge.
Damoyi said the proliferation of illegal firearms in the area was alarming.
“We have noticed that the circulation of guns in this area is (disturbing).
“We have found out that the guns that are circulating were previously legally owned but due to negligence, they have become illegal. Security companies are losing some of them. Some of them are stolen from (neighbouring) countries like Namibia. But we are inspecting these security companies to make sure that indeed they are taking measures to prevent the loss of the firearms.”
He said another challenge was firearms that had been owned by people who were now deceased.
“In this area alone, from June, we have identified 1,542 deceased’s firearms that have never been reported to the police,” said Damoyi.
“We are visiting those areas, and we have recovered a couple of them. The province has about 36,000. We are going out to meet those families, and I must say recovering a sizeable number of those firearms. I must say the majority of them are co-operating, and I must say we also have responsibility for awareness campaigns because some are not reporting those firearms because they are not aware.”
Damoyi said though state firearms landed in criminal hands, they were surpassed by private guns.
“I must say they are minimal. The majority of guns are owned by private individuals. Last month alone, we recovered six guns in Mitchells Plain, which were stolen from suburbs like Durbanville, Claremont and Wellington.”
Damoyi said police are “making a call to all people who own firearms to take precautionary measures”.
“You find that some of them leave them outside the safe. Some leave them in cars, which opens opportunities for theft. We are calling on security companies to take precautionary measures to secure them. I must say, as police, we do regular inspections where we keep our firearms,” he said.
“We are trying to encourage communities to be part and parcel of getting rid of firearms and provide information about firearms.”
TimesLIVE
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