SAPS REPORT: From police to private security: How legal guns end up in criminal hands

On Wednesday, 7 October, Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo told the parliamentary police committee that firearms were the “instrument of choice” in most violent crimes, with illegal weapons entering the criminal economy from SAPS, private security and other sources.

He also acknowledged that firearms were being smuggled into South Africa, saying police had identified some routes and were working with neighbouring countries to intercept them.

Khumalo was responding to DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard, who questioned the SAPS claim that more than 6,000 illegal firearms had been recovered. The figure was not supported by audit evidence, while the Auditor-General indicated that the actual performance by SAPS may have been better than reported.

Barnard raised the bigger question: if the SAPS cannot independently verify the recovery figure, can it account for every firearm it says it has recovered?

It is a question with an uncomfortable history in the Western Cape, where firearms and ammunition destined for destruction have found their way into the hands of criminals.

One of the most prominent cases involved former police officer and convicted arms dealer Colonel Christiaan Prinsloo, who in 2016 admitted to selling firearms and ammunition to gangsters.

The case exposed a critical vulnerability: weapons placed under police control for destruction could be diverted into the criminal underworld.

SAPS points to falling murder and contact crime 

The firearms figure is one of a litany of performance indicators highlighted by Major General Leon Rabie in the SAPS’s annual report, covering murder, rape, contact crimes against women and children, extortion, visible policing and the recovery of illegal firearms.

Rabie said SAPS achieved 52.13% of its targets while spending 100% of its R120.899-billion budget in 2025/26. This report does expose deep failures in policing, recruitment and procurement.

“We do not hide from this figure,” he told the committee. However, he said the figure should be considered alongside the direction of crime. Contact crime had decreased by 5.2%, while murder fell by 9.4%, bringing the murder rate down to 36.72 per 100,000 of the population.

Illegal firearms remain a challenge

Deputy National Commissioner for policing Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili acknowledged that while police were recovering illegal firearms, it was “not in the numbers that we would want to”.

She said many weapons ending up in criminal hands had once been legally owned before being stolen or diverted from civilians, private institutions and state actors, including firearms taken from officials who had, in some cases, lost their lives.

Mosikili said police were intensifying border operations with neighbouring SADC countries to intercept smuggled weapons, citing a recent seizure in Gauteng involving a truck travelling from Namibia carrying several firearms.

On the morning of 16 June 2026, officers from SAPS Magaliesburg arrested four suspects and seized eight AK-47 rifles and seven empty magazines along the R24 road in Gauteng. Officers on routine patrol spotted a Volvo truck with Namibian registration plates parked on the roadside, with a Mazda sedan parked directly behind it.

Domestically, Operation Shanela and intelligence-led operations continued to recover illegal weapons.

But the flow of illegal firearms also raises questions about the legal firearms system. Mosikili said SAPS had a 120-day target for processing licence applications, but stricter checks under the Firearms Control Act could result in delays.

“We cannot simply issue licences where there are red flags,” she said, stressing that applications had to be thoroughly vetted to prevent legally acquired firearms from ending up in criminal hands.

Call by Gun Free South Africa

Claire Taylor, a research and policy analyst at Gun Free South Africa (GFSA), who has worked on gun violence prevention for more than 15 years, welcomed the scrutiny by the Auditor-General and Parliament of the country’s firearms regime.

“For too long, the role guns play in driving violence in South Africa has been ignored. These questions are overdue and crucial, and we hope they lead to real action in how guns are managed,” she said.

She said effective stockpile management was fundamental to tackling South Africa’s gun violence crisis, arguing that the biggest source of illegal weapons was legal firearms already in the country.

“We must stop legal stocks leaking into the illegal pool,” she said.

This required full control over every legal firearm, Taylor said — whether held by the state, civilians or businesses such as private security companies and firearms dealers. The same controls, she said, should apply to firearms that had been recovered or surrendered.

The systems used to record, store, manage and ultimately destroy these firearms had to be strengthened, properly implemented and independently overseen, she said.

Central to this was fixing the Central Firearms Registry so that every firearm and its owner could be traced at any time.

Taylor said the registry had never worked as intended and would not do so without proper oversight and accountability — both of which, she argued, had been lacking for 15 years.

“We hope these tough questions mark a real turning point, and that they do not end in Parliament. The police must answer for their duties under the Firearms Control Act and be held accountable for failures to implement it,” she said.

Medicare24 fallout: SAPS 5,500 recruits short

The cancellation of the R228-million Medicare24 contract has now hit SAPS recruitment, forcing the police to turn to the SANDF to help complete mandatory medical assessments.

Acting National Police Commissioner Puleng Dimpane said: “The issue of trainees, indeed we were unable to recruit the 5,500 we had planned for mainly because of the contract issue. Yes, I will say it is the Matlala contract issue.”

The contract, awarded in June 2024 to Medicare24 Tshwane District, a company linked to Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, was intended to provide medical screening and health-risk management for SAPS personnel and recruits. It was terminated in January 2025 amid investigations into alleged procurement irregularities and corruption.

The tender later became a key thread in investigations into Matlala and alleged corruption within SAPS. Following evidence before the Madlanga Commission, National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola was suspended, while 12 police officials and Matlala’s business associate James Murray were charged.

Masemola was cleared last month of four PFMA-related charges linked to the tender. The contract was budgeted at R360-million, but allegations before the commission included claims that collusion with police officials resulted in the contract being awarded to Matlala’s company for R228-million.

The operational fallout was laid bare before the parliamentary police committee on Wednesday. Major General Rabie said SAPS had 182,676 personnel — 5,340 below its establishment target, while not a single entry-level trainee had been enlisted against a target of 5,500.

He attributed the shortfall to the termination of the health-risk management contract, which brought mandatory medical assessments for recruits to a halt.

“This intake was deferred to the current financial year, increasing the target for the current financial year to 11,000 trainees,” Rabie said.

SAPS has since turned to the SANDF to conduct medical evaluations, while entry requirements have been raised to Grade 12 and a driver’s licence.

The result is the recruitment backlog of 5,500 prospective police officers — a tangible operational consequence of the collapse of a controversial tender. DM