Police Oversight and Community Safety
With regard to firearm confiscation for the past two financial years:
(1) (a) How many firearms were confiscated by SAPS in each policing district in the province during the past two financial years, (b) what categories of firearms were confiscated, (c) during which types of operations were these firearms seized, (d) how many of the confiscated firearms were found to be (i) illegal or (ii) linked to previous crimes, (e) how many were identified as stolen from (i) private owners, (ii) state officials, (iii) security companies and (iv) SAPS armouries, (f) what is the current backlog in ballistic testing for confiscated firearms and (g) what is the average turnaround time for processing ballistic reports?
- (a) Below find confiscated firearms identifiable / without serial numbers circulated as recovered on EFRS per District for the past two financial years.
Financial Year | Cape Winelands | Central Karoo | City of Cape Town | Garden Route | Overberg | West Coast | Total |
2023-2024 | 116 | 5 | 1378 | 60 | 43 | 42 | 1644 |
2024-2025 | 25 | 3 | 1322 | 5 | 57 | 48 | 1460 |
(b) Below find confiscated firearms recovered on per category for the past two financial years.
Categories | Financial Year 2023-2024 | Financial Year 2024-2025 |
Pistol | 944 | 870 |
Pistol (Air) | 298 | 257 |
Pistol 9mm PAK(Gas) | 1 | 0 |
Pistol (Gas) | 3 | 2 |
Revolver | 326 | 234 |
Rifle | 51 | 52 |
Rifle (AK47) | 1 | 21 |
Shotgun | 15 | 22 |
Combination | 1 | 0 |
Firearm Component (Barrels) | 2 | 1 |
Firearm Component (Receiver) | 1 | 0 |
Cap & Ball (Revolver) | 1 | 0 |
Muzzle Loader | 0 | 1 |
Total | 1644 | 1460 |
(c) Firearms were seized during a broad range of operational activities, including intelligence-driven operations targeting high-risk individuals and identified hotspots; routine crime-prevention patrols incorporating stop-and-search actions; roadblocks and vehicle checkpoints conducted under applicable legislation; high-density operations and saturation deployments executed in collaboration with specialised units; the execution of search-and-seizure warrants at identified premises; interventions by specialised units such as TRT, POP and the Anti-Gang Unit, etc; as well as community-reported incidents.
(d) (i) For the financial year 2023-2024 a total of 712 confiscated firearms were found to be illegal firearms and for the financial year 2024-2025 a total of 613.
(ii) According to the Integrated Ballistics system 466 positive linkages were identified from January 2023 to January 2025
(e) Below find the totals of identified recovered firearms reported stolen from private owners, state officials, security companies and SAPS armouries for the last two financial years.
(i)
Private Owners | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
279 | 245 |
(ii)
State Officials
| 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
22 | 36 |
(iii)
Security Companies | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
31 | 25 |
(iv)
SAPS armouries | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
0 | 0 |
(f) In the current financial year (as of 09 December 2025), the Ballistics section in the Western Cape received 14 020 entries (Ballistic analysis: 7942 and IBIS: 6075) and finalised 11 675 entries (Ballistic analysis: 6 413 and IBIS: 5 262) with a brought forward from the previous financial year of 4 595 entries (Ballistic analysis: 4 323 and IBIS: 272). The current case exhibits material (entries) not yet finalised exceeding their prescribed departmental timeline [older than 90 Calander days) is a total of 2 985 (Ballistic analysis: 2 985 and IBIS: 0) as at 2025-12-10. In the current financial year (as of 31 October 2025), the Ballistics section in the Western Cape issued 5 626 forensic reports [212 statements).
(g) The average turnaround time for processing case exhibits material (ENTRIES) from receival to completion is 90 Calander Days; Control mechanisms have been implemented by FSL Management to monitor and manage cases on hand and cases on the court roll by prioritising cases as per the NPA requests/according to the court dates.
