Senior lecturer at the School of Political Science at Stellenbosch University, Dr Guy Lamb, says there is an urgent need for stricter gun control measures in South Africa. This is after the statistics produced by the police and the mortuary surveillance systems in South Africa have consistently shown that firearms are the most commonly used weapon to commit crimes.
Police statistics paint a grim picture, showing a staggering 30% increase in gun-related killings over the past five years.
Lamb says the country needs a robust electronic system to keep effective control and analysis of the weapons.
"Theres many challenges around control over firearms in South Africa. Number one has been the databases run by the police. Weve had dysfunctional systems in the past. The central firearm registry has had to work in telecom towers, which are, you know, buildings that have lots of problems being reported on within the media. Their IT systems have been problematic. Theres, you know, processes in place to turn that around. Around the police, weve had problems of weapons being stolen from firearm stores within police stations. Part of the problem there is that, you know, the maintenance of databases is manual," says Lamb.
SAPS have discovered 50 guns in KZN:
