Cape Town - Members of the standing committee on police oversight were on Tuesday left frustrated after being told the information they sought from provincial police top brass on the destruction of illegal firearms was classified and not to be revealed in an open session.
The committee members had invited Western Cape police management to brief them on the firearms destruction process and the slow progress in identifying a site in the province where the guns could be destroyed instead of having to transport them to Pretoria every so often.
In April, then committee chairperson Reagen Allen publicly urged provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile to clarify how far the Western Cape was on acquiring its own destruction site.
Allen has since been made police oversight and community safety MEC. At the time, however, Allen said after a meeting with the commissioner in March, he had confirmed that no progress had been made in identifying a suitable site in the province.
Back in 2019, then community safety MEC Albert Fritz told Allen in the legislature that the destruction of illegal firearms had been delayed by SAPS due to a lack of suitable premises in the province.
At the time, Fritz said the delay in destroying the firearms in the Western Cape was a potential safety threat.
Yesterday’s presentation ended up being quite brief and short on actual specifics, much to the chagrin of ACDP MPL Ferlon Christians and fellow committee member Deidré Baartman (DA).
Christians said: “We are back at square one and we are no way better off as everything is confidential or classified.”
He said he was worried about the safety risks involved in the regular transport of the illegal firearms from
Cape Town to Pretoria as he feared a number of them were pilfered on the way and found their way back to gangsters.
He suggested that if necessary, the police should return to the committee and brief them in camera.
Baartman echoed this suggestion and wanted to know the number of weapons set for destruction between capture and the final destination.
Patekile said no firearms had been lost in transit from Cape Town to Pretoria and that there were numerous checks and balances in place.
However, he did admit that some previous cases of theft or loss of the illegal guns had occurred at the national facility in Pretoria.
The committee resolved among other things to host an in-camera meeting with SAPS to enable them to freely share confidential crime intelligence without it being used by syndicates and to organise a study tour to Pretoria to inspect the current facility being used.