Locked and Loaded: Why South Africa’s gun control system is failing and what must change

South Africa’s gun violence crisis has reached devastating proportions, with about 33 people shot dead every day.

Yet, the very system meant to prevent legal firearms from leaking into criminal hands, the Central Firearms Registry (CFR), is buckling under dysfunction, corruption, and neglect.

The CFR was established to maintain accurate records tracing every gun “from cradle to grave,” but years of mismanagement, missing files, and outdated technology have turned it into a weak link in the country’s fight against crime.

Gun Free SA research and policy analyst Claire Taylor said accurate firearm record-keeping is recognised globally as a cornerstone of effective gun control - and is required under several international small arms control protocols to which South Africa is a signatory.

“South Africa’s Central Firearms Registry has never functioned properly,” Taylor said. 

“The fundamental problem is that record-keeping has been treated as an administrative burden rather than what it actually is: a critical crime-fighting tool. Deploying resources to build a functional system has never been prioritised - with catastrophic consequences for public safety.”

Taylor said the registry’s problems stem from its fragmented systems, with both paper-based and electronic records containing data from two separate laws - the current Firearms Control Act and the apartheid-era 1969 Arms and Ammunition Act. 

“An indication of this dysfunction is given by the numbers themselves. For the same year, the CFR reports that the number of state-owned firearms differs by 1.3 million,” she said.

The lack of integration and accountability has created a fertile ground for corruption and gun leakage. 

“The breakdown in record-keeping creates the chaos in which bad actors thrive, making it impossible to track firearms, identify losses or hold officials accountable - thereby enabling corruption and the systematic leakage of firearms to criminals,” Taylor said.

Recent shootings in Johannesburg highlight the consequences. 

Two teenagers were killed and five others wounded in a mass shooting in Westbury on October 21, while another drive-by in Reiger Park on November 1 left six dead and three injured. 

These tragedies reflect how easily firearms circulate beyond legal control.

“Without up-to-date and accurate data on firearms and ammunition, the state is failing to meet its global, regional and national legal obligations, facilitating the illicit trade, ownership and use of firearms and ammunition, and contributing to gun crime and violence in South Africa,” Taylor said.

One of the most infamous examples of CFR failure involves former police colonel Chris Prinsloo, who sold thousands of firearms meant for destruction to criminal networks. 

“According to Prinsloo, firearms were ‘removed from the police computer’ before being on-sold to criminals,” Taylor said. 

“The absence of accurate records therefore facilitated the diversion of legal guns into unauthorised possession.”

She said forensic evidence has linked Prinsloo’s guns to at least 2,784 crimes between 2007 and 2016 - including 1,066 murders, 187 of which involved children.

Other cases reveal similar failures. 

In 2014, Norwood Police Station officers found 112 assault rifles and explosives at a private home, including firearms that should have been destroyed during the 2009 amnesty. 

A later audit in 2021 revealed at least 175 firearms missing from the same station, Taylor said.

She said a 2019 audit of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) found that only 71% of its 3,525 licensed firearms could be accounted for, with hundreds missing or stolen. 

“SAPS had conducted only three inspections into the EMPD’s armoury since its establishment in 2002 - instead of the legally mandated annual audits,” Taylor said.

Alleged 28s gang leader Ralph Stanfield and associates also exploited CFR weaknesses to fraudulently obtain firearm licences, she said.

The group allegedly paid officials to falsify records, gaining access to 11 firearms. 

Similar allegations surfaced against alleged underworld figure Nafiz Modack, who was recharged in 2024 for fraudulent firearm licence applications involving corrupt CFR officers.

Taylor said the testimony of the National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola at the Madlanga Commission revealed that rogue private security firms are also implicated in political killings in KwaZulu-Natal,  where 377 firearms were seized.

In October 2025, staff from the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) were suspended for irregularly registering a security firm linked to murder-accused businessman Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala. 

Criminologist Professor Kholofelo Rakubu, head of Law, Safety and Security Management at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) told IOL News that the dysfunction at the CFR undermines policing, prosecution, and public safety.

“A firearm registry is not just a database - it is a mechanism of accountability,” Rakubu said. 

“It allows the state to monitor the movement of firearms from legal ownership to potential misuse. Without this traceability, the chain of evidence collapses and, with it, the prospects of justice.”

Officers routinely report delays in accessing records, she said, while missing files and outdated systems cripple investigations and court cases. 

“The result is a justice system that struggles to convict, even when the evidence is literally in hand,” she said.

Residents of high-risk areas such as Eldorado Park live in constant fear. 

Local resident Errol Jacobs said illegal guns have transformed community life. 

“People don’t move freely, especially at night. They live in fear. The presence of illegal guns hampers the safety of people as they can’t move freely or even visit essential places like clinics, hospitals or schools,” he said.

Rakubu said the CFR’s collapse reflects deeper governance issues within SAPS, including chronic underfunding, lack of digitisation and frequent leadership changes. 

“The absence of a centralised, secure digital system has left the CFR vulnerable to corruption and inefficiency, eroding public trust in its ability to regulate firearm ownership,” she said.

Taylor said efforts to reform the registry have repeatedly failed. 

As far back as 2010, a ministerial task team identified corruption and irregularities in licensing, including bribes and the improper issuing of prohibited firearms. Yet no sustained reforms followed. 

A 10-year, R412 million tender awarded to Waymark Infotech to digitise firearm records collapsed without delivering a functional system, despite findings of fruitless expenditure. 

Gun Free SA has warned that the current contract with Providence Software Solutions, awarded in 2023, risks repeating the same mistakes.

In its submission to Parliament, Gun Free SA urged urgent action.

“Establishing an accurate record-keeping system for firearms must be prioritised,” Taylor said.

The organisation called for independent oversight of the Providence contract, audits of past tenders, and legal amendments requiring annual public reporting on firearm statistics and losses.

Rakubu said South Africa lags far behind countries such as Canada and Australia, which operate fully digitised firearm registries linked to law enforcement databases. 

“These systems are not just more efficient - they are more transparent, more secure, and more effective in curbing gun violence,” she said.

She argued that reforming the CFR requires political will as much as technology. 

“Rebuilding South Africa’s CFR demands a political and legislative commitment to transparency, accountability, and modernisation,” she said. 

“Digitisation must be prioritised, with biometric integration and secure cloud-based storage to prevent data loss and manipulation.”

The scale of the problem extends beyond administration. 

Appearing before the Madlanga Commission, Brigadier Mishack Mkhabela, SAPS ballistics expert, said that 41,846 criminal cases remain stuck in the forensic pipeline - many dependent on ballistic evidence. 

“We have repurposed a museum, and even that is full,” he said. 

He also revealed that only 42 analysts are available and there are more than 29,000 firearms linked to killings awaiting analysis.

Taylor said the revelation was a stark illustration of how gun violence has overwhelmed South Africa’s criminal justice system. 

“The fact that police had to repurpose a museum to store 29,000 firearms linked to killings is a shocking illustration of South Africa’s gun violence crisis which 33 people are shot every day,” she said. 

“This reveals a crisis far beyond storage capacity. When evidence storage cannot keep pace with the scale of killing, it exposes not just systemic failure but the urgent need for meaningful action.”

The CFR’s dysfunction, she added, lies at the heart of this crisis. 

“Backlogs mean crucial ballistic evidence linking firearms to crimes sits untested for months or years - delaying prosecutions and denying victims justice,” Taylor said.

Meanwhile, gun deaths continue to rise and communities lose faith in law enforcement.

Rakubu said that fixing the CFR is not just a bureaucratic necessity but a matter of national survival.

“In a country where gun violence claims thousands of lives each year, the failure of the CFR is not just a policy issue - it is a public safety crisis,” Rakubu said. 

“Until South Africa treats firearm regulation as a national priority, the justice system will remain compromised, and communities will continue to pay the price.”

Despite acknowledging IOL News inquiries, the SAPS has not responded, saying it was still awaiting comments from an expert in the CFR.

simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za

IOL News