“FOLLOW THE GUN”: GUN FREE SOUTH AFRICA CALLS FOR URGENT ACTION AFTER DEADLY WEEKEND

Wed 30 September 2026:

“We don’t have an illegal gun problem in South Africa… We got a gun violence problem in general because, you know, we are asking ourselves as South Africans where these guns are coming from,” said Executive Director of Gun Free South Africa, Dr Stanley Maphosa.

Maphosa’s comments followed two mass shootings on Saturday night that left 28 people dead. Eighteen died at a tavern in Wedela township near Johannesburg, and hours later 10 were killed at a store linked to an entertainment venue in Lwandle township near Cape Town. Detectives are working with members of the South African Defence Force to investigate the attacks.

He said the search should focus not only on the shooters but also on the guns they used. He warned that if a weapon’s origin is not traced, the cycle of violence will continue. According to Maphosa, recovering even one gun allows investigators, with help from bodies such as Interpol, to trace where it was manufactured, who sold it and which country it came from.

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Legal Guns Feeding The Illegal Market

Gun Free South Africa says 33 people are shot dead in the country every day. Maphosa said the main driver is the easy availability of firearms, made worse by weak controls and policing. He said guns already in circulation must be recovered, while legally owned firearms must be properly controlled.

He said civilians and security companies lose 22 firearms a day, while the state loses two a day through the police and the army. He described these numbers as serious and pointed to negligence as a major cause of the losses.

“The guns that we call illegal have a history, and most of them by and large have been legal before they became illegal. And through theft and loss, through diversion, through corruption, through smuggling across the borders, through some homemade, some backyard manufacturing, guns are available in this country,” he said.

Corruption At The Core

Maphosa said that as South Africans follow the Madlanga Commission, corruption stands out as the biggest weakness in firearm control. He said it is one of the main ways legally held guns end up in criminal hands.

He cited the case of former police colonel Christiaan Prinsloo, who sold approximately thousands of firearms to Cape Flats gangs. Many of those guns, Maphosa said, are still being used to kill people today. He also noted that AK-47 rifles, which police say were used in the Wedela attack, are banned for private use. He added that even the military uses them only in extraordinary circumstances.

“The greatest issue that we have in this country is corruption. And corruption in all angles because corruption is a supply and demand kind of interaction… the members of society also pressurise and offer bribes for corruption,” Maphosa said.

Missing Amnesty And Weak Enforcement

Maphosa questioned why South Africa, a signatory to African Union and SADC protocols, had not declared a firearms amnesty in September. September is the month set aside across Africa for people to hand in weapons. He said an amnesty would give people who fear being questioned a chance to surrender their guns at designated points.

He also called for illegal guns to be recovered and traced, and for tighter controls on the licensing and storage of legal firearms. He cautioned against assuming that all the guns used in the recent attacks were illegal. He noted that a legal firearm can also be used illegally and that authorities have not yet confirmed the status of the weapons.

“The law has been very, very useful when it was implemented in the early years of its implementation about 10 years or so, and the implementation levels went down, and we are where we are right now… So we must amend it, close all those loopholes, and start to do what we did to implement it properly, because we have done it in South Africa. We can do it again.”