A gun violence epidemic is a result of the easy availability of guns in society.
These are the sentiments of Gun Free SA (GFSA), which cited that “every day, 33 people are shot and killed in South Africa”.
The comments come in reaction to the Public Servants Association’s (PSA) statement which implored for the safety of police officers who are fatally shot in the line of duty.
The PSA said the country is “under siege as the state of lawlessness has reached the point of instability”.
“Anarchy is reigning as criminals wag their guns and shooting orgies kill innocent people. Women are gang-raped and terrorised. Nurses are kidnapped in hospitals, raped, and left to die. Foreigners cross South Africa’s borders as they please, with some committing atrocious criminality. Illegal mining is rampant and there is a blatant war against law enforcement officers.
“Between April and June 2023, a shocking 31 police officers were killed in the line of duty, almost double the number during the same period in 2022. In a more recent report covering October to December 2023, it was indicated that 22 police officers were killed, with 10 of those deaths occurring while the officers were on duty, and 12 while they were not on duty.
“These cases underscore the courage and commitment of South African police officers to keep communities safe. Their deaths remind us that no officer should die for carrying out a duty. These statistics further highlight the violence directed at public servants tasked with protecting others.
“The police tracked down and apprehended 12 police killers during that period, with two killers being sentenced to four life terms in prison. These sentences will, however, not relieve the agony of these officers’ families of living without a breadwinner and parent,” the PSA said.
According to the PSA, the police have become “soft targets” for their guns.
“The reality is that violent crime is rife. Criminals are deadly and have no mercy when they attack police officers and shoot to kill. If police officers do not retaliate with force, the state will lose the war on crime. The use of lethal force by police is highly regulated and police officers undergo serious investigations by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate when they kill criminals.
“Judging by the level of scrutiny that police officers are subjected to, it would appear that the law is skewed in favour of criminals. Police officers face the risk of losing their jobs if found to have unjustifiably used lethal force,” said the PSA.
Crime expert, Calvin Rafadi, said criminals need to be aware that “dockets are digitised”.
“Criminals are the dumbest when they think that by killing a policeman, their cases will go away. Even in this (Nafiz) Modack case, should it be that they killed (Charl) Kinnear for the docket to disappear, the cases are taken over by new detectives.
“The danger also of referring to these matters currently in court, if you can't place them at the scene of the crime or have not gathered enough evidence to prosecute them, they become more popular and more relevant. The big fishes are role models to the point that young kids are easily recruited. The criminals end up being worshipped,” said Rafadi.
GFSA’s Adele Kirsten said: “South Africa has a gun violence epidemic fuelled by the easy availability of guns in our society. The most effective way to reduce gun crime and violence is to reduce the circulation of guns in society. There are three priority actions required by the SAPS to help us reduce gun crime and violence and that is to reduce the guns in circulation, through the recovery of guns used in crime.
“Secondly, is to enforce the Firearms Control Act and thirdly to strengthen the existing Act by bringing an amendment to Parliament because it will help strengthen the law.”
In August 2023, Norman Sekhukhune, the head of police crime research and statistics, told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police that 31 police officers were killed between April and June 2023. This was almost double the number of officers killed by criminals during the same period in 2022.