The minister of justice and constitutional development, Jeff radebe, has announced a six month amnesty period for illegal firearms, starting 1 April 2017 and ending on 30 September 2017.<\/p>\n
Speaking in a cabinet briefing, Radebe said he hoped the amnesty would reduce the circulation of illegally possessed firearms which will in turn result in the reduction of contact crimes.<\/p>\n
He noted that the amnesty will focus\u00a0both on those in possession of illegal firearms and\/or ammunition in circulation (including those involved in one or more criminal activities), and those\u00a0who inherited firearms and\/or ammunition and failed to comply with the provisions of the Firearms Controls Act.<\/p>\n
The minister of police,\u00a0Nkosinathi Nhleko, is expected to provide further details closer to the commencement of the programme.<\/p>\n
The decision to grant amnesty to illegal gun owners follows a SAPS report on Friday (3 March) which indicated that the biggest crime increases across the country happened in “the contact crime category”.<\/p>\n
Notably,\u00a0the so-called \u2018trio crimes\u2019 (carjacking, robbery at home and robbery at non-residential premises) all saw large increases \u2013 with carjacking seeing the biggest increase across all crime categories.<\/p>\n