Minister Cele and Parliament bungle Firearm Amnesty

4 December 2019

In terms of Section 139 (2) (a) of the Firearm Control Act a notice to declare a firearm amnesty will only be valid if it is approved by Parliament.

Police Minister Bheki Cele and the majority of the members of the portfolio committee on Police have rushed the approval of the firearm amnesty and in so doing may have exposed Parliament and SAPS to unnecessary and costly litigation.

At the outset the Democratic Alliance (DA) warned that the process should be approached with caution and due diligence so as not to cause confusion.

The DA has now written to Minister Cele encouraging him to terminate the current amnesty notice and restart the process. A new notice should be sent to Parliament so that all technicalities can be ironed out by SAPS and presented to Parliament for approval.

Below is the timeline of the process as it has unfolded:

On 28 August 2019 the Minister tabled a notice to declare an amnesty with the Speaker of Parliament. The notice had as its commencement date the 1st of October 2019.

On 11 September the Committee Chairperson added the firearm amnesty as a last minute item to the agenda for the committee and SAPS hurriedly presented to the committee with a presentation designed for the NCOP. The committee rightly sent SAPS back to address a number of concerns and shortcomings.

On 23 October SAPS returned to the committee with the original notice which still had its commencement date as 1 October. The committee could not retrospectively approve the amnesty and so, in its meeting, it amended the commencement date from 1 October to 1 December and referred the matter to the National Assembly (NA). The DA reserved our rights.

On the 21st of November a report from the portfolio committee was tabled in the National Assembly. No notice was attached to this report (not the original notice nor an amended notice) and the committee, up to this stage, had not been provided with the final amended notice. In the debate in the NA the DA opposed the amnesty notice and the report citing procedural concerns relating to the notice and its commencement date.

On the 27th of November the Minister of Police gazetted the notice with the amended commencement date of 1 December but his signature on the notice is dated 28 August 2019 which was the date of the draft notice.

Finally, the committee had agreed to a list of 46 police stations to be excluded from the amnesty. The notice gazetted by the Minister on 27 November 2019 only listed 3 police stations.

In their haste, the Minister and the Portfolio Committee have caused unnecessary confusion which may well lead to costly legal action being brought against the Minister and Parliament.

The notice to declare an amnesty must be withdrawn by the Minister so that SAPS can ensure that all technicalities are dealt with and the notice must be sent back to Parliament.

The DA will not allow Parliament to become a rubber stamp for the Executive.

Issued by Andrew Whitfiled, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 4 December 2019