Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia told the National Assembly that a total of 2,523 firearms belonging to the South African Police Service were either stolen or lost over the last four financial years. The figure, disclosed in response to a parliamentary question, also included almost 195,000 rounds of official ammunition reported missing during the same period.
Types of weapons and accountability
According to Cachalia’s reply, the bulk of the missing weapons were 9 x 19 mm Parabellum pistols. The register of lost and stolen items also contained higher-capability weapons: 66 Vektor R5 rifles, 4 R1 rifles, 19 shotguns and even a grenade launcher.
| Weapon type | Number reported stolen or lost |
|---|---|
| 9 x 19 mm Parabellum pistols | Majority of 2,523 |
| Vektor R5 rifles | 66 |
| R1 rifles | 4 |
| Shotguns | 19 |
| Grenade launcher | 1 |
Cachalia said the South African Police Service has implemented a number of administrative and technical safeguards aimed at preventing theft, loss and unauthorised use of official firearms and ammunition.
"The South African Police Service has implemented measures to prevent the theft, loss and unauthorised use of official firearms and ammunition,"
Key elements cited by the acting minister include adherence to National Instruction 6 of 2018, the use of the Provisioning Administration System (PAS) to manage official firearms, and dot-peen marking of newly procured weapons with an SAPS identifier. Cachalia also said newly acquired firearms undergo Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS) testing before distribution.
Storage, marking and prosecutions
The department requires that firearms and ammunition not in use be stored in approved safes or strong rooms that meet prescribed standards, the minister said. Operational ammunition is reportedly marked to improve accountability and traceability, and members are expected to employ retention mechanisms where required. Regular inspections and certification processes are also part of the measures described.
On enforcement, Cachalia supplied figures for arrest and conviction related to these losses: 893 people have been arrested in connection with thefts and losses of SAPS firearms and ammunition across the reporting period. Of those detained, 80 were found guilty; 41 of the convicted persons are serving or former members of the SAPS.
- 2,523 firearms reported stolen or lost (four years)
- 194,920 rounds of ammunition reported stolen or lost
- 893 arrests relating to these incidents
- 80 convictions, including 41 SAPS members
The minister’s response came after a formal parliamentary question from National Assembly member Wouter Wessels. The disclosure underscores continuing concerns about the security and oversight of official arms and ammunition, and about how missing weapons may be diverted into criminal hands.
Implications for policing and public safety
Stolen police weapons have long been identified as a catalyst for escalated violent crime, enabling gangs and armed suspects to operate with more lethal firepower. The inclusion of service rifles and a grenade launcher in the reported losses will reinforce calls from oversight bodies and legislators for tighter control, improved record-keeping and swifter accountability for negligent or criminal behaviour within police ranks.
While the SAPS lists multiple administrative safeguards, the conviction rate provided by Cachalia — 80 of 893 arrests — will raise questions about case management, capacity to secure successful prosecutions and whether further systemic reforms are necessary to stem the loss and theft of official arms. The department did not provide additional detail in the minister’s written response about where the losses occurred, recovery rates for the missing weapons, or disciplinary outcomes for implicated members beyond the criminal convictions noted.
As Parliament considers these figures, oversight committees and civil-society stakeholders are likely to press for fuller transparency on location-specific losses, the effectiveness of the PAS and IBIS measures in practice, and whether the SAPS’s inspections and storage standards are being uniformly enforced.
