ANC and NEDLAC try to push through rejected and flawed firearms control legislation

Ian Cameron has highlighted underhanded tactics from NEDLAC to influence the opinion of the Minister of Police, and a veil of secrecy preventing adequate public participation

The Firearms Control Amendment Bill, a measure to tighten restrictions on private gun ownership, has languished at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) for more than 40 days as of mid-September 2025. Little progress has been made, with no consultations held involving stakeholders from the firearms or security sectors. The South African Gunowners’ Association, Gun Owners of South Africa, the Safe Citizen Campaign, accredited trainers, sport shooting organisations and private security firms have all been ignored, raising questions about the process’s legitimacy.

The bill appears to be a revised iteration of its 2021 predecessor, which drew opposition from over 118,000 South Africans during public hearings. If unchanged, it would seek to reduce private firearm holdings, complicate self-defence licensing, impose stricter rules on the security industry and add burdensome costs for compliant owners. Proponents argue these steps would curb gun crime, but evidence from South African Police Service (SAPS) data suggests licensed owners pose minimal risk, while illegal weapons, many originating from state losses, drive the violence.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has pledged outright rejection in Parliament, citing the bill’s failure to address SAPS’s chronic mismanagement of its arsenal, including thousands of lost or stolen firearms. This echoes the recent retreat of draft Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) regulations, abandoned after public outcry over their potential to jeopardise 500,000 jobs and expose communities to greater threats. The DA urges NEDLAC to convene open deliberations; absent that, it promises to escalate the matter publicly.

Cameron’s formal question to the Minister of Police, and his response, can be seen here:

But Cameron has not been reassured by this response, and explained in a post on X today:

The unanswered issues remain: No disclosure of how many state-owned firearms are still missing. No evidence that licensed firearm owners are the problem, despite SAPS’ own statistics showing illegal weapons, many lost or stolen from state entities, drive many significant incidents of gun violence. No progress on fixing the Central Firearms Register, which remains mired in corruption and dysfunction. No explanation as to why the public’s clear rejection in 2021 is being ignored.

This points to a deeper concern: that senior managers and processes like NEDLAC may be shaping a misleading narrative for the Minister, pushing forward a failed piece of legislation under the guise of reform. South Africa doesn’t need a copy-and-paste amendment Bill from 2021. What we need is: A fully functional Central Firearms Register. Consequence management for officials and syndicates leaking guns into criminal networks.

Citizens deserve facts, transparency, and real solutions, not recycled laws that target the wrong people.

A September 22 raid in Bellville, Cape Town, underscores the perils of lax enforcement, which the bill does nothing to rectify. SAPS reported arresting eight suspects, allegedly KwaZulu-Natal hitmen, armed with six AK-47 rifles and eight pistols, en route to a Nyanga taxi rank. Yet court records show only six charged, all released within 48 hours without formal opposition from prosecutors. Two suspects and two pistols vanished from documentation, with docket irregularities hinting at evidence tampering or substitution. The weapons, tied to two dubious KZN security firms with lapsed PSIRA registrations sharing a common director, remain only partially accounted for. SAPS attributed the releases to prosecutorial discretion and unverified addresses, but the episode exposes deeper flaws: fragmented dockets, inadequate profiling for syndicate links and serial-number discrepancies in storage logs. Only two pistols were licensed; the rest’s provenance went unchecked.

Such lapses allow high-calibre arms to potentially re-enter circulation, fuelling the very crime the bill purports to combat. No arrests followed an internal enquiry, and the missing eighth suspect’s whereabouts are unexplained. This incident, detailed in media reports from News24 and TimesLive, highlights SAPS’s operational deficits amid a national murder rate exceeding 75 daily. In the Western Cape alone, August 2025 saw over 300 killings in high-crime stations, with Flying Squad resources stretched to just two vehicles on busy nights—down from a norm of ten.

The bill’s timing jars against repeated demonstrations of state incapacity. On September 2, armed men seized the Ramotshere Moiloa municipal offices in North West province, installing an unelected mayor in a meeting lacking quorum. This “municipal coup” illustrates governance voids that embolden lawlessness, yet the bill would curtail citizens’ defensive options precisely when police protection falters. A similar logic applies to the August 26 critique of national SAPS underfunding: detective units, anti-gang task forces and crime intelligence languish, forcing provincial and local bodies, like Cape Town’s LEAP programme, which deployed 700 new officers, to improvise – they still lack search-and-seizure powers, as well as interrogation powers, afforded to SAPS officers, who have been systemically complicit in gang violence in the province for decades.

An Ad Hoc Committee, established in August, grapples with delays in witness protections, ICT setups and venue security, even as allegations of docket interference and cadre deployments linger unresolved. The continued employment of relatives of disgraced former Crime Intelligence head Richard Mdluli, flagged anew on September 19, exemplifies entrenched nepotism, with irregular promotions and fund misappropriations detailed in Auditor-General reports and State Capture findings. As September closes, the bill’s fate hinges on NEDLAC’s reticence.

Without stakeholder input or fixes to the dysfunctional Central Firearms Registry, it risks mirroring past legislative misfires—punitive towards the law-abiding while criminals exploit state leaks. The DA’s opposition, rooted in constitutional safeguards for safety, signals a parliamentary blockade. Public mobilisation, as seen in the PSIRA reversal, may yet prove decisive. In a nation where policing vacancies exceed 10,000 and forensic backlogs cripple prosecutions, disarming citizens offers no panacea; bolstering enforcement does.

But this isn’t the only effort to disarm law-abiding South Africans.

Draft regulations proposed by the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) earlier this year sought to reshape the sector, banning armed guards from public operations, mandating unfeasible tracking devices on firearms and imposing vague ammunition limits, including requirements for prior permission to use handcuffs and assault rifles – an impossible demand for an industry that requires emergency response. Critics, including DA MP and chairman of the Ian Cameron decried them as a threat to 500,000 jobs and community safety, arguing they would surge extortion rackets by hobbling private security amid South African Police Service (SAPS) shortfalls.

In an April 4 thread, Cameron detailed presumptions of guilt for security personnel and impractical tech requirements, urging submissions from the public. Gideon Joubert, a firearm rights advocate, echoed this on August 7, likening the push to a prelude for broader civilian disarmament, noting PSIRA’s CEO and Police Minister’s own corruption scandals. Public backlash prevailed. By mid-April, PSIRA withdrew the proposals, mirroring the 2021 Firearms Control Amendment Bill’s rejection after 118,000 objections. Cameron hailed the victory on April 23 as a model for resisting state encroachments, while Paratus warned on September 8 of lingering risks in ongoing talks.

Yet integrity lapses persist. Cameron’s September 1 exposé revealed PSIRA’s R127 million UIF fraud—forged documents, unreturned prepayments, unfulfilled training for thousands—flagged by the Auditor-General, with no suspensions despite parliamentary calls. Joubert amplified this, questioning fee accountability on September 1. On September 25, Cameron linked PSIRA’s lax oversight to a Bellville raid where hitmen, armed via dubious KZN firms with lapsed registrations, were released, two pistols vanishing from records.

Insiders confirm that these regulations have nothing to do with their stated aims. PSiRA makes little effort to regulate criminal syndicates exploiting private security licenses for access to assault rifles, and regulators have admitted behind closed doors that they are too afraid of them to police any actual criminals, preferring to focus on petty paperwork errors from law-abiding companies operating in the sector.

The intention of these moves is unclear, but many fear the state is attempting to disarm law-abiding citizens, who are the last line of defence in a country without any functioning state security apparatus.