Supplied by Freedom Front Plus
Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police has expressed its shock at the fact that staff at the Central Firearms Registry in Tshwane are still occupying the Veritas Building which was declared as being unsafe by the Safety, Health and Environmental (SHE) Unit.
The committee conducted an oversight visit at the facility on Saturday, to gather information following continued reports of huge backlogs in processing firearm license applications and amnesty at the SAPS division.
The matter was even raised in Parliament in February this year where Police blamed Covid-19 for the delays and said the turnaround time for licenses would now be extended from 90 working days to 120.
Committee Chairperson Tina Joemat-Pettersson said at the time that only 280 applications were processed for the 2020/21 amnesty period against 30 356 applications.
Acting Chairperson Kebby Maphatsoe said they were briefed by senior SAPS management led by National Police Commissioner, General Khehla Sitole.
He said they proposed a fully digitalised application system to replace the current inefficient system.
Dr Pieter Groenewald of the Freedom Front Plus joined in on the oversight visit and expressed his shock at the hundreds of thousands of applications stacked all over the building.
He said the weight of the paper alone should be a concern for a structurally unsafe building.
‘n Kort video van een vertrek by SVR vandag van aansoeke / A short clip of applications in one office at CFR today. pic.twitter.com/0k71h3SXOo
— Pieter Groenewald (@GroenewaldPJ) May 15, 2021
According to the Police, a process of modernisation is underway and a bid has already been advertised to computerise the application system, making it possible for citizens to renew their licenses online.
Maphatsoe said it is unacceptable for SAPS to allow officials to continue working in the building.
He said they committed SAPS to prioritise the matter and to engage with the Department of Public Works to have it resolved.
The Freedom Front Plus wants firearm owners to only apply for a license once and deems it unnecessary to have to re-apply every five years.
