Businessman Calvin Mathibeli's property has received yet another visit from the SAPS.
Image: Tumi Pakkies / Independent Newspapers
KwaZulu-Natal police say businessman Calvin Mathibeli’s security company has 815 guns listed on its books, but police records show it should have over 850, and warned that any missing firearms could lead to criminal charges.
KZN SAPS spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda briefed the media outside Mathibeli’s property in Durban on Thursday, where police were conducting a compliance inspection.
The inspection follows a raid by heavily armed members of the SAPS's Operation Buyisa tactical unit at Mathibeli’s security company headquarters in Durban North.
Several police vehicles were stationed outside, with armed officers deployed around the premises.
The operation came after the Durban High Court dismissed Mathibeli’s urgent application to interdict SAPS from conducting a firearms compliance inspection at his company, Calvin and Family Security Services.
Netshiunda confirmed that police were conducting a firearm inspection.
"Police are conducting a national operation that looks at companies that deal with firearms to check if they really comply with the law."
He said police have been picking up firearms at crime scenes, and after looking at the firearms numbers, it was revealed that the firearms either belonged to the SAPS or belonged to security companies.
KwaZulu-Natal police say Calvin Mathibeli’s security company has 815 guns listed, but police records show it should have over 850.
Image: Supplied
Netshiunda said the person responsible for firearms would ultimately be held accountable, but Mathibeli had appointed someone to be in charge of the firearms on his behalf.
“So that person is telling us that the company has got 815 firearms in their books, in their safes.
“That for now does not correspond with the record that we have as the police, because our records indicate that this company should be having at least over 850 firearms,” he told the media outside the premises.
He said some discrepancies may simply be corrected during the operation.
“But, they are also saying that 11 of their firearms are at Inanda SAPS, because they are saying they were taken from a security company, which was operating somewhere in Cator Manor.
“That also needs to be verified, because we have to go to our SAPS stores in Inanda to check if those firearms are there, but that number does not necessarily have to be in one place, because they said they have got sites in at least four properties.”
“Here in Cator Manor, they have got two more sites in Newcastle, a site in Gauteng, in Limpopo, and Western Cape as well.”
He said if the firearms are not accounted for on site, “that means this operation must go to all those sites where they are saying the firearms are.”
“What's of concern for now is that the registration of that firearm is not properly completed.
“Firearms were moved from this place to another place without proper documentation to say how many firearms were moved, serial numbers, and who received them, because you must sign that I received the firearm, you must sign that I respect the firearms, but so far that is not done right.”
“And the concern is that the law or the Act says that the register must be completed with a permanent ink. So here we are seeing a pencil completing the register, which can be erased at any time.
“But safe to say, we are still operating, and we believe that once we are done, we will be able to connect the dots, if there are any wrong steps that need to be taken.”
Asked to explain the process, given that the owner is ultimately responsible for firearms on the premises.
Netshiunda addressed two questions: How long verifying the 815 firearms would take, and the seriousness of any non-compliance for the company owner.
On the implications, he said, “Anything that has to do with a firearm is serious.
“Firearms kill people, and firearms are used at robberies, at CITs.
“So anything that has to do with firearms is serious. So there are serious implications to the point that we can confiscate all the firearms and ensure that the licence is revoked if the findings are so severe that we can't give a fine or anything of that sort.”
On the timeline, he said there was no set period.
“Because if you're talking about over 800 firearms, that's a huge number. We must go and inspect each and every firearm one by one on its own merit.
“We must know where it is. And it's not only firearms, ammunition as well. We must know how many are accounted for. So everything must be checked thoroughly.
“If it takes two days, it's two days. If it's two months, it's two months. We need to ensure that we do this inspection thoroughly until every firearm is accounted for.
“If there are firearms that are not accounted for, cases will be opened and people who are responsible must face the music,” he added.
Police carried out a raid on a Durban North security firm after the High Court dismissed an urgent bid by businessman Calvin Mathibeli to block a firearms compliance inspection.
Image: Tumi / Independent Pictures
Meanwhile, the ruling was handed down on March 17, in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mathibeli had approached the court after SAPS notified him on March 11 of a planned compliance inspection scheduled for March 19 under Operation Buyisa.
“The court found that Mr Mathibeli’s application lacked urgency and dismissed it with costs. He was ordered to pay legal costs to SAPS,” police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Mukhathi said.
Mukhathi said members of Operation Buyisa proceeded with the inspection on 19 March as mandated by the Constitution and in terms of Section 109 of the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000.
Operation Buyisa is a nationwide SAPS initiative aimed at removing illegal firearms from circulation and addressing non-compliance among security companies and firearms dealers.
“As part of SAPS’s priority to curb the proliferation of firearms in the country, members of Operation Buyisa continue to conduct operations across multiple provinces to track down and confiscate firearms from security companies operating outside the ambit of the law, including illegal firearms,” Mukhathi said.
He added that compliance inspections are being conducted nationwide to ensure that security companies, dealers, and individuals adhere to firearm regulations.
“In combating gun-related violence, SAPS is intensifying efforts against the proliferation of firearms by conducting licence and compliance inspections at security companies holding firearms,” he said.
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