Cape Town - Over half of the 1 256 murders recorded at the Salt River Mortuary last year were carried out with guns, according to the Western Cape community safety department.
A total of 633 of the homicides at the busy mortuary were the result of firearm violence.
Outlining the dire situation, Community Safety MEC Plato said the province has a serious gun problem which must be addressed if the murder rate is to drop and criminals, gangsters and druglords disarmed.
The figures were collated by the department in response to a request by the Civilian Secretariat of Police for a provincial probe into firearm-related crime dockets at four police stations between 1999 and 2014, as well as the problems encountered by police in enforcing the Firearms Control Act.
Mitchells Plain, Nyanga, Paarl East and Worcester, where a high prevalence of firearm related crimes were recorded, were selected for the study.
Plato said analysis of 300 case dockets, 75 from each of the four stations, revealed that an overwhelming majority of perpetrators - 97 percent - were male, of whom 68.6 percent were between 18 and 35 years old.
“Most... were committed in January while the least firearm related crimes were committed on Mondays and Thursdays and the highest on Sundays and Fridays,” Plato said.
The study also found that most firearm related crimes occurred between 6pm and midnight. Plato said one in five of the firearm cases resulted in conviction.
“The highest level of conviction was at Paarl East, where 46.67 percent of cases resulted in conviction; the lowest rate of conviction was at Mitchells Plain, with (only) 5.33 percent of cases resulting in conviction.”
In most cases (37.33 percent) charges had been withdrawn against the accused while police failed to resolve a large percentage of cases (34.67 percent).
The study also highlighted that on average it took 474 days to convict a perpetrator of a firearm-related crime. However, in Nyanga it took more than 1 257 days - just under three and a half years.
In Worcester it took an average of 593 days (20 months); in Paarl East it took just under a year (354 days) and in Mitchells Plain it took just less than five months (145 days) to finalise cases.
However, there were so few convictions for Mitchells Plain that this statistic was misleading.
“Far too many criminals that are supposed to be in jail are still roaming the streets,” Plato said.
He said Belhar, Bishop Lavis and Elsies River were among the areas where gun violence was the highest.
According to the study, at least 31 people were reported killed in suspected gang violence between January and July 2014.
“There is a worrying element of teenagers involved in violent crimes in certain parts of the province, and a burgeoning problem of youth who are involved in gangs and gang activities, especially on the Cape Flats.
“While police battle to curb the rampant gun trade, the increasing use of home-made firearms threatens to further derail any change of controlling gang violence and effective gun controls,” noted the report.
The report also expressed concern about the number of police who had been killed with firearms. Murders of police are often accompanied by theft of their firearms.
“By early August 2015, it was reported that 53 police officers had been killed. It was not clear whether all these officers were killed while on duty or with a firearm.”
Regarding the implementation of the Firearms Control Act, the study found a firearm was used in attempts to kill someone in a fifth of cases.
Plato said concerns had been raised about the operation of the Central Firearm Registry, which included allegations of police corruption at senior levels and convictions of police Firearms Liquor and Second Hand Goods Control (Flash) officials.
Plato also said only 45 of 150 police stations had been given workstations to capture firearm applications.
Cape Argus