1. DEPARTMENT OF POLICE DEPARTEMENT VAN POLISIE
PRESENTATION BY FIREARMS APPEAL BOARD TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON POLICE
DATE:
VENUE: PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
BY: CHAIRPERSON FIREARMS APPEAL BOARD

2. CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CURRENT STATISTICS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
3. CFR AND APPEAL BOARD ADMINISTRATIVE RELATIONSHIP
4. BOARD’S OPINION ON BACKLOG OF APPLICATIONS
5. SHORTCOMINGS OF THE FCA
6. RECOMMENDATIONS

3. * MEMBERS OF THE APPEAL BOARD
1. INTRODUCTION
The Appeal Board is created by Section 128 of the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000
(FCA) The members of the Board are appointed by the Minister in terms of Section 128
read with Section 129 of the same Act. The conditions of service and remuneration of
the Board members is as prescribed by the Minister as per Section 129 read with
Regulation 90 of the FCA.
* MEMBERS OF THE APPEAL BOARD
 The following persons make up the Appeal Board
Mr P A Mongwe,Chairperson (FORMER MAGISTRATE).
Mr S D Majokweni, Member (ADVOCATE).
Mrs C D Mashele, Member (ATTORNEY).
Ms L C Shandu, Member (ADVOCATE).
Mr S Xulu, Member (FORMER SAPS MEMBER).
(See attached organogram)

5. * Functions of the Board
In terms of Section 133 read with Regulation 91 of Act 60 of 2000 the
Appeal Board in considering appeals must confirm, vary and reverse any
decision against which an appeal has been lodged.   
Besides considering appeals the Board members in terms of their
contract may perform any functions as delegated by the Minister.
Legislatively the Appeal Board has no oversight role to play over the
Central Firearms Registry (CFR).
2. CURRENT STATISTICS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
The statistics indicates that 999 appeals were received during the months of
January to April Of the received appeals 754 have been finalized.

6. ANNEXURE “A” FIREARMS APPEAL BOARD STATISTICS
PERIOD JANUARY 2016– APRIL 2016
OLD ACT
APPEALS IN TERMS OF FIREARMS AND
AMMUNITION ACT 75 OF 1969
NEW ACT
APPEALS IN TERMS OF FIREARMS
CONTROL ACT NO 60 OF 2000
TOTAL OF
MONTH
OLD ACT (271)
BONA FIDE
GRANTED ON
CONDITI ON
UNFITNESS (OLD)
GRANTED ON CONDITIO N (NEW)
NEW ACT (271)
COMPETENCY
RENEWAL
YEAR
2014
REFUSED
GRANTE D
GRAN TED
REF USE D
JAN 3 55 7 18 90
FEB 20 10 2 82 81 23 21 40 5
284
MAR 33 25 1 28 37 11 34 9
189
APRIL 9 8 15 94 11 5 45 4
191
TOTAL 65 43 3
180
219 52 37
137 18
754
LETTER / CORRESPONDENCE
JANUARY = 91
FEBRUARY = 284
MARCH = 194
APRIL = 191
MAY =
JUNE =
JULY =
AUGUST =
SEPTEMBER =
OCTOBER =
NOVEMBER =
DECEMBER =

7. 3. CFR AND APPEAL BOARD ADMINISTRATIVE RELATIONSHIP
The administrative function of the Appeal Board is performed by the CFR in
terms of Section 131 of the FCA.
The CFR is the custodian of all appeal files. In considering appeals the Board
must obtain the files from the CFR. If the files are not submitted to the
Board on time it leads to the delay in finalizing the appeals.
In terms of Regulation 89 of the FCA the CFR in considering applications it
must record the reasons for the administrative decision it has taken. If an
appeal is lodged the appellant must attach the reasons as issued by CFR.
The following is some of the systemic conduct identified within CFR:

8. i The failure to give refusal reasons of applications
ii The failure to submit requested information to the Board such as:- files to be considered for appeals application forms filled by applicants in applying for competency certificate and firearm license (forms SAPS517 and SAPS 217)
iii The failure to timeously forward to the Appeal Board appeals received from the public
iv The reasons given for refusing applications appear in the majority of cases to be cut and paste and have no bearing to the substance of the application
v The IT system of CFR ought to be upgraded as in some instances it does not
reflect the correct information about the firearms. An example of this is
where a person has reported a lost firearm but after about a year the same
firearm is reflected as being still licensed under that person’s name.

9. 4. THE BOARD’S VIEW ON BACKLOG OF APPLICATIONS WITHIN CFR
* The FCA under Section 10 and Section 27 provides for the time periods for
the validity of firearm licenses and competency certificates. The CFR
management have set themselves a turn around time of 90 days for
finalizing applications.
* There are a number of processes, which are time
consuming that must be completed before an application is finalized.
The Board’s view is that the turn around time set for finalizing applications is not realistic and/or practical taking into account the volumes of firearm licenses
and competency certificates applications.
* The Board is also of the opinion that the number of applications lodged far
exceeds the number of personnel dedicated to consider the applications.
* Further from what has been observed on the contents of the files; which include the nature of the refusal reasons given to applicants by CFR, the Board is doubtful about the competence and efficiency of personnel tasked with determining applications.

10. 5. SHORTCOMINGS OF THE FCA
Despite the intention of the legislature that the FCA must curb the proliferation
of firearms there are certain sections of the FCA that works against this purpose.
Some of the examples are the following:
* The purpose section of the FCA only refers to the curbing of proliferation of illegally possessed firearms and not firearms in general
* There is no provision for undergoing mental health fitness checks prior to being issued with a competency certificate
* There is no definition of what is self defence making it impossible to determine what factors to consider when considering an application in terms of Section 13 (self defence)
* Section 14, Section 16, 16A and Section 17 allow individuals to possess restricted and prohibited firearms
* Section 16, 16A and 17 allow certain individuals to acquire an unlimited number of firearms
The Appeal Board is part of the committee established by the Minister to review
the FCA.

11. 6. RECOMMENDATIONS
* The chairperson of the consideration committees for firearm applications should be legally qualified
The presiding officers of unfitness enquiries must be properly trained on the fair procedure for conducting the enquiries
* Personnel who seat in consideration committees must be trained on administrative law and interpretation of statutes so they can give quality refusal reasons
* Appropriate records must be kept of unfitness enquiries
* The IT system of the CFR must be upgraded and updated regularly which in turn will limit the perceived the corruption within CFR
* The CFR must invest in becoming a paperless institution to curb the loss of files
* The process looking at the review of the FCA must be expedited
* CFR should consider appointing additional personnel to determine applications
* CFR should revise the turn around time for finalizing applications to ensure it factors the volumes of the applications

12. THANK YOU