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Firearms Appeal Board's Presentation to the Police Committee on the Police Department

This presentation provides an overview of the activities and statistics of the Firearms Appeal Board, as well as its administrative relationship with the Central Firearms Registry. It also highlights the board's opinion on the backlog of applications and identifies shortcomings of the Firearms Control Act.

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Firearms Appeal Board's Presentation to the Police Committee on the Police Department

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  1. DEPARTMENT OF POLICEDEPARTEMENT VAN POLISIE PRESENTATION BY FIREARMS APPEAL BOARD TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON POLICE DATE: 2016-05-17 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. 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)

  4. * 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 2016. Of the received appeals 754 have been finalized.

  5. ANNEXURE “A” FIREARMS APPEAL BOARD STATISTICS PERIOD JANUARY 2016– APRIL 2016

  6. 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:

  7. 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 appealsapplication 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 vThe 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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

  11. THANK YOU

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