A senior South African Police Service (SAPS) official has delivered a chilling testimony, revealing that over 29,000 firearms connected to active criminal investigations—including murders—are sitting in police storage, with many linked to multiple violent crimes.
Brigadier Mishak Mkhabela, the Head of the Ballistics Division, told the Madlanga Commission that his unit is a “warehouse” of the country’s violent crime epidemic. “At any given point, I have more than 29,000 firearms, and each of them has killed a victim,” he stated, adding, “if anyone wants to appreciate the level of crime… one must just visit my storeroom.”
The revelation exposes a critical bottleneck in the justice system. Brigadier Mkhabela highlighted that his division is severely understaffed, making it impossible to process the backlog of ballistic evidence promptly. This delay can hinder prosecutions and leave violent criminals on the streets.
In a stark example of the problem’s scale, he revealed that firearms from the high-profile murder of DJ Sumbody were ballistically linked to 24 other murders, including those of DJ Vintos and engineer Armand Swart. This suggests a network of violent crime where the same weapons are used repeatedly.
The testimony paints a picture of a forensic system overwhelmed by the sheer volume of violent crime, raising urgent questions about resourcing and the state’s capacity to effectively process evidence and secure convictions.
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