Survey Documents

SURVEY BY SAFER AFRICA ON FIREARMS AMNESTY

Summary
On 26 November 2004, the Minister of Safety and Security declared the amnesty on illegal firearms and ammunition in terms of Section139(1) of the Firearms Control Act of 2000. The purpose of the amnesty was to encourage people who are in possession of illegal weapons and ammunition to surrender them to the police without fear of prosecution if the weapon had not been used to commit crime. The period of the program was at first between 01 Jan. 2005 and 31 March 2005. However, the Minister decided to extend the period by another 3 months to end on 30 June 2005.

SaferAfrica, as an organization that has been so much involved in the provision of technical assistance to the implementation of policies in the control of arms throughout African continent and abroad, decided to observe and analyse this program. On the 17 and 18 of March 2005, SaferAfrica conducted a survey on various aspects of the amnesty in Kwa Mashu; Chatsworth and Tembisa townships. The purpose for the survey was to establish;

The extent to which the sample was informed about the amnesty,
The method used to inform them about the amnesty,
If they new of anyone who had taken the opportunity granted by the amnesty,
Their attitudes towards the amnesty, and
How they felt about repeating the similar program in future.

Our findings as SaferAfrica, suggested that the whole program was generally a success. The campaign was adequately publicized with 90.2% of the sample having heard about the amnesty. The program was well welcomed by 77.5% of the sample feeling that it was a good thing to be done, and 92.2% saying the program should be repeated in future.

Report: SURVEY BY SAFERAFRICA ON FIREARMS AMNESTY (PDF)

The subsequent survey has been conducted in the same areas between 13 and 17 of June, 2005. The data for that survey is being processed and the finding as below by end June 2005.

Report: SUBSEQUENT SURVEY BY SAFERAFRICA ON FIREARMS AMNESTY (End June 2005)