Western Cape MEC for Police Oversight and Community Safety Anroux Marais called for top cop’s koppe to rol.
Marais said senior police commanders should be held accountable if it was found that they were negligent or had a role after the disappearance of 15 firearms and eight imitation guns at Mitchells Plain Police Station a year ago.
She added that she would be taking up the matter with police management this week.
Five junior police officers were fired following the investigation into the missing firearms.
More than a handful of senior officers, one of them, Brigadier Jan Alexander, who was moved to Bellville Police Station during the inquiry, while another who worked in the SAP13, where evidence is kept, received a warning.
Another in the Serious and Violent Crimes (SVC) Unit, who had allegedly instructed for junior officers to transport the exhibits to the Forensic Laboratory (FSL) Plattekloof once a week is in the spotlight again.
The investigation was launched after 15 firearms and eight imitation guns were taken to the laboratory for analysis, but the firearms had not been booked in at the facility - and a receipt from the office was not returned to the station.
Marais told the Cape Argus: “The theft of firearms, especially firearms under control of the SAPS, is a huge concern in a province where access to firearms contributes massively to ongoing gang violence.
“If investigations point to negligence on the part of any senior SAPS commander, we urge SAPS management to act decisively and hold them to account.”
One of the police officers who was dismissed, spoke anonymously with the Argus and said they had applied for arbitration in the matter and found their discharge unfair and called for senior officers to be held to account.
The officer said: “There is one working, he gave the SVC Serious and Violent crimes Unit instructions for one person to take the exhibits away.
“Another officer, a sergeant and another a constable, who had followed the instruction by their captain, was fired. How is that fair?
Last year the Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu’s office revealed that between October 2023 and March 2024, 371 police firearms as well as 17 assault rifles were either lost or stolen.