South Africa and Lesotho police destroyed 1,787 firearms seized during crime-combating operations by the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS).
Authorities said the initiative is aimed at strengthening regional cooperation in the fight against the proliferation of illegal firearms. It takes place in the context of African Amnesty Month and contributes to the African Union’s broader Silencing the Guns objective and its vision.
The Acting National Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS), Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane, and LMPS Police Chief, Commissioner Borotho Matsoso, jointly presided over the destruction of the firearms in Gauteng.
Lieutenant General Dimpane reaffirmed SAPS’s commitment to global and regional police cooperation through joint investigations, intelligence sharing, coordinated border management and the removal of illegal firearms from circulation.
“As we observe African Amnesty Month, this partnership between SAPS and the Lesotho Mounted Police Service demonstrates what regional cooperation can achieve.
“We are not only taking firearms out of circulation; we are taking concrete steps towards the Africa we want to see by 2063, an Africa where communities are safer and where illicit firearms no longer fuel crime and violence,” said Dimpane.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Matsoso reiterated the importance of sustained cross-border collaboration between the two police services, adding that it would help tackle illegal activities.
“Continued cooperation between the Lesotho Mounted Police Service and SAPS is important to uproot crimes such as human trafficking, stock theft, car theft and truck trafficking.
“Today’s destruction demonstrates collaboration between two countries committed to fighting crime together,” explained Matsoso.
The National Central Bureaus of INTERPOL in South Africa and Lesotho played a pivotal role in facilitating and coordinating the movement of the firearms between the two countries.
According to SAPS, this underscores the importance of international police cooperation and coordinated mechanisms in combating the proliferation and cross-border movement of illegal firearms.
This is the second destruction in the space of two months, following the destruction of 11,859 firearms, together with 4,089 blank guns and airguns, in July.
