Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

Media statements | Safety Media statements

AfriForum demands IPID investigation into firearm theft in Eastern Cape

ByAfriForum 05/05/202505/05/2025

Soundbite: Jacques Broodryk (English)

Soundbite: Jacques Broodryk (Afrikaans)

AfriForum calls on the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) to urgently investigate the theft of firearms from the traffic department in Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape. This incident, where 17 guns were stolen from a rifle safe in a brazen break-in, raises serious questions about the government’s ability to safeguard its own weapons.

The firearm theft, which occurred between 25 and 29 April, is the latest in a troubling pattern of weapon losses by state institutions, including the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

The Kouga Local Municipality admitted that, despite supposed tight security measures, the thieves escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash, documents and the firearms. AfriForum points to this incident as yet another example of the government’s repeated failure to control and protect its own arsenal. In recent years, multiple police stations – including the stations in Norwood (Gauteng), Bushbuckridge (Mpumalanga) and Middledrift (Eastern Cape) – have been robbed or have lost firearms under suspicious circumstances. In many of these cases, stolen weapons later surface in violent crimes.

AfriForum further demands that the government prioritises the proper arming, training and safeguarding of its own forces before attempting to erode civilian or private sector rights to responsible firearm ownership.

“It is unacceptable that government departments keep losing firearms, yet they want to clamp down on private firearm ownership – especially in the private security sector, which is already strictly regulated and plays a crucial role in protecting South Africans,” says Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum’s Chief Spokesperson for Community Safety.

AfriForum warns that these persistent losses by government entities undermine public confidence in law enforcement’s ability to maintain security. The organisation further criticises what it sees as a double standard: While law-abiding citizens and private security providers face mounting legislative restrictions, government agencies continue to lose weapons due to negligence or corruption.