Cape Town - A 41-year-old gun dealer from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, who appeared at the Worcester Magistrate’s Court on 61 charges, including the selling of guns to criminal gangs in the Western Cape had his case postponed.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said other charges against Anderson Padayachee included eight counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, fraud and money laundering.
Ntabazalila said senior state advocate Christian de Jongh from the director of public prosecutions would be prosecuting the matter.
Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said a Cape Town team from the Hawks’ national bureau for illegal firearms control and priority violent crime, together with a special task force team in Durban, crime intelligence and metro police from Durban arrested the gun shop owner on Thursday.
Hani said the Durban-based firearms dealer was allegedly linked to an illegal supply of firearms through his dealership to criminal gangs in the Western Cape. He was therefore now facing several charges that include murder, attempted murder, fraud, contravention of the Firearm Control Act 60 of 2000 as well as contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998.
"The Hawks-led team seized 17 illegal firearms in George in transit from Johannesburg and further investigation revealed that those firearms were allegedly destined (for) Cape Town’s criminal gangs. A further 44 firearms were seized from his business during the investigation process," Hani said.
She said a further forensic examination allegedly linked some of the firearms to criminal activities ranging from murder to attempted murder.
Padayachee's was on the roll at Worcester Magistrates Court on Monday morning, where his case has been postponed to 18 February 2021 for bail information.
Gun Free SA director Adèle Kirsten called on the Presidency to urgently put in place the mechanism to conduct an independent forensic audit of all firearm licences, permits and authorisations issued by the central firearms registry over the past five years.
Kirsten said such an audit would investigate who was issued with which licence for what purpose. "It must also include a systematic review of the entire firearms control system to identify both operational and policy gaps to stop rampant and deadly corruption spanning over a decade.“
She said the office of the auditor-general would be best placed to undertake such an audit and review.
Cape Argus