The metro and the EMPD have denied withholding the armoury report.
This comes after Michael Waters MP, the DA Deputy Chief Whip and Lethabong Constituency Head, released a statement saying the metro appeared to be doing everything in their power to not make the report public.
The EMPD has dismissed these claims and says the complete and final annual audit report on firearms is subjected to several legislative and regulatory processes before it can be placed in the public domain and the delay in tabling the report at Council meeting has been due to the aforementioned process which is still underway.
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“The EMPD categorically denies that it is unwilling to table the report as claimed by the DA.
“The Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000, to which the DA base their contention is an Act that is fully comprehended by the EMPD in that there exist limitations provided for in the Act.
“Inversely, in terms of the SAPS Act, information pertaining to the preliminary audit report may only be made accessible to the public once it is subjected to all the necessary processes.
“The delay is not entirely the fault of the EMPD and it is untrue that the EMPD is unwilling to disclose the report,” says Wilfred Kgasago, the EMPD spokesperson.
The basis for the delay has come about as a result of the following factors regulating the preliminary audit report’s finalisation and making it public:
• The South African Police Service, who is the custodian of compliance with regard to the Firearms Control Act, 60 of 2000, and in conjunction with the Special Task Team Unit (Hawks), have to subject the audit report to certain scrutiny prior to finalising the compliance inspection report.
• Once the compliance inspection report is completed, the finalised 2017/18 EMPD Firearms Audit Report will be tabled at the earliest Council meeting.
Kgasago went on to say the DA has stated in agreement with the EMPD by confirming and corroborating the sensitivity and importance of the report and have consequently agreed that it is absolutely essential that it goes through all the necessary regulatory processes before it can be given the green light to be eligible for
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official tabling at Council meeting.
“The probable dates which the EMPD had previously furnished for the report to be tabled had been derailed by the processes the SAPS is taking the preliminary audit report through.
“It is anticipated that the SAPS, in tandem with the Hawks, will finalise the compliance inspection report to enable the readiness of the final audit report by the end of November 2018.
“The audit report will be made accessible to all interested parties on receipt of the finalised compliance inspection report and after tabling it at the earliest possible Council meeting,” says Kgasago.
Metro spokesperson Themba Gadebe says: “Claims that the City of Ekurhuleni is hiding the ‘so-called armoury report’ are baseless and unfounded, more so because we are not aware of the existence of any such report.
“Responding to the DA at the council meeting of September, Mayor Clr Mzwandile Masina clarified that an investigation was being conducted by the SAPS and a report is yet to be delivered to the council.
“Subsequent to this, the metro can confirm that we recently received communication from the SAPS informing us that the investigation is still underway and that they will provide a report once they have concluded their work.
“For further clarity on the progress regarding the investigation, the media can get in touch with the SAPS as we cannot comment on their processes.”
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