About 33 people are shot dead in South Africa every day - and a broken Central Firearms Registry is making it worse. Meant to track guns from “cradle to grave,” the system is crippled by corruption, backlogs and missing records. Image: IOL Graphics

South Africa’s gun violence crisis has reached devastating proportions, with about 33 people shot dead every day. Yet, the very system meant to prevent legal firearms from leaking into criminal hands, the Central Firearms Registry (CFR), is buckling under dysfunction, corruption, and neglect. The CFR was established to maintain accurate records tracing every gun “from cradle to grave,” but years of mismanagement, missing files, and outdated technology have turned it into a weak link in the country’s fight against crime. Gun Free SA research and policy analyst Claire Taylor said accurate firearm record-keeping is recognised globally as a cornerstone of effective gun control - and is required under several international small arms control protocols to which South Africa is a signatory. “South Africa’s Central Firearms Registry has never functioned properly,” Taylor said.

“The fundamental problem is that record-keeping has been treated as an administrative burden rather than what it actually is: a critical crime-fighting tool. Deploying resources to build a functional system has never been prioritised - with catastrophic consequences