About 20 women whose loved ones died violent deaths demonstrated outside Parliament for tighter gun controls Friday in one of the world’s most crime-ridden countries.
Shaheema Langeveldt said she still grieved over the murder of her 13-year-old son, shot to death eight years ago as he tried to give evidence to police about another murder.
Veronica von Staden said she was haunted by the memory of a neighbour’s two-year-old being shot through the head as she played outside her home, and that she was struggling to care for her 21-year-old nephew, crippled since being shot in an argument over a girlfriend.
The demonstration coincided with the first day of public hearings on proposed amendments to the Firearms Control Act.
Among other things, the amendments will ban the use of silencers and compel all gun owners to license their weapons every five years.
The 2000 legislation, which introduced licensing requirements and background checks on gun owners, has been credited with helping to reduce the number of gun-related deaths.
Even so, South Africa has one of the world’s highest homicide rates, with as many people dying from gunshot wounds as in road accidents.
The nation’s 45-million people own an estimated 3,7-million licensed guns and many more illegal ones. Gun ownership is deeply embedded in the national culture — as is violence following decades of brutal government repression under white rule.
At the public hearings, a hunting lobby argued that more rigorous legislation would harm the R26-billion industry and have little impact on crime. — Sapa-AP