Govt grants amnesty for unlicensed gun holders
Harare- PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has on Tuesday granted a holistic amnesty to unlicensed firearms holders in a move designed to curb the increase of gun- related crimes including robberies.
This was revealed in a statement released by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP)and the ultimatum to surrender is September 30.
Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said the amnesty was in line with Article 12 of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Protocol on the control of firearms, ammunition and related materials.
He assured individuals in possession of smuggled firearms that no preffered charges will be levelled against them.
“No criminal charges will be preferred to members of the public during this period as long as one complies with the provisions of the Presidential amnesty. The amnesty also covers anyone who is in possession of any weapon which was smuggled or illegally brought into the country,” Nyathi said.
He also made it clear that physical checks and verifications will be conducted on all residential and business premises where illegal firearms are suspected to be.
Said Nyati:
“Police have also observed that some licensed firearm holders are no longer renewing their firearm certificates or even notifying the authorities about the change in residential or business addresses to enable constant checks to be made by the police on the status of the firearms.”
Lately there has been a notable increase in gun- related crimes including robberies and crimes of passion.
Recently, a young city dealer known as Boss Pangolin shot dead his lover after an argument and several robberies involving guns have been reported.
It is suspected that most of these firearms are being smuggled from neighbouring South Africa where there seems to be a lax gun control policy and the smugglers take advantage of the porous borders. Rogue trained members of the security forces with experience of handling firearms have also been implicated in several robbery cases.
