Newsletters

NHSA Newsletter

VOL. 12 (24) - 08-04-2016

SUMMARY OF OUTCOME OF DEALERS' URGENT COURT APPLICATION

Dear Member,

We received the Email quoted below, from the Dealers re the outcome of their Urgent Court Application you were informed of on 31 March 2016.

We shall notify you the moment we have the written verdict of Judge Tuchten on this matter.  In the mean time take note of the following summary of the outcome please:

Regards
Herman Els

________

Hi Herman,

Here is a copy of what I have sent to the Dealers. I see many of your Members have made contributions towards the court case – please thank them on our behalf.

Sincerely,

Jill Howard

To all Firearm Dealers,

The SA Arms and Ammunition Dealers' Association brought an Urgent Court Application against SAPS in respect of their directive regarding licence renewals. Here is a brief update:

Judge Tuchten ruled that the application was not urgent and struck the matter from the roll with costs.

He was quite clear that he was not dealing with the merits of the matter i.e. the central issue of expired licences has not been dealt with by him and that we were free to and could enrol the matter on the opposed roll in what we call the “normal course”. We have had an indication from the Registrar that the merits of the matter can be argued, and we will apply for a date to have the matter enrolled at the first available date, which will probably be in August 2016.

The Judge made a number of comments during the argument relating to the urgency, which touched upon the merits of the matter.

The core of his comments were to the following effect:

Firstly, because there was no threat to destroy firearms taken in by the police, the matter was not urgent, but if there was an indication from the police that firearms were to be destroyed then the matter would be urgent and we could enrol it in urgent court. It follows that we need feedback from dealers and individuals as to precisely what they are told when they hand in their firearms or when they surrender them.

Just as importantly, the Judge indicated that we must accept the police are acting in good faith and by implication the police are merely taking the firearms to hold them whilst expired licence holders can apply for a new licence on an SAP271 form.

The importance of this is that, although it is not a decision of the Judge, he has given an indication of what he believes the police should do. It follows that any person who has an expired licence, should surrender their firearm to the police and should ensure that the SAP13 register is annotated with a request that the firearm not be destroyed pending the application on a new SAP271 for a new licence.

We have asked SAPS for an undertaking that pending clarity either internally from them or until the main application is heard on its merits that they do not proceed to destroy any firearms and that they process new SAP271 applications.

To date, we have received substantial donations from Nicholas Yale, TheNational Hunting and Shooting Association, many of their Members who are private individuals, and Safari and Outdoor have made a commitment as well. Court cases are hugely expensive; please do the right thing for our industry, and make a donation.

The banking details are: SA Arms and Ammunition Dealers' Association. Standard Bank, Southdale Branch 006405. Account Number 07 127 4189.

Thanks and regards,
Jill
Secretary
SAAADA
Tel: 0116807223