Police conducted a firearm compliance inspection at the Durban North premises of security businessperson Calvin Mathibeli on Thursday.
This follows his failed bid in the Durban high court to block the inspection on Tuesday.
Mathibeli, CEO of Calvin and Family, went to court after police informed him on March 11 of their inspection scheduled for March 19 under the banner of Operation Buyisa.
The court found Mathibeli’s application lacked urgency and dismissed it with costs. He was ordered to pay legal costs to the SAPS.
The operation is a nationwide police crackdown aimed at reducing gun violence by targeting illegal firearms and enforcing compliance within private security companies. It focuses on verifying firearm licences, safe storage and ammunition records, resulting in hundreds of weapon seizures.
Police arrived at the Durban North premises on Thursday afternoon to conduct the inspection.
Provincial spokesperson Col Robert Netshiunda said: “If you don’t have anything to hide, you can’t be stopping police to do their work. We have been here for over an hour now, and we have found some discrepancies.”
He cited an example of a firearm register, which was filled in in pencil instead of ink.
“Firearms are moving without anybody signing off. They tell us they have 815 but our records indicate they have 857. The numbers don’t tally.
“We are not here to look for anything sinister, it is pure police work,” said Netshiunda.
TimesLIVE
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