The guns that arm the Cape Flats gangs in this archive's Cape Flats file came, in large part, from the police. Colonel Christiaan Prinsloo of the SAPS Gauteng firearms stores diverted more than 2,000 weapons that had been handed in or confiscated and were awaiting destruction, had their markings altered, and sold them — through intermediaries including Irshaad "Hunter" Laher and Alan Raves — to gang buyers in the Western Cape and to right-wing buyers elsewhere. The firearms were worth about R9 million; 888 of them were ballistically linked to 1,066 murders between 2010 and 2014, many of the victims children.
Arrested in 2015, Prinsloo pleaded guilty to racketeering, corruption and money laundering and on 21 June 2016 was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment, becoming a state witness against his co-accused. His sentence expires on 20 June 2033. Under the December 2019 presidential remission he was placed on parole on 4 August 2020 — less than four years served. Justice Minister Ronald Lamola told Parliament in 2023 that Prinsloo had "qualified for parole". Families of victims sued the Minister of Police in 2023. The rand figure is trivial; the body count is not.