Central Firearm Registry (CFR) is working tirelessly to address firearm licence backlog resulting from Covid-19
Pretoria: 27 August 2020 – The South African Police Service management wants to reassure firearm licence applicants that the CFR is attending to licencing backlogs which resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like most businesses in the country, the CFR is also suffering a setback as a result of the virus which has hampered its performance on delivering on the agreed 90-day turn-around time for licence applications. Compounding this is the influx of reapplications of firearm licences made during the previous firearm amnesty period as well as the current one which are over and above the new applications.
Since the start of Alert Level 2 of the Lockdown, the CFR has put mechanisms in place which could not be done during the previous three Alert Levels, to alleviate the resultant backlog.
Applicants are urged to be patient as the SAPS is reviewing a turnaround time to finalize applications from 90 to 120 working days. In the meantime, the working hours of employees at the CFR is also being increased to ensure effective and efficient service delivery in this regard.
The management of the CFR, with the full support of the Divisional Commissioner of Visible Policing, Lieutenant General Moeketsi Sempe, is continuously reviewing measures that can be put in place to mitigate the delays in processing firearm licence applications.
Firearm registration applicants may direct enquiries related to their applications to the FLASH Call Centre: 012 353 6111
