Civil Society South Africa (CSSA) expresses grave concern following reports that nearly 28 000 parole absconders cannot currently be traced by the Department of Correctional Services.
Investigations by Daily Maverick and amaBhungane reveal that 27 797 parole absconders are effectively unaccounted for, including convicted murderers, rapists, kidnappers and armed robbers. Reports further indicate that 15 860 of these offenders have already been classified as “archived absconders”, raising serious questions about whether meaningful efforts are still being made to locate them.
According to the reports, tracing failures are linked to poor coordination and weak integration between SAPS and Correctional Services.
Civil Society South Africa warns that this situation represents a direct threat to public safety and further exposes the widening gap between government’s stated priorities and the lived reality of ordinary South Africans.
“South Africans are once again being told to trust a system that cannot even keep track of convicted violent offenders already under state supervision,” says Reece Clark, National Spokesperson for Civil Society South Africa.
“You do not abscond parole because you intend to become a law-abiding citizen. These are individuals who have already demonstrated a willingness to ignore the law, violate conditions of release, and disappear into society.”
Clark says the revelations come at a time when government continues to pursue the Firearms Control Amendment Bill (FCAB), legislation that would further restrict lawful firearm ownership while violent offenders increasingly operate beyond the reach of the state.
“The priorities are completely upside down. Instead of focusing every available resource on tracing violent parole absconders, dismantling criminal networks and restoring consequence for violent crime, government remains obsessed with making lawful self-defence more difficult for ordinary citizens,” Clark adds.
“The Firearms Control Amendment Bill is not a public safety solution. It is a direct threat to the safety and security of law-abiding South Africans who are already living under extreme levels of violent crime.”
CSSA notes that South Africans are repeatedly expected to surrender practical means of self-protection while the same state struggles to secure convictions, police communities effectively, process firearm licences efficiently, or even monitor dangerous offenders already within the correctional system.
“The social contract breaks down when government cannot perform its most basic duty of protecting citizens, yet simultaneously seeks to remove citizens’ ability to protect themselves,” says Clark.
Civil Society South Africa renews its opposition to the Firearms Control Amendment Bill and calls on government to redirect its focus toward violent criminals, parole enforcement, intelligence-led policing and restoring operational cooperation between law enforcement agencies.
Soundbite: https://civilsocietysouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/South-Africans-are-being-failed-while-government-focuses-on-disarming-the-law-abiding-CSSA.mp3
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