Zimbabwe’s month-long firearms amnesty will have limited impact on gun-related crime unless it is backed by reforms to outdated firearms laws, stronger enforcement and tighter controls on gun ownership, Dzivarasekwa legislator Edwin Mushoriwa has warned.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has granted a national firearms amnesty allowing members of the public to voluntarily surrender unregistered firearms and ammunition to the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) by November 12, 2026, without facing criminal charges for unlawful possession.
Speaking on CITE’s This Morning on Asakhe programme, Mushoriwa welcomed the initiative but said the 30-day surrender window would not address the deeper causes of illegal firearm possession and gun-related violence.
“I want to start by agreeing that there is a need for us to review the current firearm laws that we have in the country. Our laws came into being in 1956 and were operationalised in 1957. You can actually tell that it has been long, and there have been also a lot of developments since then,” he said.
On this topic
Mushoriwa said Zimbabwe needed legislation that reflected current security challenges, including the illegal movement of firearms across borders, gaps in licensing procedures and failure to adequately monitor some licensed gun owners.
“The situation as it stands, the 30-day period is good, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. We are not getting deeper,” he said.
He questioned whether people who had used firearms in robberies and murders would voluntarily surrender weapons that could expose their involvement in criminal activities.
Mushoriwa said porous borders with neighbouring countries, including South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia, provided potential routes for illegal firearms to enter Zimbabwe.
He also called for stronger screening of firearm applicants, particularly where there were reports of domestic violence, stalking, credible threats or other circumstances that could indicate a risk to public safety.
Citing Section 5 of the Firearms Act, which provides for the refusal of a firearms certificate where possession would endanger public safety, Mushoriwa said clearer procedures were needed to guide decisions on granting, refusing or suspending licences.
“If we cannot have it in the legislation, at least we should have a statutory instrument that guides those things. So that we introduce a clear procedure for risk assessment, license refusal, or suspension,” he said.
He also questioned Section 8(16) of the Act, which provides an exemption allowing a person to possess a firearm at their residence or place of business where their spouse holds a firearms certificate.
Mushoriwa argued that authorities should assess whether continued access to firearms was appropriate in cases involving domestic violence or credible threats.
Beyond legal reforms, he said stronger relationships between communities and the police were essential to tackling illegal firearms, adding that residents needed confidence that reports of suspected illegal gun possession would be acted upon.
“We should be saying the police is our police. And those bridges, in my view, need to be built,” he said.
Past amnesties raise questions
Nothiwani Dlodlo, chief lobbyist for the Xikolokolo Lobby Group, questioned the effectiveness of previous firearms amnesties, arguing that the number of weapons surrendered raised doubts about whether the initiatives had achieved their intended objectives.
“We have witnessed some three or four amnesties prior to this one. So, they were initially ignored because if you look at the number of guns which were voluntarily surrendered, you can tell those amnesties, especially the last amnesty, it was totally, totally a failure or ignored,” Dlodlo said.
He urged the government to intensify efforts to identify illegal firearms through community engagement and cooperation with traditional leaders, particularly in rural areas.
Dlodlo suggested that authorities consider more direct efforts to identify weapons held illegally in communities.
“So, I’m just praying to the central government that, if possible, it goes door to door. These guns are known and even I’m expecting the government must also give a directive to chiefs or even in rural communities, these guns are there,” he said.
He warned that failure to address illegal firearms could worsen insecurity and contribute to the emergence of increasingly violent gangs.
Calls for transparent reporting
Social and community development analyst Iphithule Maphosa said the success of the current amnesty should be assessed through transparent reporting, with the government publishing figures on the number of firearms surrendered and the outcomes of the exercise.
He said authorities should disclose their targets, the number of weapons recovered and how many were linked to violent crimes.
“Then government, after amnesty, they should publish figures to compare what was expected and what was actually achieved in an amnesty. People should be able to evaluate the data to see whether it presents progress or not,” Maphosa said.
He questioned the lack of publicly available information on previous amnesties, including the number of firearms surrendered and how many had been used in violent crimes.
“We don’t have that information and it becomes very difficult for us to measure the success of that particular amnesty. And if you repeat that even now, it will be very difficult for us to measure the success or failure of this particular one,” he said.
The three contributors said the amnesty’s impact would ultimately depend on what followed the surrender period, including legal reforms, effective enforcement, community cooperation and the publication of data to measure its results.
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