Old Licences and Permits

Gregor Woods’s request for information in “Gun Laws in SA History” (March 2020) refers. I was fortunate to acquire a .22 Oberndorf Mauser from a family member who also provided me with his old licence certificate which is 160x170mm in size, says “FREE LICENCE TO POSSESS AN ARM”, and is signed by the Magistrate, Pretoria, dated 27/10/1937. No mention as to an amount which had to be paid. Interestingly the year on the licence corresponds to that of then new Act no 28 of 1937.

On a similarly worded licence dated 20/8/1955, signed by the Magistrate, Johannesburg, an amount of five shillings is indicated. So no longer free.

A third licence under the same Act is 185x325mm in size, and shows an amount payable of R2. It is signed by the Magistrate, Bloemfontein, dated 16/4/1968.

Years ago as a budding collector, I acquired a number of muzzle-loaders requiring merely a permit: “Magtiging uitgereik deur landdros in terme van artikel 35 (d) wet nommer 28 van 1937.”

I remember going to the Magistrate’s office in Simonstown with my own permit document typed out by me at home. It was exactly according to a previous example just filled in with the particulars of the muzzle-loader in question. The Magistrate signed it on the spot, stamped and handed it back to me. This one dated 9 January 1962. Very few of my earliest acquisitions had serial numbers, but the permits were granted nonetheless.

I have another permit, with slightly different typed wording, dated 15/7/1971, signed by the Magistrate, Bloemfontein. I don’t recall ever paying anything for a permit. A later permit, dated 29/5/1979, was not typed, but printed and signed by or for the Commissioner of the SA Police. This was of course under the 1969 Act.

I don’t seem to have acquired any permits dated later than 1983. – Johan van Zyl, Western Cape