Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town has backed calls for stricter gun control following the murder of South Africa’s national soccer team captain, Senzo Meyiwa.

The primate of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town, has backed calls for stricter gun control in South Africa following the murder last week of Senzo Meyiwa, South Africa’s national soccer team captain. On 26 Oct 2014 Meyiwa was shot and killed by a burglar during an armed robbery at an apartment in Vosloorus township near Johannesburg. One suspect has been detained by police and is scheduled to appear before a magistrate to be charged with the murder on 11 Nov 2014. At a memorial service last week in Durban, South African soccer chief Danny Jordaan called for illegal guns to be taken to a furnace and melted down to “build a statue for Senzo Meyiwa.” Archbishop Makgoba noted that “thousands of Christians and people of other faiths are praying today for the families of our sports heroes. Our heartfelt condolences go out to them.” He said he supported “Danny Jordaan fully in his call for a drive against illegal weapons. We need a major intervention to curb violence and the use of guns in South Africa. We should beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning-hooks by collecting illegal guns across the country, melting them down in furnaces, and turning them into objects which stand for peace.”