Faizel Patel – 03/03/2021
The Action Society has raised concerns about the massive backlog in DNA cases, which still needs to be processed.
The Portfolio Committee on Police has revealed that the current DNA backlog stood at 172 787 cases.
According to the head of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Major-General Edward Ngokha, for the months of January and February 2021, no DNA evidence had been processed.
Action Society’s Daleen Gouws and Dr Rineé Pretorius speaking to Radio Islam on Tuesday have slammed the revelations.
This was also echoed by Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister of Police, Andrew Whitfield, saying the backlog of case exhibits could hit the 200 000 mark in March.
Gouws says regional provision permitting a two-year period for DNA samples to be collected from convicted offenders expired in 2017 before all convicted offenders could be sampled.
“Since that time, prisoners have been released without their DNA samples being taken to be loaded onto the national DNA database because of a lack of trust in our justice system. We know that many rape cases go unreported and South Africa’s shocking conviction rate of 7.8% underlines how reported rape cases are falling through the cracks.”
Dr. Pretorius says there are two labs used for DNA testing in South Africa, one in Plattekloof in Western Cape and the other in Arcadia in Gauteng.
She says as Action Society and as a pressure group, they want to be a voice and fight for justice for the most vulnerable in “our broken society,” especially for women and children.
“After yesterday’s meeting I think many people were very disappointed. It leaves us as Action Society really concerned about maybe three things. Firstly, the climbing numbers in the backlog and then secondly this ongoing problem will really bring South Africa’s justice system to its knees. Thirdly, with no progress seen at the forensic science laboratory, thousands of pending rape cases will never be submitted to court because of the compounding backlog at these laboratories.”
Gouws says in October 2020, the DNA backlog stood at 117,000 cases with workload now increasing by more than 55,000 cases from November to February.
Dr. Pretorius says there are two solutions to the backlog including government intervention, the establishment of more forensic laboratories and a partnership between government and private laboratories to assist with outstanding DNA tests.
Listen to the discussion with Action Society’s Daleen Gouws and Dr Rineé Pretorius
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