DNA Board Confirms Chaos at Forensic Science Labs: 300% backlog of DNA case exhibits
22 October 2020
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) warnings of a crisis at the National Forensic Science Laboratories (NFLS) were vindicated by the DNA Board in Parliament on Wednesday.
During a presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Police on the handover report from the previous board it was said that the backlog in processing DNA case exhibits is at an alarming 300%. It was also highlighted that the backlog of case exhibits associated with Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) cases stands at 92%. The DA believes that the accumulated total backlog of DNA case exhibits is now well over 100 000, leaving thousands of victims and their families out in the cold.
The DA first raised the alarm when the third quarter performance report for the financial year 2019/20 was presented to the Police Portfolio Committee earlier this year by the South African Police Service (SAPS). The report revealed that for the year SAPS had only finalised 62% of case exhibits within the required 90 day period by the end of the third quarter. The processing of DNA case exhibits is measured against a target which requires 80% of all case exhibits to be finalised within 90 days, the backlog therefore should never be more than 20%.
The dramatic decline in performance occurred most notably between quarter 2 and quarter 3 in 2019/20 where performance declined from 746% down to 19.97% of DNA case exhibits processed within the 90 day target period. On 21 August, I wrote to President Cyril Rhamaposa to highlight this looming crisis and have not had the decency of a reply. The Leader of the Official Opposition, John Steenhuisen, also raised this with the President during an oral question session and yet we have seen no improvement.
Replies to DA parliamentary questions reveal that the reasons for the decline is due to maintenance contracts for the highly sensitive machinery and consumables not being renewed. Procurement of consumables also ground to a halt during this period due to budget cuts.
This careless disregard for the processing of DNA has led to major blockages in the criminal justice system which resulted in a high level meeting between the NPA and SAPS in September to try and resolve the impasse.
The DA has repeatedly raised the alarm on the challenges relating to DNA testing and asked numerous questions in the committee about the NFSL.
I will now be engaging the Chairperson of the Police Portfolio Committee to ensure that the meeting with the Forensic Science Laboratories (FSL) proceeds as scheduled on the 11th of November and will ask that she demands the Minister and the National Police Commissioner to attend this important meeting.
The DA will continue to fight for appropriate funding and support for our NFSL who play a critically important role in our criminal justice system.
Issued by Andrew Whitfield, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 22 October 2020
