SAPS turnaround plan to tackle DNA analysis failing as backlog explodes to 172 000
2 March 2021
The South African Police Service’s (SAPS) turnaround strategy regarding forensic and DNA testing backlogs is failing while thousands of victims of crime await justice.
It was revealed in the Portfolio Committee on Police today that the DNA case exhibit backlog has now hit more than 172 000 samples at the National Forensic Science Laboratories (NFSL), and that not a single case exhibit was processed in January or February of this year.
The backlog of case exhibits to be processed could hit the 200 000 mark in March if the current trajectory follows course. This despite the much-lauded SAPS turnaround plan presented to committee in November last year. At the time the DNA backlog was over 117,000 case exhibits awaiting processing which means the backlog has grown by more than 60,000 case exhibits as the system has ground to a halt.
The DA raised serious concerns about challenges facing the NFSL throughout 2020 and also questioned whether SAPS’ turnaround plan was realistic. These warnings were ignored and today the NFSL is accumulating more DNA case exhibits than it has the capacity to process resulting in an increasing backlog for the foreseeable future.