Delay in DNA testing is justice denied

FIVE women are raped in South Africa every hour, according to the SAPS’ latest crime statistics. But with a forensic DNA evidence backlog of more than 140 000, the DA is questioning whether the women will get justice.

Andrew Whitfield, the DA’s spokesperson on police, said there was a 6.75% decrease in the backlog between the last quarter of the 2021/2022 financial year and the first quarter of 2022/2023 financial year.

“At the end of quarter four of the last financial year, the backlog was 154 204. The current DNA backlog cases exhibits that have not been analysed are 143 795 for the current financial year. This is at the end of June this year.

“It was said that the slowdown of eradicating the backlog was a result of an increase in new cases being registered. However, in my view, the minuscule decrease shows the ability to deal with the backlog is slowing down.”

Whitfield said the delay in DNA testing was justice denied.

“For example, in the case of a fiveyear-old girl in Port Elizabeth, who was raped and killed, the perpetrator was released on bail due to delays in the analysis of DNA. It took three years before the DNA case exhibit was finalised.

“The impact of the delays is not only on victims or survivors but on their families. It is a grave injustice to people who are already suffering the trauma of these violent crimes, yet we have access to a world-class system that is not working properly.”

Whitfield said the DA was instrumental in exposing the lack of rape kits in the country and operations of the forensic laboratories.

“In 2019, we exposed the shortage of rape kits in the country, which gave rise to questions regarding forensic laboratories.

“I raised this repeatedly until the committee did oversight visits of the forensic laboratories in 2021. Through my requests, the committee has been receiving reports from the SAPS on progress in dealing with the backlog.

“However, what needs to happen is to ensure that experienced and qualified managers are in place to make sure that a backlog never gets close to 300000 case exhibits again."

Whitfield said there should be transparency with regard to the backlog.

“This is something the DA has been advocating for. The data regarding the backlog should be made available to the country. It should be transparent and accessible on the internet.

“There should be a portal through which members of the public and interested groups and civil society can access this data so that we widen the net of oversight and accountability, and empower society with the information that helps all of us hold the SAPS and the police ministry accountable. It is absolutely critical that there is more transparency.”

Ian Cameron, the director of community safety at Action Society, a civil rights organisation, said the police were not progressing with eradicating the backlog of DNA testing.

“If we work with an average of four pieces of evidence per case, that’s 720000 tests in the backlog. Now add 14 200 pieces of evidence in rape cases per month – only rape cases – and you can see why the police are losing the battle to get justice for victims of gender-based violence,” said Cameron.

He said in March, Bheki Cele, the minister of police, announced the backlog would be reduced within six months.

“He also said they were looking at public-private partnerships with possible universities to help process DNA evidence. Yet, nothing has come of that.

“Suddenly, with the rape of eight women in Krugersdorp and the media’s eyes on him, Cele wants to fast-track DNA processing. What about other victims waiting for more than two years to have their DNA processed? Why are there no public-private partnerships running yet?”

Lirandzu Themba, the spokesperson for the ministry of police, said the backlog was due to National Treasury suspending funding to the Criminal Justice System (CJS). This, she said, was due to changes in the strategic objectives of treasury.

“This move meant there was an increased reliance on the operational budget in order to continue with the business of policing.”

Themba said during the 2019/2020 financial year, the allocated operational budget was used and depleted by July 2019.

“A request was then made for additional funding, which was allocated in November 2019. No procurement could be initiated in December 2019. Added to that, the SAPS stopped all procurement from a supplier providing many forensic products to the SAPS.

“Meanwhile, several contracts were coming to an end due to the non-availability of funding and new contracts were not activated. To avoid fiscal dumping, no procurement could be facilitated at that stage. As a result, the core function of the Forensic Science Laboratories was at a standstill until August of the 2020/2021 financial year,” she said.

Themba said from June 2020, there was no electronic track-andtrace functionality available due to the discontinuation of the system by the service provider.

“This meant the tracking and tracing of exhibits could only be done manually. This manual work saw a rapid build-up, as forensic analysts were only processing a fraction of what could be processed with the discontinued system.

“Furthermore, the testing of specimens for DNA also reached a bottleneck. This was a direct result of the shortage of Quantification Kits or so-called DNA consumables. These kits are essential for DNA testing at the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratories. The reality is that this particular shortage was due to poor contract management in the SAPS,” she said.

Themba said inroads were being made to deal with the backlog.

“The turnaround strategy has seen improved contract management in the environment, consumables needed for DNA testing have been secured in all SAPS labs, vacant positions have been filled and shifts adjusted to deal with the backlog and new cases.

“The SAPS is confident that this backlog will be cleared if it continues to put in place extraordinary measures. GBV cases have been prioritised. This will go a long way in ensuring victims and survivors of GBV crimes receive justice.”

Themba said the latest backlog figures were yet to be officially released.

The Police Ministry referred POST to the South African Police Services regarding questions on the rape kit availability at its stations, victim-friendly rooms, and trained members to deal with sexual offence cases.

The SAPS did not comment at the time of publication.

Meanwhile, according to reports, Cele said on Sunday DNA analysis of the eight women who were gang raped in West Village, Krugersdorp, were completed and police would be linking them to the illegal miners arrested for the attack.