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Police Minister Bheki Cele
PHOTO: Gallo Images / Darren Stewart
- The total backlog of forensic SAPS cases is 117,738 cases.
- Corruption has played a role in creating delays, said Police Minister Bheki Cele.
- The police intend to establish a scientific academy in Soshanguve, once the Covid-19 pandemic passes.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) has a total of 117,738 pending cases due to “a lot of corruption”, Police Minister Bheki Cele admitted to the National Assembly on Wednesday.
DA MP Andrew Whitfield asked him what the total outstanding work is.
Cele said SAPS head office had a backlog of 72,467, Western Cape 39,400, Kwazulu-Natal 3204, and Eastern Cape 2,667.
Whitfield said forensic service performance indicators have declined in the second and third quarters of the 2019-2020 financial year.
“You knew last year that your forensic labs were experiencing a significant backlog of DNA case displays, denying thousands of people the justice they deserve,” Whitfield said.
“You wonder how many cases could have been processed if your department had not delayed or screwed up the DNA analysis.
“Minister, it is not yet clear whether it is incompetence or corruption.”
He asked what Cele had done, if it was due to corruption.
“As we all know, the head of laboratories, who is General Phahlane, has had legal problems for some time and that has led the national commissioner to fire him, but there are ongoing legal problems,” Cele replied.
Corruption ‘has been addressed’
He was referring to former acting police commissioner Kgomotso Phahlane, who is currently on trial with others in the so-called blue lights tender case.
He said former chief technology officer General Adeline Shezi was also involved.
“There has been a lot of corruption …[that] it’s involved here, but that’s been addressed, “he said.
“Both generals have been fired and face legal proceedings.”
He said there have also been some “contradictions” between the State Information Technology Agency and the laboratory services of the police, but this is also being resolved.
Cele also blamed “mismanagement of the contracts” but added that this has also been corrected.
He said his deputy, Cassel Mathale, had visited “some serious institutions, like the FBI and Scotland Yard,” with the intention of developing a scientific academy for SAPS.
It will be located in Soshanguve and they are working with the Department of Higher Education.
He said that the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the start of the project.
Once everything is back to normal, work will begin.
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