[ad_1]
The police have a large backlog of forensic jobs.
- The backlog of exhibitions of forensic cases by the police continues to grow, currently amounting to 172,787 cases.
- It is increasing despite the police restructuring strategy announced in November.
- The Police Portfolio Committee is “appalled” while Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale “is not thrilled.”
The backlog of forensic exhibits continues to rise, but police labs have not processed a single forensic exhibit in January and February of this year.
This was revealed at a meeting of the Police Portfolio Committee on Tuesday.
Last year in November, Police Minister Bheki Cele told the committee that the delay was 117,738 cases.
At that meeting, the police also presented a plan to eradicate the backlog.
READ | SIU PPE investigation reveals ‘flagrant breach of law’
However, at the end of December, the delay was 142,504 cases, according to Mark Rogers of the National Board of Ethics and Forensic Oversight.
On Tuesday, it stood at 172,787 cases, said Maj. Gen. Edward Ngokha, chief of the National Forensic Science Laboratories (NFSL) of the police.
Ngokha confirmed that they have not carried out any processing during January and February.
“We are running out of some consumables,” he said.
Contracts
Processes are underway to obtain contracts for the necessary consumables. He said they have been waiting for three weeks for feedback from the National Treasury for a diversion to acquire “qualification kits.”
On Tuesday he said they heard that the deviation from supply chain management processes was approved for this purchase.
However, they can only spend up to R500,000 when they make use of a diversion, and supplies purchased with this amount will only last two weeks.
“Once the contracts have been appointed, the process will go smoothly,” Ngokha said.
Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale said: “As leaders of the institution, we are not enthusiastic about the delays experienced.”
Mathale said they “will try to make sure things work out.”
Committee chair Tina Joemat-Pettersson summed up the committee’s sentiment as follows: “We are appalled.”
In a statement issued after the meeting, Joemat-Pettersson said the backlog of more than 172,000 cases is unacceptable. Since the committee’s inception after the May 2019 elections, it has raised concerns about the delay, which has a direct impact on the entire criminal justice value chain.
Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
“The fight against the scourge of gender-based violence (GBV) is compromised by the inability of the Forensic Science Laboratory to complete its analysis in a timely manner. The fight against GBV requires a well-functioning Forensic Science Laboratory to ensure that the prosecutions are scientific, evidence-based and timely, “said Joemat-Pettersson.
The committee instructed the newly appointed National Board of Ethics and Forensic Oversight to urgently help find solutions to the dysfunctional state of the laboratories.
Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Andrew Whitfield said, in a statement released after the meeting, that the police restructuring strategy regarding delays in forensic and DNA testing is “failing as thousands of crime victims await. Justice”.
He called on the Commissioner General of the National Police Khehla Sitole and Cele to collaborate with private laboratories, as the continuous increase in raw DNA tests is holding the wheels of justice, and this situation must not be allowed to continue. .
“The NFSL would not face these dire circumstances if SAPS had not mismanaged supply chain processes and urgently addressed the collapse of its contract management capacity,” he said.
