GEORGE NEWS - A shocking 77 rape cases were reported in the George area between October and December last year and, according to Dr Rineé Pretorius, spokesperson of the pressure group Action Society, it is believed that only 10% of rape cases are reported in SA.
These exclude other charges of sexual assault.
What makes this statistic even worse is that the current backlog of DNA test results will no doubt severely hamper successful convictions of these cases.
No working system or chemicals for DNA sampling
Not only has it recently come to light that the electronic registry system which manages evidence for DNA analysis for the police is offline due to non-payment to the service provider, but also that the entire country is without chemicals for DNA sampling. National Police Minister Bheki Cele said that he only became aware of the latter last week by chance while visiting the Western Cape police management after two officers were recently killed.
He said it was the first time he heard that there were no chemicals to deal with DNA evidence in the police labs. Since then, 150 new entry-level forensic analysts have been enlisted by the police to deal with the nationwide backlog of 172 787 tests.
However, according to Pretorius those numbers are increasing as the DNA board struggled to sort out issues ranging from procurement of DNA chemistry and consumables, dysfunctional contract manage-ment, poor leadership within the police as well as IT problems.
Speaking to the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Police last Wednesday, 10 March, Cele said that "things are absolutely not acceptable with the DNA in the Saps".
"Since the FDA did not receive any payments, they've switched off the system in June 2020," he said.
System must be switched on
City Press recently reported that the police have lost about eight million pieces of evidence after the system was shut down due to the dispute over non-payment.
In the meantime the Portfolio Committee on Police, led by chairperson Tina Joemat-Pettersson, concluded that the electronic registry system should be switched back on. The committee agreed that several problems within the police still need to be addressed, however, they cannot do their work without proper IT services. Joemat-Pettersson ruled that people responsible for this dilemma should be investigated and held accountable.
"It seems that the tug of war is finally over," said Pretorius as she welcomed Joemat-Pettersson's rulings.
"We hope that justice will be served to the hundreds of thousands of victims waiting for their cases to be presented in court. Without a doubt the growing DNA backlog cannot be processed with the proposed paper register. In a country with a rape conviction rate of 7,8% we cannot believe that, for a negotiating period of over two years, government has put a price tag on an IT system needed to manage crucial evidence."
Related article: Huge backlog in DNA tests needs to be addressed
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