Forensic sample backlog hampers fight against crime

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

The Department of Health has revealed that there's a backlog of more than 52 700 post-mortem, toxicology and drunken driving samples that still need to be processed at state laboratories.

According to a written reply to a parliamentary question, the backlogs are at the forensic laboratories in Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

DA spokesperson on the Police, Dianne Kohler-Barnard, said these delays have a severe impact on the criminal justice system and on victims of crime.

"Due to a lack of evidence, criminals are left wandering our streets and drunken drivers continue to cause havoc on our roads. In addition, most of the time unnatural causes of death can only be investigated once results from the lab have been provided - until this happens, families are left without closure."