Today, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mr Andries Nel accompanied the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa and the Deputy Minister of Police, Ms Maggie Sotyu, on an oversight visit to the Johannesburg Forensic Services Laboratory of the Department of Health.
The visit has as aim to ensure that the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster can meet its deliverables in terms of Outcome three: All people in South Africa are and feel safe.
This visit forms part of a series of visits that will be undertaken to consider the capacity and performance of the forensic laboratories of both Health and Police Services because their functioning have an impact on the backlogs in the courts and the effectiveness and efficiency of the Criminal Justice System and the speed in which matters can be finalised.
The Johannesburg laboratory was chosen as the first laboratory to be visited because it has just completed a complete renovation process. It has not been functioning for the past three years and its coming online now is very good news for the criminal justice system and the public of Johannesburg.
The Health Forensic laboratories deal with matters such as analysis such as blood alcohol results and toxicology analysis of person’s who may have died of unnatural causes.
To speedily deal with both blood and toxicology analysis is crucial as they impact on the speed in which drunk driving cases and inquests could be finalised by the Courts.
The toxicology analysis also has an impact on the speed in which the estate of deceased persons can be finalised and impacts on insurance claims, civil claims etc. and it is therefore of critical importance that any delay is kept to a minimum.
The Deputy Ministers were provided with information indicating a turn-around strategy by the Department of Health to deal with all the outstanding/backlog analysis that needs to be dealt with by their laboratories. Part of this strategy includes new accommodation for the laboratory in Pretoria, upgrade to the Cape Town laboratory and the establishment of the new laboratory in KwaZulu-Natal.
All the laboratories have had additional posts created and the few vacancies still there are in the process of being filled. Equipment has also been modernised and improved. This will ensure the analysts can deal with more samples at the same time.
The Johannesburg laboratory will soon be fully functional. They have an operational plan which includes working in teams to deal with older cases, as well as more recent and current cases. A focus will also be on prioritising certain cases that are due in court. There will also be a prioritising of what analysis will be required for what cases in conjunction with the other CJS role players.
A full analysis of all outstanding analysis will be dealt with intersect orally and will be released later. It can however already be indicated that the outstanding analysis reported last year in September has been receiving specific focused attention. The aim is that by September there should be no more backlogs in certain areas.
South African Police Service (SAPS) laboratories have similarly had a turnaround strategy in place and have made good inroads in reducing their backlogs.
The Deputy Ministers have committed themselves and their departments to work closer together and where possible share resources.
The visit will not be a once off visit but will be repeated after 3 months. The next laboratory to be visited will be a SAPS laboratory as part of the collaboration and oversight objectives.
Enquiries:
Chester Mpane (Office of the Deputy Minister of Justice)
Cell: 082 370 9532
Vukani Mnyandu (Office of the Deputy Minister of Health)
Cell: 083 923 0261
Media statement by the Deputy Ministers in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) on their visit to the National Department of Health Forensic Service Laboratory In Johannesburg
