DNA system in collapse as rapes soar

SERIAL rapist and paedophile Sikhangele Mki nearly escaped justice when he was handed a slap on the wrist five-year suspended sentence for grievous bodily harm.

Then his DNA profile was run through South Africa’s DNA system. It linked him to 30 rapes, many of young girls.

That evidence would help in convicting him of 30 counts of rape, 20 counts of kidnapping, four counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, 12 counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, six counts of attempted robbery with aggravating circumstances, two counts of robbery and three counts of attempted robbery.

His youngest victim was 11 years old and nine victims were younger than 16. Mki admitted raping some more than once, often providing gruesome detail.

He was convicted in the Western Cape High Court in 2017 and is now serving 15 life terms and 120 years’ imprisonment.

DNA profiling, one of the most successful prosecutorial tools at the disposal of law enforcement, had placed Mki behind bars.

Now, many more serial rapists like Mki could be roaming the country as the Forensic Services Laboratories (FSL) has ground to a near-halt, with more than 125000 case exhibits stuck in the process. And 92% of these cases are associated with rape and sexual assaults.

DNA evidence is also crucial in cases for those who cannot speak for themselves, such as babies, toddlers and mentally-impaired victims.

On Thursday, DA’S shadow minister of police Andrew Whitfield raised the alarm, saying the huge backlog at the FSL was because of “maintenance contracts for the highly sensitive machinery and consumables not being renewed”.

“We believe the accumulated total backlog of DNA case exhibits is now well over 100 000, leaving thousands of victims and their families out in the cold,” said Whitfield, adding this had led to major blockages in the criminal justice system.

Former deputy chairperson of the National Forensic Oversight and Ethics Board, Vanessa Lynch, whose five-year tenure ended in April, said yesterday: “Since the finalisation of the handover report in April, there has been a 300% increase in the backlog of cases, 92% of which are sexual assault cases.

“Looking at the last report from April, this translates into a backlog of close to 125000 cases, of which 92% or 115000 are sexual assault kits.

“Our most powerful weapon against gender-based violence is not being deployed because the funding originally promised to the DNA unit when the DNA Act was passed in 2015 was withdrawn in the 2018/ 2019 financial year.

“As a result, the FSL has ground to a halt as it simply has no consumables or maintenance contracts in place to operate effectively, if at all.

“This is a travesty of justice as every sexual assault kit which lies in the FSL which has not been analysed is effectively someone’s life being put on hold, and worse still, fails to identify the perpetrators who are no doubt still at large raping again and again and again.”

Lynch said such kits should be processed within 30 days.

She said convicted offenders were no longer being sampled because the police minister had not signed the DNA Amendment Bill of 2017, which would allow for this provision to be extended.

“This is exacerbated by the minister’s wish to pursue a population DNA database, which would involve taking DNA samples from all South African citizens – an idea that is not practical, considering the FSL does not even have the funds to get the criminal population on the database.”

Women And Men Against Child Abuse advocacy manager, Ngaa Murombedzi, said that as an organisation which “works with victims of the most atrocious experiences of abuse”, the lack of service coming out of the Forensic Labs was “mind-boggling”.

“DNA plays a crucial role, especially in cases involving children under the age of 7 whose viva voce (ability to talk and express) participation in criminal cases is not possible. The same applies for cognitively-impaired victims. These two categories of victims are seriously disadvantaged because their hope for justice lies in DNA evidence.”

Spokesperson for the Medical Rights Advocacy Network, Mary de Haas said concerns raised by members (including medical and forensic specialists) over the backlog included proper maintenance by an authorised service provider.lirandzu Themba, spokesperson for Minister of Police Bheki Cele, said late yesterday the SAPS would be releasing a statement on this matter.

NPA national spokesperson Sipho Ngwema did not respond to a request for comment.