Community Safety
- How many complaints has his Department received or recorded related to cases being stalled or struck off the court roll, due to backlogs within the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory since August 2020;
- whether the SAPS explored or is exploring possible partnerships with private laboratories; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
- (a)what number of case exhibits has been referred to private laboratories in the Western Cape, (b) what is the total amount spent on private laboratories since August 2020, and (c) how much was spent on the same process between August 2019 and August 2020?
(1) The Court Watching Brief Unit visited a limited number of courts within the metropole from July 2020 when the national lockdown was lifted to level 4. The Unit was only able to visit 19 courts with limited access at times due to the COVID-19 Regulations and protocols.
For the period July to September 2020 (Quarter 2) a total of 92 cases were monitored and for October to December 2020 (Quarter 3) a total of 139 cases were monitored.
The findings for the 231 cases monitored during the Quarters 2 and 3 of the 2020/21 financial year were as follows:
- 107 dockets were not at court;
- 82 investigations were not completed: and
- 42 Gender Based Violence matters were struck off the court rolls.
The Court Watching Brief Unit did not report on any matters being struck off the roll due to forensic reports not at court.
The South African Police Services informed me as follows:
(2) The Office of the Western Cape Provincial Commissioner is not in a position to respond and advises that the question be directed to the Office of the National Commissioner.
(3) (a) Same as above
(b) Same as above
(c) Same as above
