NCOP
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO. 303
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 15 June 2012
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 17)
Mr M J R de Villiers (DA-WC) to ask the Minister of Health:
(1) How many blood samples have been tested for alcohol by Health
Laboratories in each province from 1 April 2010 up to the latest
specified date for which information is available;
(2) whether any of the tested blood samples were found to be above the
prescribed limit; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so,
(a) how many in each province and (b) what are the further relevant
details;
(3) what steps have been taken in respect of blood samples that have been
found to be above the prescribed limit?
CW402E
REPLY:
1) The table below indicates the number of blood alcohol samples tested
for both drunk driving and post mortem for the period 1 April 20110 t0
1 July 2012 by Province:
Table 1: Number of blood samples tested for drunk driving and
postmortem by Province.
|Province |Blood Alcohol drunk |Blood Alcohol Post |
| |driving |mortem |
|Eastern Cape |12 171 |6 642 |
|Free State |653 |1 216 |
|Northern Gauteng |6 017 |4 216 |
|Southern Gauteng |5 195 |8 686 |
|KwaZulu-Natal |20 722 |6 470 |
|Mpumalanga |7 862 |1 334 |
|Limpopo |5 217 |1 924 |
|Northern Cape |1 880 |1 423 |
|North West |1360 |1 234 |
|Western Cape |28 180 |10 858 |
|Total |89 257 |44 003 |
2) Yes, some of the blood samples were found to be equal to and exceeding
0.05 gram per 100 millilitres. The table below indicates the number
of blood alcohol samples equal to and exceeding 0.05 gram per 100
milliliters for both drunk driving and post mortem samples per
Province for the period 1 April 2010 to 31 July 2012.
Table 2: Number of blood samples tested equal or exceeding 0.05 gram
per 100 millitres by Province.
|Province |Blood Alcohol |Blood Alcohol Post |
| |drunk driving |mortem |
|Eastern Cape |11 221 |3 800 |
|Free State |405 |1176 |
|Northern Gauteng |4 366 |1 416 |
|Southern Gauteng |3 576 |2 076 |
|KwaZulu-Natal |13 836 |2 776 |
|Mpumalanga |5 248 |668 |
|Limpopo |3 069 |888 |
|Northern Cape |1 594 |934 |
|North West |728 |558 |
|Western Cape |26 918 |5 061 |
|Total |70961 |19353 |
3) All reports for the blood samples that are tested for drunk driving
are sent to the South African Police Services investigators for
prosecution purposes. The post mortem blood alcohol samples are sent
back to the Pathologist to finalise the autopsy reports.
END.