Thank you, hon Speaker. The backlog in the biology section and other sections of the SA Police Service's Forensic Science Laboratory was caused by a combination of the following factors: one, poor management, including failure to prioritise the processing of exhibits within the laboratory; two, failure by management within this environment to set targets and timelines for the purposes of managing the performance of the laboratories; three, the high rate of loss of experts and/or personnel in search of greener pastures; four, the downtime of instruments in the laboratory; and, five, the increase in the number of exhibits received by laboratories with limited expert capacity, making speedy processing impossible.
The divisional commissioner responsible for forensic services in the SAPS left the Police Service in July 2010, and Gen Phahlane was appointed divisional commissioner for this environment. One major-general and a brigadier were also exited from the service during this period.
As part of the turnaround strategy developed by the new divisional commissioner, managers were given specific targets and shorter timeframes within which the backlogs were to be eradicated during the 2010-11 financial year. Since July 2010, managers were also subjected to periodic performance reviews during which they had to account for the performance of their respective environments with regards to the eradication of backlogs and the processing of exhibits without delay.
Given the problems that existed with the previous management of the forensics services, it has been difficult to charge the actual suppliers. However, there are certain areas involving suppliers that are still being looked into and action may be taken based on what comes out of that process. I thank you, Speaker. [Applause.]