A former deputy chairperson of the DNA Board, Dr Vanessa Lynch, sounded a warning that the delay in implementing the DNA Bill led to the release of thousands of prisoners since 2017, without taking their buccal samples.
Lynch said some of the released prisoners could have gone back to crime and committed more offences.
She was making a presentation to the National Assembly committee on police on the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Bill this week.
Chairperson of the committee Tina Joemat-Pettersson said they wanted to finalise the bill as quickly as possible.
“This is a very important piece of legislation and we cannot get it wrong.
“We have only one opportunity to get it right and we will get it right,” said Joemat-Pettersson.
The SAPS, the DNA Board and Cosatu also made presentations to the committee with Matthew Parks of Cosatu saying the bill should not focus only on taking DNA samples of prisoners convicted of Schedule 8 offences including rape, murder, human trafficking and robbery, but other crimes too.
Lynch said that according to the Minister of Correctional Services’s report submitted to Parliament in June 2021, 96 875 prisoners have been released since January 2016 without their DNA Samples being taken which was a lost opportunity for the government as they could not take the DNA samples of prisoners.
But spokesperson for the Department of Correctional Services, Singabakho Nxumalo, said yesterday they could have not released so many offenders as the prison population was 153 000 in 2017.
But detained people come and go.
“Currently, we have a population of 141 514 (95 338 sentenced, 46 054 remand detainees and 121 state patients).
“It is difficult to have a conclusive answer when talking about remand detainees, they come and go and many frequent our centres.
“But with sentenced inmates it cannot be above 100 000 as the population in 2017 was around 153 000, the majority of inmates are now doing long-term sentences,” said Nxumalo.
But Lynch said if the bill was implemented earlier thousands of prisoners would have had their DNA samples taken before they were released.
“Over 100 000 offenders since 2017 have been released without being sampled and that is a lost opportunity that we cannot get back.
“There is no question that some of those offenders have gone back to crime.
“After the Act was promulgated many prisoners were refusing to have their sample taken.
“I raise this case because when we were able to sample offenders this case of (serial rapist Sikhangele) Mki was absolutely horrific and if you read the judgment he was called the monster serial rapist and had we not identified him earlier and the irony is that had we identified him previous to the DNA Act being promulgated we would have saved more lives that he violated.
“He was convicted of common assault, not rape and whilst he was serving his two-year sentence in prison because of that window of time between 2015 and 2017 we were able to sample convicted offenders by virtue of the provision of the DNA Act being operational that the DNA profile was loaded onto the database and it was linked to over 30 rapes that had been recorded,” said Lynch.
She said they cannot allow convicted prisoners to be released without having their DNA samples taken.
She said the case of Mki, who was sentenced to multiple life sentences by the Western Cape High Court in 2017 for the 30 rapes, showed the need to take DNA samples to convicted offenders.
Lynch said Mki would have been released after two years for common assault but because of the DNA database they picked up more crimes he committed raping several women in Cape Town.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
POLITICAL BUREAU