“The ANC has blood on its hands, the SAPS has been destroyed by cadre deployment and therefor the Portfolio committee in Police has little or no trust in SAPS to implement what is needed. It simply means thousands of innocent people will be denied justice, more children will be murdered, more women will be raped and more elderly victimised!” said Ian Cameron, community safety director at Action Society.
The Portfolio Committee on Police(PCOP) once again failed to approve amendments to the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Bill B25-2021 (CO Bill). This is the Bill which relates to the DNA sampling of convicted Schedule 8 offenders, including rapists and murderers.
Cameron further commented: “It is apparent that the PCOP has no trust in the capability of the South African Police Services Forensic Laboratories to handle the influx of reference samples from convicted offenders. The capability and capacity of the National Forensics Science Laboratories (NFSL) should however not hold back the passing of this crucial piece of legislation. The SAPS needs to shape up and make sure they can perform the duties as set out in legislation.”
Although the members of the PCOP all agree with the amendments to the CO Bill, the final approval will depend on SAPS reporting back in the next quarter on their capacity.
“Taking of DNA samples of convicted schedule 8 offenders is crucial in the fight against violent crime in our country. Last year, almost 100 000 criminals were released without submitting a DNA sample. In our country where we are fighting a GBVF pandemic and almost 150 rapes are reported daily, we can’t afford that violent criminals are being released without a DNA sample to link them to past and future crimes.”
“It seems that the ANC’s destruction of the SAPS has now created a situation where crucial legislation pertaining to violent criminals is being held back because of their incompetence. This will only mean more bloodshed in South Africa,” Cameron concluded.
