RIGHTS: DNA Testing Determines Justice in Africa

By James Hall Reprint | | Print |

James Hall

MBABANE, Feb 1 2002 (IPS) - In an effort not to be left behind in the field of DNA testing for criminal trials, the 14-member states of the Southern Africa Development Countries (SADC) have set up a central testing site in Pretoria, South Africa.

Law enforcement bodies from the countries depend on the facility to verify evidence against criminal suspects. But demand for testing is so great that a backlog is creating a crisis in court proceedings throughout the sub-continent.

“The saying goes, ‘Justice delayed is justice denied,’ and this is nowhere more true than with DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) evidence that is unavailable,” says a source with the Swaziland Law Society.

DNA testing takes a suspect’s genetic “fingerprints”, his or her DNA which is unique to an individual, and matches this, or not, to the DNA in blood, hair or tissue samples gathered at a crime scene.

In the past decade, DNA science has gone from perceptions that it is unreliable to the view that such evidence is clear-cut, and even necessary for some successful prosecutions.

Conversely, many criminal suspects have been found innocent when their DNA failed to match crime scene samples. Throughout the world, guilty verdicts have been reversed, and falsely convicted criminals freed from prison on the basis of court appeals where DNA evidence was introduced.

DNA sampling also has become the determinant in paternity suits, as a parent’s DNA is matched, or otherwise, to an alleged offspring.

Not to be left behind, the countries of Africa’s subcontinent turned to the advanced forensic facilities of South Africa as the basis of a DNA testing depot for regional law enforcement agencies.

“Swaziland is too poor to build an advanced science facility like that, and we do not have the personnel to operate it, nor that many criminal cases that would require the expenditure,” says Manzini Regional police superintendent Edward Magongo.

The Royal Swaziland Police Force sends DNA samples to Pretoria for testing, and prosecutors prepare cases when results are returned.

“This is fine, in theory,” says a criminal attorney in the central commercial city, Manzini. “In fact, it is God-send, because our police detectives are short-handed and under funded.”

He says, “Too many criminal indictments are the result of confessions acquired through extra-legal means, like police beatings of suspects. DNA testing is sure-proof, and with this we hope allegations of the torture of criminal suspects by police to induce confessions will become a thing of the past. Unfortunately, it appears the testing facility is overworked.”

Police and prosecutors throughout the SADC nations complain of long delays in receiving test results. No where is this more evident than in the high-profile case of David Simelane, allegedly Swaziland’s first mass murderer who has confessed to killing 45 women and children, and burying their bodies in shallow graves in the commercial timber forests of Malkerns, 30 kilometres east of Mbabane, capital of Swaziland.

Because of the advanced decomposition of the corpses, relatives of missing women and children were asked by police to provide hair and other bodily samples to attempt DNA matches. Since April of last year, when the first bodies were uncovered, prosecutors have identified only three of the murder victims through DNA testing. Positive identification is required to provide a name for the victims on court records.

Meanwhile, bereaved families cannot bury their dead until the identification process is completed. The local media has reported this may not be finished until 2005.

“This means the suspect will not go on trial for many more years,” says Vusie Ginindza, editor of the independent Times Sunday newspaper.

“Many people believe that the one suspect under arrest, who does not own a car, could not have acted alone killing so many people, and transporting their bodies. The facts cannot come out until there is a trial, and the delay means witnesses will forget information, or will have died by the time the proceedings have started. Other guilty parties may never be known. We have seen this happen,” he says.

A spokesperson for the SADC DNA testing centre in Pretoria denied that three years would be required to identify the mass killing victims, but said the problem lies with Swazi police, who have provided incomplete DNA samples to be tested. “If we can get proper samples, testing can be completed in three months,” he said.

Assistant Superintendent Vusi Masuku, spokesperson for the Swazi police, expressed surprise that DNA samples were incomplete or faulty. “We have not heard anything from the testing centre,” he said.

A Swazi attorney noted, “The problem is not with the science, but with mistakes made with evidence, and poor communication. It is an old problem.”

Judicial observers in Swaziland say the trial of the country’s first mass murder suspect, when it commences, will be the first major case to involve DNA testing technology.

“This will open many people’s eyes here in Swaziland to the importance of this science in criminal proceedings,” says Manzini attorney Fikile Mthembu.

If so, the demands for such testing will likely increase, putting more pressure on the regional testing centre. The centre reports that over 20,000 cases now await processing for police and prosecutors throughout SADC countries. An expanding workload will require more technicians and equipment.

But legal experts say the quality of justice in Southern Africa will improve. DNA testing will help free the innocent, and incarcerate the guilty with an assurance never before possible.