The department of health has left the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) with the toxic mess of clearing a backlog of more than 35,000 outstanding toxicology reports from the country’s three forensic laboratories in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria.
In a written response to a parliamentary question posed by Dr Petrus Groenewald of the Freedom Front Plus on February 28, health minister Joe Phaahla revealed there was a backlog of 35,776 outstanding toxicology tests at the labs.
Phaahla said the backlog developed as the department did not have the expertise and resources to address it.
According to the department, the constant breakdown of old lab equipment, insufficient goods and services, delays in procurement and a shortage of skilled staff have been contributing factors to tests piling up.
A year ago the NHLS, given its efficiency as a specialised laboratory service, took over the process of clearing the backlogs, which amounts to the testing of drugs, alcohol, pesticides, poisons and heavy metals.
NHLS communications manager Mzi Gcukumana told TimesLIVE they were implementing a strategy which specifically focuses on service delivery to reduce, and ultimately, eradicate backlogs in toxicology.
As South Africans we have normalised this as status quo along with every other corruption and ineptitude, but when one is forced to depend on and deal with these systems first-hand, while in the midst of incomprehensible grief, we are reminded how unacceptable this state of affairs is
— Luke Molver, whose brother and sister-in-law died when a neighbouring flat was being fumigated
“In addition, we are rezoning the t catchment areas to relieve pressure on its Gauteng-based laboratories. The Durban laboratory can take on this additional workload. We have also explored the possibility of public-private partnerships (PPPs), however there are issues around the chain of custody that makes PPPs complex. Going forward, the NHLS is leveraging its resources and expertise to turn things around and strives to deliver the much-needed results timeously.”
The forensic chemistry laboratories received a R138m conditional grant from Treasury for the 2022/2023 fiscal year, but this was not sufficient to cover expenses.
However, experts claim the amount of money required to beef up technology, equipment and hire skilled staff would be a costly exercise and have urged government to rather review laws which would allow private labs to conduct testing.
As it stands courts do not make provisions for private labs to conduct toxicology tests.
Dr Gerhard Verdoorn, director of the Griffon Poison Information Centre, said the shortage of staff and technology required at chemical labs was a major concern.
He said there were clear signs the wheels were beginning to come off at state forensic labs in 2014.
“You have to have the right equipment. Technology is very important. You need to have the technology to extract chemicals from samples and analyse it. If you don’t have that, combined with the properly skilled people to do the work, forget about it.”
He said more forensic labs were required or government needed to enter into a partnership with private labs to clear the backlogs.
“We should have forensic labs all over the country. What amazes me is that there are private laboratories fully equipped but the government does not want to allow people to make use of those labs for test results.
“Detectives will tell you it can take up to eight years to get toxicology tests back. Imagine a detective telling [this to] a family who have lost a loved one due to suspected poisoning.”
Such families have been left in limbo without any closure — years after their loved ones died.
Gauteng resident Phenny Molala, 37, said she had no faith that her sister’s case would be solved after she died in May 2020.
This was my little sister and we cannot move on with our lives until we know exactly what happened to her
— Phenny Molala, who lost her sister to suspected poisoning
Nthapisening Taukobong, 25, an employee of the military, died in what her sister suspects is a poisoning case.
“In April she spent the entire month at my parents’ home and she was fine. She got a call to go back to base in Durban in May and she went there. One day she called me and said she was not well, she had stomach cramps and she could not see well. At the time she was at the military base in Durban in her room.”
Molala said her sister had been with a “male friend” at the time.
“I was panicking and tried to get someone there to assist her. But her phone was suddenly switched off and so was her friend’s phone. At around 4.30pm I got a call from someone at the hospital to say my sister was no more. I could not understand what happened.”
Molala said an inquest docket was registered after her sister’s death and the detective informed her it could take years to receive the toxicology results.
“As a family we have no closure. This was my little sister and we cannot move on with our lives until we know exactly what happened to her.”
East London father Stanton Ingram, whose son Matthew, 17, and daughter Tammy, 12, died after they were suspected to have inhaled toxic gases from a neighbouring flat that was being fumigated at their complex in Kabega Park in August 2020, said the “waiting game” had taken a huge toll on him and his wife Selina.
“It’s this game of waiting and waiting and waiting. We are at a stage where the state prosecutor together with the investigating officer have put through a special request to the state lab in Cape Town to release the test results, but nothing has come of that.
“Through all this I have been trying to keep my focus on my mental health but somehow I have lost my grip on my mental strength because it is taking so long. I recently experienced the impact of the loss because of the waiting. That is making it worse for us.”
He said private lab Ampath had done the all the relevant tests but due to procedures that need to be followed in court, namely that you cannot use a private company to conduct the tests, they cannot proceed with the case.
Ingram said had the case been dealt with swiftly, by ensuring the perpetrator who did the fumigation was taken to task, the case of a Durban couple, Nicholas, 35, and Matri Molver, 34, who died in a similar fashion at their apartment in Durban in September 2022, may have never happened.
“ I am very upset that something like that happened after what happened to us. If our case was finalised that would have had an impact nationally on the department of agriculture and pest control companies and maybe this would not have happened in Durban.”
Nicholas’ older brother Luke said their family had been failed on many levels by the state.
“When inquiring about the progress of the case, we were repeatedly told no charges could be laid before specific toxicology tests were completed. We were also told quite matter-of-factly by a police captain that because of state laboratory backlogs, the tests could take up to 10 years to complete, by which point any criminal case would be long-cold and a civil case would not be possible.”
After receiving no information or assistance from the police, the Molvers opted to hire a private investigator to push the case forward.
“In the wake of unimaginable tragedy, my family was left no recourse other than to seek justice through private, professional channels. My family, and others in South Africa, are being consistently and abysmally failed by systems of state that are meant to serve and protect us.”
The Molver family roped in former cop and executive director of Analytical Forensic Investigations Services (AFIS) in KwaZulu-Natal, Mntu Mbhele, to assist with their case.
Mbhele, who worked for the police service for four decades before becoming a private investigator, said in his time as a police officer he never once received a toxicology report from a forensic lab.
“Some cases which could have been easily proven were never solved because of outstanding toxicology reports. It is very frustrating because once we have the lab report it is easy to finalise the Molver case. It's a straightforward matter.”
Mbhele said he had to go the extra mile by going to Pretoria to expedite the process of getting the lab results for the Molvers.
“It’s so sad when you talk about more than 2,000 toxicological reports that have been outstanding for more than 10 years. We’re talking about families that haven't had closure for more than 10 years. It is unfathomable. Something seriously needs to be done to expedite the process of clearing those backlogs.”
Another retired cop, who worked for 20 years as a detective, said he also never received toxicology reports during his time with the police service.
“ I never once received tox reports. I probably dealt with more than a dozen cases that required toxicology tests and each of those dockets had to be closed because there were no results forthcoming which would have allowed us to proceed with the matter.”
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