There's an enormous emotional cost for families who may never know that a loved one has died, says Dr Kathryn Smith.
The senior lecturer at Stellenbosch University is part of a trailblazing research team using digital facial reconstruction to solve "cold cases" involving unidentified bodies in the Western Cape.
A team of researchers from Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town (UCT) and provincial health department forensic pathology services, this week revealed they had used cutting-edge technology, along with the remains of crime victims, to produce realistic images of five unidentified people's faces.
They are part of a pioneering research consortium — Western Cape Cold Case Consortium (W4C) — which collaborated to pilot the project using forensic pathology, forensic anthropology, digital imaging and craniofacial features to generate the facial identikits.
The identikits will be used by the SA Police Service (SAPS) to identify remains and potentially bring closure to families who may be desperately searching for information about their whereabouts.
This is part of a pilot project to identify crime victims found in various parts of Cape Town such as Mitchells Plain, Philippi East and Mowbray between 2020 and 2022.
“Families with missing loved ones exist in limbo ... the not-knowing is extremely painful,” said Smith, a visual and forensic artist, and chairperson of the visual arts department.
Nearly 20 state mortuaries across the country have for years faced a crisis due to unclaimed bodies, resulting in space constraints.
Health minister Joe Phaahla revealed in parliament in September that South Africa's state mortuaries were buckling under pressure with more than 4,000 unclaimed and unidentified bodies. Some mortuaries were running out of space, threatening the safe storage of bodies.
He was responding to a question by FF+ MP Philip van Staden. Of the overall 4,045 unclaimed bodies by the end of August, Phaahla said KwaZulu-Natal was the most overburdened with 1,509, followed by Gauteng with 1,049, Limpopo with 353 and the Western Cape with 350.
The Eastern Cape had 315 unclaimed bodies and North West 251. The remaining 218 bodies were in the Free State, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape.
A body is deemed unclaimed if no-one comes forward to identify it within seven days. Government regulations require people to be buried within 30 days of death.
Smith said by working across forensic disciplines and with government, "we can gain new insight into unresolved forensic cases".
“This type of trans-disciplinary research, combining existing and experimental methods can only improve forensic service delivery. This brings hope to many families looking for answers and eases the burden unidentified cases places on our forensic facilities.”
Smith produced the facial depiction in the university’s visual arts department’s Viz Lab with PhD candidate Pearl Mamathuba. The department is the first at an African university and one of only a handful in the world to offer research and casework experience in forensic facial imaging.
“Identification in such cases is greatly enhanced by public circulation. It is really their last chance to be reunited with their names and hopefully their kin, so that they may be granted the dignity of proper interment,” said Smith.
“The investigation of those who may be responsible for their deaths can only be pursued once a victim’s identification is known.”
Provincial health department spokesperson Byron la Hoe said while the law stipulates that after 30 days an unclaimed body may be released to the state for burial, in reality this is insufficient time for the identification process to be concluded, or for the next-of-kin to be traced.
He said forensic pathology services in the province retained unidentified bodies "for as long as possible ... which means some bodies are kept for months until unknown deceased have either been successfully identified, or all opportunities to do so have been exhausted".
Apart from space constraint issues with keeping unidentified bodies and the costs involved storing them, it was also critical to consider the impact on families of burying unidentified bodies too soon.
"It is critical to consider the humanitarian impact of the interment of an unidentified person as a pauper with families not having closure.
"All unknown bodies deserve identification in death. Our approach utilising a variety of technology is important and is used to develop a reconstructed case circumstance, forensic contextual and case data information — such as unique identifiers and personal belongings — to provide a richer picture and understanding of an unknown person," said Smith.
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