DNA backlog threatens to deny justice in Brand farm murder

11 February 2021

Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbites in English & Afrikaans from Reinette Liebenberg, MPL. 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape will appeal to the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) to urgently consider engaging with private laboratories to assist with the backlog in DNA testing that threatens to delay justice in the Brand farm murder case.

Since August last year, the DA has been attending the court proceedings and monitoring the appearances of the accused in the triple murder case of Danie, Breggie and Elzabie Brand in Hartswater. Today’s postponement of the bail hearing has once again failed to bring any true consolation to the remaining family, the local community and especially the farming community, in the midst of escalating farm attacks, with the bail hearing unfortunately being postponed due to the Covid-19 related ill health of the lawyer of three of the accused.

While Covid-19 repercussions are out of our control, what especially concerns the DA is that the DNA results have still not been availed to the investigating officers by the SAPS Forensics Services Division.

A parliamentary reply in December showed that the backlog in DNA samples at the National Forensic Science Laboratories stood at 117 736. We would not want this backlog to delay justice in the Brand murder case.

While the bail hearing has been postponed until 4th March 2021, we will not sit back and wait to see if the DNA results will be readily available in a month’s time.

Given the urgency of the situation, I will escalate this matter to DA Shadow Minister of Police Andrew Whitfield, as well as the DA’s Court Watching Briefs Unit, to further drive on a parliamentary level. I will also communicate with the acting provincial commissioner, Major General Henriette de Waal, asking for an intervention in the outstanding DNA test results, to prevent further delays.

Without efficient forensic services, criminals cannot be brought to book and tackling farm murders will remain yet another unfulfilled promise by government.

Issued by Reinette Liebenberg, DA Northern Cape Provincial Spokesperson on Agriculture, Land Reform, Rural Development and Nature Conservation, 11 February 2021