LACK OF LABS FOR RAPE DNA TESTS

EZULWINI - Lack of a local laboratory to conduct DNA analysis for rape cases is one of the major reasons why perpetrators escape the arm of the law.
This revelation was revealed by Principal Judge Qinisile Mabuza, yesterday.

Mabuza, who is a seasoned COMESA judge, made this revelation during a workshop on enhancing redress and accountability for sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Swaziland, which took place at the Happy Valley Resort yesterday.
In her welcoming remarks, Mabuza detailed some of the challenges that judges came across whenever they dealt with cases of violence and rape in particular.

Mabuza shared her own experience with the attendants and recounted a case she once dealt with, saying years went by without a DNA analysis, something which led to her acquitting the perpetrator.
“I had to let the man who was involved in the rape go. You find that the doctor who did an examination locally is a foreigner and when you want the report, you get the news that he or she has left the country. We hire many foreign doctors and when you request a report to determine what they found in the examination you discover that they are gone,” she said.

Another weak link which the judge pointed out was that while the police always did a commendable job in their investigation, there were problems when they got to the hospitals and handed over the survivors to doctors.
“After handing over the survivors, no one educates the doctors on what the courts expect. The police officers when compiling the dockets, do not read the medical reports to determine whether the laid charges can be sustained and in the end it disturbs the cases,” said Mabuza.

Still on the issue of the DNA analysis, Mabuza said it was worrying that whenever they were sent to South Africa, they sometimes took years to be returned.
“In the case where I acquitted the man who was involved in the rape case, it was already three years. DNA profiles never came back from South Africa. When you try to find out why, you discover that the lab in Pretoria has a backlog as it has to service the whole of South Africa and other countries such as Lesotho, Botswana and now Zimbabwe,” she stated.

In her view, there was a need to lobby government to consider the construction of a big laboratory, in order to ease the burden of having to wait for results from South Africa.
She said the lab would benefit the country handsomely, as it would also service the other countries in the southern Africa region.

Regarding the issue of incest, Mabuza informed the attendants that judges took the matter seriously and did so according to the training that they received.
However, she said there was a need for a proper understanding of the term ‘access to justice’, which she said was two-fold.

“Both the perpetrator and the survivor have rights and as the courts we have to respect that. This means that judicial officers have to ensure that they do a balancing act. Perpetrators also have a trial right and you have to keep that in mind,” she said.
Furthermore, Mabuza made a plea that the police and judicial officers should constantly have meetings in order to discuss issues of bail conditions.

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