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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng demands openness from the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) on its apparent commitment to halve its toxicology case backlog by the end of the 2025/2026 financial year. This will improve turnaround times for toxicology reports in all NHLS Forensic Chemistry Laboratories (FCL).

In response to the DA’s questioning of the reported 10-year waiting time for post-mortem results on an unnatural death case where a family was requesting assistance, on 19 August 2025, the NHLS responded in a newspaper article in The Citizen that the ‘NHLS acknowledged these concerns and pledged to stabilise and speed up services in forensic pathology and criminal justice’. It also said the ‘toxicology backlog was 40,051, with most cases predating the NHLS integration of the FCLs’.

NHLS Spokesperson, Mzi Mcukumana, claims the organisation has purchased state-of-the-art, high-output analytical instrumentation for its laboratories in Tshwane, Johannesburg and Cape Town to move forward with its backlog recovery plan. Mcukumana claimed these instruments are exclusively designated for backlog samples to ensure they do not disrupt the processing of new, incoming cases.

Despite initially agreeing to a meeting with the DA, the NHLS has since refused to commit to a date and time to answer questions as to exactly how it intends to achieve this milestone. Emails to the CEO Professor Koleka Mlisana, who assumed this new role in August this year, now go unanswered.

The DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government will not lie to its citizens. We will continue to provide answers on matters as sensitive as post-mortem reports, forensic pathology and toxicology results that can be used in the processing of cases through the criminal justice system. The DA is committed to providing citizens access to ethical and accountable government, professional services in the best interests of its citizens.

Issued by Madeleine Hicklin MPL - DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Health