Families of three victims grieve, while drunken driver suspect walks free because of forensic backlogs

In the early hours of 10 July, as Rubeina Lambert waited for her sister to tell her she had arrived home safely, her phone pinged with a crash alert.

“I got an alert on iMessage saying that Kaayla’s phone detected a crash. I did not even know that such notifications existed, but I … knew something was wrong, and I rushed to where the location was pinging,” said Lambert.

At the corner of 9th Avenue and Goldman Street in Florida, west of Johannesburg, Lambert saw a scene she will never forget. There were two mangled cars at the intersection, a white BMW and the Uber in which her sister, Aobakwe Banda and Jean Denton had been travelling

“The police showed us CCTV footage of the crash. This man was driving so fast that you couldn’t even see his car, only his lights. The only time you actually saw the car was upon impact. I’m not even going to tell you that he drove into them; he flew. He literally flew into them,” said Lambert.

The BMW struck the Uber vehicle with such force that Denton and Kaayla Lambert were thrown from the car. All three passengers died from their injuries.

Carlize Denton described her brother’s injuries: “He rolled all the way to the bushes, his skull cracked wide open. You can only imagine the image my mother has of her son with his brain lying behind his head.

"I can’t even describe to you the atmosphere. I have never smelled death so close to me before. As we were standing there, you could smell it in the air. You can literally smell the stench. And the worst part about all of this is that this drunk driver was so arrogant, it was as if he didn’t even care what he had just done.”

The families claim, the suspect, who jumped a red robot, causing the crash, was so drunk he could barely walk or talk coherently.

The families took pictures at the scene of the crash. One of the images shows a parliamentary pass lying in the front seat of the BMW.

While the driver’s identity cannot be revealed as he has yet to be charged, from the parliamentary pass, it appears that he is affiliated with the Economic Freedom Fighters. Daily Maverick reached out to EFF for comment however no response was received from the party by the time of publishing.

Denton told Daily Maverick that when the police arrived at the scene, the man was waving the pass around, yelling, “Do you know who I am?” He was arrested, but released a day later after appearing in court.

“I have never experienced a feeling like this, the emptiness. I can feel a void so big that nothing can fill it. The three of them were so close, Kaayla was like a borrowed sister to me, and Jean and Aobakwe, those two were always together. They were a huge part of our lives, and those three dying together leaves such a big hole in all of our families,” said Denton.

The frustration and heartbreak have deepened as the families grapple with the slow grind of justice. Denton and Lambert said the investigating officer had not even notified the families that the suspect had been released from custody.

“Our families can be understanding to a certain extent,” said Denton. “We do understand procedures have to be followed, but where is the fairness?  We have to go to a graveyard every other day when this man is out here living his life. Why could they not hold him in custody while the investigation is unfolding?

“For months, we can only say one thing: we are still waiting.”

In response to Daily Maverick’s questions, SAPS spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said, “The case could not be placed on the court roll due to outstanding investigations such as postmortem results, blood results for alcohol and so forth.”

Read more: The devastating effect of drunk driving

Gauteng’s forensic crisis 

Gauteng, the epicentre of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) fatalities, has an acute backlog of toxicology reports. The Saturday Star reported that between 2007 and 2024, there were more than 17,000 cases in Gauteng that required toxicology reports, some of them related to DUI incidents, yet only about 437 of these had been processed. This contributes to suspects avoiding timely prosecution as their court appearances are indefinitely delayed.

The Gauteng Department of Health, which depends on the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) for toxicology investigations, said there was a nationwide shortage of qualified toxicologists, which contributed to the backlog.

Efforts to mitigate the crisis in Gauteng include acquiring additional laboratory space in Johannesburg to process backlogs, implementing structured shifts and approved overtime for technicians, and migrating to improved laboratory information management systems to track case progress.

However, these steps have made a limited immediate impact, given the sheer volume and complexity of unresolved cases.

Postmortem report delays 

Compounding the toxicology reports crisis is a staggering backlog of postmortem reports, which the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has escalated to the national Parliament as a matter of urgent concern.

A report from the DA highlights families trapped in limbo, waiting up to 10 years for postmortem or toxicology results to conclude investigations.

One anguished family in Boksburg North was promised a postmortem report within eight weeks but now faces a potential decade-long wait. The lack of timely reports delays prosecutions, burial processes and closure for families.

This crisis persists despite a state-of-the-art forensic pathology laboratory built at great taxpayer expense (R703-million) that remains incomplete and unopened nine years after construction began. It was initially set for completion in November 2019. The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development recently commissioned a legal inquiry into the cause of the delays.

The DA has repeatedly called for urgent completion and operationalisation of the laboratory, emphasising the criminal nature of denying victims’ families timely answers.

Read more: The National Health Laboratory Service is fighting fraud, with tip-offs proving vital to the effort

Fighting for justice amid systemic failures 

As the call for reforms gains traction, the voices of families like the Dentons, Lamberts and Bandas resonate powerfully.

“I ask myself, is the law fabricated to protect us as the citizens of South Africa, or is it manufactured for criminals to get away with a crime?” said Denton.

“We want this man put into custody and treated like every other South African. It won’t bring them back, but it will show the case is taken seriously.

“We want the police to handle this properly and with sensitivity. The laws on drunk driving need to be enforced strictly, and police officers who accept bribes or mishandle cases must be held accountable.

“These aren’t just statistics. These were our brothers, our sisters, our family. They were present in all our lives. We were robbed of so much. We don’t want them to die for nothing.”

The three families’ fight symbolises a larger struggle against the deep failures in South Africa’s justice and forensic systems — failures that allow perpetrators to evade justice while grieving families wait years for closure.

NHLS initiative 

The NHLS has launched an initiative aimed at halving the backlog by the end of the 2025/26 financial year. Investments in new high-output analytical instruments have been made at laboratories in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town, specifically for backlog samples to avoid disrupting new casework. The NHLS has also hired additional technical staff dedicated to clearing old cases, while permanent staff focus on routine investigations.

Despite these efforts, the backlog remains massive, with forensic labs overwhelmed by years of unresolved cases, some pending for more than 17 years. Turnaround times for toxicology results, crucial in determining blood alcohol content, are so delayed that suspects involved in serious incidents often remain free for years, denying justice to victims and their families. DM