By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
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The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said on Monday, it has suspended Africa’s only accredited drug-testing laboratory due to “multiple non-conformities” with international standards.
In a statement, Wada said it had suspended the accreditation of the South African Doping Control Laboratory in Bloemfontein for up to six months.
The Bloemfontein lab had already seen some restrictions imposed in September last year, while other anti-doping activities were allowed to continue.
However, Wada said experts had advised the agency to suspend the facility’s accreditation due to “multiple non-conformities with the International Standard for Laboratories”.
Wada said the Bloemfontein laboratory had accepted the suspension, which took effect on March 1.
“The suspension… prohibits the laboratory from carrying out any anti-doping activities, including analyses of urine and blood samples, with the exception of analysis related to the Athlete Biological Passport haematological module,” Wada said in a statement.
Wada said during the suspension, samples awaiting analysis, samples currently undergoing a confirmation procedure and any samples where an adverse analytical finding has been reported must be transported to another Wada-accredited laboratory for analysis.
“This is in order to ensure continued high-quality sample analysis, which also helps preserve athletes’ confidence in this process and the wider anti-doping system,” Wada said.
Wada said the laboratory would be allowed to apply for reinstatement once it had demonstrated all the identified “non-conformities” had been addressed.
The University of the Free State says it notes the accreditation suspension of the South African Doping Control Laboratory.
“During this suspension period, the laboratory will continue its ISO17025-accredited analysis, but all samples received under the authority of WADA will be referred to another WADA-accredited laboratory. All processes are already in place to support the changes required by WADA,” said UFS spokesperson Lacea Loader.
“The university management is confident that the laboratory will effectively address the corrective actions required by WADA within the suspension period, so that the laboratory can again be of service to the anti-doping stakeholders in Southern Africa once the laboratory’s accreditation is reinstated.”
Loader said the suspension will not affect test results of South African and African athlete’s participating in the 2024 Olympics Games in Paris.