The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) suspended Africa’s only accredited drug-testing facility on Monday, citing “multiple non-conformities” with international standards.
WADA announced in a statement that the South African Doping Control Laboratory in Bloemfontein’s accreditation would be suspended for up to six months.
The Bloemfontein lab had already faced certain restrictions in September of last year, while other anti-doping activities were allowed to continue.
However, WADA stated its experts advised the organization to suspend the facility’s certification due to “multiple non-conformities with the International Standard for Laboratories.”
WADA stated that 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 hematological module,” the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said in a
WADA stated that during the suspension, samples awaiting analysis, samples currently undergoing a confirmation procedure, and any samples with an adverse analytical finding must be moved to another WADA-accredited laboratory for testing.
“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,” the World Anti-Doping Agency said.
WADA stated that the laboratory will be able to request for reinstatement if all discovered “non-conformities” had been resolved.