Cele: Progress made in clearing DNA backlog
The police minister says government has taken steps to
improve capacity and operations at DNA testing laboratories.
Bheki Cele says this forms part of the government's plans to help deal with DNA backlogs that stalled some rape and gender-based violence probes.
The backlog, which stood at 241 000 in April, has now been reduced to 71 000.
“KZN has a bit of a problem, the laboratory in Amanzimtoti has flooded so we are moving it to the city centre where we will be getting a new one.
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“The Public Works and together with the police are working on that and once that one is fully fledged, it will take pressure off the Gauteng lab."
Cele was speaking at the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide on Monday.
He says state labs have positively linked over 15 000 suspects.
"There is not a high number of people that rape and are repeat offenders, so DNA does help to link rapists in several cases so that as we arrest those people we are cutting down on the offenders out there, but we also have 9234 where the DNA has linked people to a crime scene, people we have not found."
