Conditions at KZN laboratories 'are not ok'
The Portfolio Committee on Police has urged SAPS's senior management to fast-track the acquisition of proper facilities to house forensic science labs in KZN.
Committee whip Nocks Seabi led MPs on an oversight visit to laboratories in Amanzimtoti, south of Durban.
He said the province needs to be equipped to speed up DNA analysis as police try to tackle a national backlog of cases.
Seabi said while work is being done to sort out the issue, they are concerned about the state of the buildings that have been identified so far.
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"That's why management transferred some of the employees to laboratories in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, and Gauteng. So whilst work is being produced by the conditions are not ok."
He says they were also informed that SAPS spends around R500 000 each month to lease three buildings for various divisions of forensic teams.
"They are working on that programme. They are promising that in the next 12-24 months, they will have renovated the buildings that belong to government and they will relocate the laboratories."
