Backlog with DNA tests: South Africa’s women and children are being let down
24 August 2021
It was revealed today in the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Police that the backlog with the testing of DNA samples and other material related to gender-based violence cases currently stands at 90 201.
That is a sharp increase since 15 May this year when the Committee paid an oversight visit to the police's forensic laboratory in Pretoria as at that time, the backlog with the testing of samples relating to such crimes was 68 235. So, in just more than three months, the backlog increased with 21 266.
This ensued after the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, admitted in March this year that at that stage there were no chemicals, used to test DNA samples, available in any of the police laboratories across the country.
If these forensic samples are not available to be used in court cases, it means that criminals, like rapists, cannot be charged and arrested or may even be acquitted for the simple reason that the evidence needed for a conviction in these types of cases is just not available.