DNA tests in crisis

HURDLES: BACKLOG SURGES TO 140 000 CASES

- Enkosi Selane

The South African Police Service's (Saps) forensic science laboratory is facing a crisis as the DNA case backlog has surged to over 140,000 cases, with infrastructure problems identified as the primary culprit.

The chair of the portfolio committee on police, Ian Cameron, criticised the laboratory's approach to addressing the current backlog crisis.

Cameron dismissed head of the laboratory major-general Tshilidzi Mulaudzi's suggestion that establishing laboratories in every province would solve the current crisis, calling it an "unrealistic solution" that fails to address the root causes of the problem.

"The views held by Mulaudzi obfuscates the current challenges and provide unrealistic solutions within the South African context.

"The Saps must deal with systematic issues that affect the laboratory currently and not seek pie-in-the-sky solutions that cannot be achieved within the current fiscal challenges faced by the country," Cameron said.