SAPS ‘hard at work’ to reduce DNA backlog - Cele
Police Minister Bheki Cele says the police are hard at work to erase the DNA backlog, especially for crimes committed against women and children.
Cele was answering questions in Parliament on Tuesday afternoon on the SAPS' DNA backlog of more than 200 000.
"As the president pronounced last week, the huge backlog is unacceptable, we totally agree with that,” he told MPs.
"The SAPS has been hard at work to implement an urgent turnaround plan for the sake of all victim crimes, especially women and children.
"About 42% dockets for crimes committed against women and children that had been outstanding for over a year have been finalised."
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Cele also apologised for the DNA backlog, which has been an issue for years.
Of the 280,291 backlogged cases, more than 60,000 have not yet been analysed.
A total of 36,626 are DNA-related and 82,000 related to gender-based violence femicide.
"As the Minister of Police on behalf of the SAPS I want to take this opportunity to apologise sincerely to all victims of crime, for the pain and anguish these delays have caused,” he said.
"We owe it to all of you to be transparent about how we got here and how we will improve the situation as we move forward."
