Naziziphiwo Buso
When President Cyril Ramaphosa officially opens the police forensic sciences laboratory in Gqeberha sometime next month, it will be a good story to tell.
That's according to the Chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on the Police, Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
She led a delegation on an oversight visit to the facility on Thursday, which already began DNA testing last month.
(Chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on the Police, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, speaks at a briefing at the Gqeberha forensic lab)
She said that when the Committee started its term, there was a huge backlog in DNA testing, but now she says that's a story of the past.
Earlier this year, Police Minister Bheki Cele, announced that the backlog had been reduced from 241 000 to 1 600.
Speaking to members of the media she said: “It is a modernised facility, with state-of-the-art equipment and infrastructure”.
She said that now that the backlog has been cleared the committee can focus on other elements of crime fighting as investigations and convictions for murder and Gender-based- violence cases.
Asked what the turnaround time was for cases Joemat-Pettersson says that the Gqeberha had been taking up work from other facilities.
“The KwaZulu Natal Facility was deeply compromised by the floods- so some of their work is done here.
“It’s hard then to map what the turnaround time is.”
“What is good about this is that it is a building that belongs to the government and public works- we are not going to be paying rent and it will always be a resource of the government,” she added.
The committee also visited the New Brighton Police Station after the station was ranked sixth for murder nationally.
“We are concerned about what is happening in New Brighton, we are concerned about the number of murders in the area,” she said.
She says the committee had given the police stations in the top 30 for crimes a focus on ensuring crime is reduced in the area.
“We are assessing what they have done since then,” she added.
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