Cele told ‘fast-tracking DNA now is too little, too late’

While questions about the Krugersdorp rape persist, gender-based violence (GBV) activists say between DNA backlogs, illegal migrants and miners, and police system failure, it was clear that many victims of GBV and other crimes would never see justice. Laboratories were already buckling under pressure, said GBV activist Mbali Ntshangase. Regardless of the magnitude of the case, all victims and survivors deserved justice. However, the government did not see the urgency in the DNA process. “Why does the minister only see this now? We are sitting with court cases that we have been waiting for two or three years to get results…

While questions about the Krugersdorp rape persist, gender-based violence (GBV) activists say between DNA backlogs, illegal migrants and miners, and police system failure, it was clear that many victims of GBV and other crimes would never see justice.

Laboratories were already buckling under pressure, said GBV activist Mbali Ntshangase.

Regardless of the magnitude of the case, all victims and survivors deserved justice. However, the government did not see the urgency in the DNA process.

“Why does the minister only see this now? We are sitting with court cases where we are waiting two or three years to get results from DNA laboratories,” she said.

Police Minister Bheki Cele said forensic services have begun the process of analyzing the DNA of more than 80 suspects arrested in relation to the rape and robbery of eight women in Krugersdorp.

This year, Cele said the DNA backlog at Forensic Science Laboratories was expected to be cleared in six months.

However, Action Society’s Ian Cameron now said with the Krugersdorp case, there was a sudden “urgency” in DNA processing with the US Police Service, and in May there was a backlog of more than 56 000 cases and none of the public-private partnerships. Cele promised that it was realized.

“So it means that all the others will probably be holding back to sort these out now,” he said. “What bothers me about this is why wasn’t it really taken up before? Why don’t all the other cases get the same serious attention we’re seeing with this one?”

“Why does it take every effort from the media to get the Minister to really take things up a notch?

“They still have the public-private partnerships they promised [if they are] to resolve the DNA backlog.”

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Anna Ntshaope, a resident from Krugersdorp, said it was sad to see that the police only acted after the gang rape. She said the community has been crying about the crime for years but nothing has been done.

“We are afraid. Basutho walk with pangas, sticks and guns, as well as AK-47s.

“It’s no secret that they go around in broad daylight and gang-rape women,” she said. “These people are terrorizing us and not just us. We heard about what they did in Soweto and other areas.”

Ntshaope said the government had to do something drastic, such as declaring crimes in the area and treating them as “cross-border terrorism” to deter illegal miners and show authority.

ALSO READ: Another 17 suspects were arrested in relation to the Krugersdorp rape, robbery

Dr Johan Burger, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, said the gang rape was an “opportunistic criminal attack”.

However, people should be careful how they designed it.

The police investigation would determine whether organized crime was involved, as 80 people arrested for the rape and robbery appeared in the Krugersdorp Magistrates Court yesterday.

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