It's all systems go for the newly refurbished and extended Gqeberha DNA laboratory in the Eastern Cape capital.
On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the lab open and said it was ready to help fight gender-based violence in the province.
Previously, DNA from the Eastern Cape had to be sent for analysis to the Western Cape, which had a long backlog.
Ramaphosa said the launch of a lab with a section dedicated to fighting GBV, coinciding with the closure of Women's Month, was something to celebrate.
"I remember a few years ago when there was an outcry about the backlogs in DNA samples that were never processed. We committed to the urging and insistence of women in our country that we should have a DNA lab in the Eastern Cape.
"The improved forensic capabilities should be able to expedite investigations and help our police build stronger cases with solid evidence to enable successful conviction of perpetrators who continue to kill, abuse and rape the the women of our country."
DNA testing is critical in cases of GBV and the failure to test samples has dire consequences for the victims of these crimes, particularly women and children.
A member of the family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit, who asked not to be named, said many cases were provisionally thrown out of court due to the lack of a DNA test result.
"In some cases, the accused gets arrested and later released due to delays in DNA analysis.
"One of the recent cases is that of a father who allegedly raped his eight-year-old daughter in 2019. He was accused of damaging the child very badly and we fought for no bail.
"Last year the accused was released by the court due to lack of DNA evidence. Imagine, he went back to the same house, causing more trauma to the poor child, who we eventually removed from his care.
"Many cases, including those of minors, have been withdrawn because of this. When some of these cases return to court, we find some victims have died, while others cannot be traced.
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"This is demoralising and victims lose faith in us as police," the officer said.
The Eastern Cape laboratory will analyse ballistics, documents and DNA samples.
With the addition of the biology section, the province will save millions of rands on transportation and transfer costs to the Western Cape.
