Committee Report on the Interaction with the Department of Correctional Services and Labour Unions on the Impact of the Seven-Day Establishment

Correctional Services

20 June 2012
Chairperson: Mr V Smith (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee briefly discussed the oversight report on its interaction with the Department of Correctional Services and Labour Unions on the Impact of the Seven-Day Establishment. Members gave their input on the document and most of their comments were focused on the recommendations.

Members questioned whether the Department of Correctional Services had implemented previous recommendations, highlighted that there were huge problems in the way contracts were rolled out, stressed that compliance with the Public Finance Management Act and National Treasury requirements was important, and examined the effectiveness of the rehabilitation and case management.

Meeting report

Comments by Chairperson
The Chairperson noted that there was no quorum, but asked those Members present to consider the minutes whilst they waited for another member to arrive.

Adoption of Outstanding Committee Minutes
When the quorum was reached, the Chairperson tabled the three sets of minutes for consideration. These were dated 29 February, 25 April, and 30 May 2012.

All the minutes for were adopted and approved with minor grammatical amendments.

Report on the Interaction with the Department of Correctional Services and Labour Unions on the Impact of the Seven-Day Establishment
The Chairperson tabled the report for consideration.

Mr L Selfe (DA) questioned the recommendations related to sentencing. In addition, he stated that what went on in those correctional sentences was nothing short of scandalous. The recommendations were very mild.

In addition Mr Selfe referred to sections 4.1 and 4.2 and commented that there were huge problems in the way contracts were rolled out. He questioned whether they had provided security on how the delays had been justified.

The Chairperson agreed and suggested making this an agenda item.

Mr S Abram (ANC) referred to section 4 and asked if those recommendations had been implemented. In addition he commented that the recommendations should be specific.

The Chairperson said that the Committee could open the debate about management in the Department He questioned if by saying “you must implement”, was the Committee overstepping its boundaries? 

Mr Abram questioned if the Minister had ensured that the following recommendations had been considered and implemented. It had been reasonably mild but what we have said is that it must be considered. What has happened is we have left too many things too mild.

Mr Selfe said that he agreed with Mr Abram to a degree. He questioned paragraph 4.4. There had been a strong suggestion that the contract was not awarded to the right contractor. What have we been asking the Minister to do? The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) should ensure strict compliance with the relevant Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and National Treasury requirements.

Mr Selfe note that the Committee was only scratching at the surface of the problem. There should be a recommendation that the Department needed to report to the Committee in the next quarter- it should explain both how these things had come to be and what it was doing going forward.

The Chairperson suggested making it an agenda item.

Mr Selfe requested a full briefing on the effects of the implementation of the rehabilitation report.  He questioned how people were prepared for release and how many were re-offenders and for what crimes.  In 2005 the Department had briefed this Committee on the lessons learned from the special remission report in 2005.  Not one of those lessons was applied and this should come to council.  

Mr Abram noted the high number of women being incarcerated related to drug offences.  Also, South African citizens who had been incarcerated in foreign centres needed to be addressed.

Mr Selfe asked for clarity about transfer agreements.

Ms W Ngwenya (ANC) asked for a meeting with the Department of Basic Education.

Closing Comments by Chairperson
The Chairperson noted that the effectiveness of rehabilitation and case management were made agenda items. The final oversight report would be ready after the recess break. The report was not adopted.

The meeting was adjourned.

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