Department of Correctional Services on its 2014 Strategic Plan with Deputy Minister

NCOP Security and Justice

15 July 2014
Chairperson: Mr M Ximbi (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Deputy Minister of Correctional Services explained the reconstituted Ministry and noted that the Department’s Strategic Plan was aligned to the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030. The Department and the Ministry was committed to the implementation of the plans of the current financial year. The plan was to align the plans of the Department with the priorities of this financial year as presented by the President during the State of the Nation Address (SONA).

The Department’s core strategic goals were to provide an effective criminal justice system through the effective management of remand processes, to ensure that society was protected through incarcerated offenders being secured and rehabilitated and to ensure that offenders were being reintegrated into the community as law abiding citizens. These strategic objectives were linked to the each of the Department’s five programmes.

One of the Department’s key focus areas was the fight against crime and corruption as government's programme of action's Outcome 3 was to ensure that all people in South Africa were safe and felt safe. The outputs were in line with the National Development Plan, while the DCS specifically focussed on providing a more effective criminal justice system. The DCS drafted its own focus points, which were outlined in the Department’s Strategic Plan. The alignment with chapter 12 of the NDP led to the dismissal of 103 corrupt officials in the previous financial year and the Department developed and implemented its Anti-Corruption Strategy which focussed on prevention, investigation and sanctioning. In line with Chapter 9 of the NDP, 21 063 officials underwent training in line with the Workplace Skills Plan (WSP).

The Committee discussed the criteria applied when budget allocations were calculated. Some NCOP members felt that the Strategic Plan should have focussed more on the provinces. The vacancy rate of the Department was of great concern and the Department outlined strategies to attract and retain professionals. The Committee discussed the effectiveness and the scope of training provided. The concern was whether the skills assisted offenders with social reintegration. The irregularities raised in the 2012/13 audit report of  on procurement processes and contract management was discussed. The Department outlined the status of those investigations, as well as the strategies put in place to address the problems.

There was some debate on the proposed R2.3 billion increase in the budget over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework. The Chairperson suggested a formal submission to be made concerning those concerns.

The Administration programme (Management, Finance and Cooperate Services) targets included zero audit qualifications with a reduction of emphasis of matters for the programme. The performance indicators for the Incarceration programme (Security Operations, Facilities, Remand Detention and Offender Management) focused on reducing the number of assaults, unnatural deaths and escapes in correctional and remand facilities. Targets planned to increase the number of new bed-spaces created by upgrading of facilities to 1081 for 2014/15 and decreasing over crowdedness quarterly by 1%. The indicators of the Rehabilitation programme were increasing the percentage of offenders who participated in educational and skills development programmes, plus, increase the percentage of inmates benefiting from psychological, social and spiritual services. The Care programme (Nutritional Services, Health Services and Hygiene Services) indicators were to increase the number of inmates tested for HIV, to increase the availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to the number of HIV positive inmates and to increase the Tuberculosis (TB) cure rate. The Social Integration programme (Parole Administration, Supervision, Community Reintegration and Community Corrections) indicators were to increase the number of victims and offenders who participated in restorative justice programmes and to increase the number of reintegrated through halfway house partnerships.

The budget of the Department for 2014/15 was R19.7 billion, projected to increase to R20.7 billion over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) in 2015/16 and to reach R22 billion in 2016/17.

The main cost drivers were inmate population, supervision cases and officials. The Administration programme had a funded establishment of 6 546 posts and the bulk of the R3.6 billion allocated to the programme, went toward compensation of employees. The Incarceration programme was allocated a budget of R12.2 billion and had a funded establishment of 29 233. The growth in expenditure in the sub-programme between 2013/14 and 2016/17 provided for bed spaces to increase from 118 500 in 2012/13 to 123 248 in 2016/17. At least 16 facilities would be upgraded to increase total bed capacity by 4 748, thereby decreasing over crowdedness. The Care programme was allocated R1.7 billion and had a funded establishment of 1 904 posts. The Social Integration programme was allocated R751 million and had a funded establishment of 2 078 posts. The budget for contractors had increased by R28.2 million to provide for the rollout of Electronic Monitoring.

Budget allocations per region was outlined which showed the allocations per programme. Gauteng had the biggest allocation of R3 billion with the Free State and Northern Cape region receiving a combined allocation of R1.9 billion.
 

Meeting report

The Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Mr Thabang Makwetla, explained the reconstituted Ministry and said the Department’s Strategic Plan was aligned to the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030. The Department and the Ministry was committed to the implementation of the plans of the current financial year. The plan was align the plans of the Department with the priorities of this financial year as presented by the President during the State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Briefing by the Department of Correctional Services on the 2014/15-2018/19 Strategic Plan
DCS Acting Chief Deputy Commissioner: Strategic Management, Mr Terence Raseroka, highlighted the Department’s key strategic outcome oriented goals, which were in line with the Department’s mandate.The Department’s goals were to provide effective criminal justice systems through the effective management of remand processes, to ensure that society was protected through incarcerated offenders being secured and rehabilitated and to ensure that society was protected by offenders being reintegrated into the community as law abiding citizens.

Mr Raseroka outlined the Department’s strategic objectives for each of its programmes:
Programme 1: Administration
Building organisational capacity for enhancing service delivery
Effective management of business processes to promote good governance and ethical administration

Programme 2: Incarceration
Effective management of remand detention process to promote and enable participation in court processes
Remand detainees and offenders are held in secure, safe and humane conditions
Effective case management process

Programme 3: Rehabilitation
Effective incarceration and rehabilitation to protect society
Offender behaviour corrected through access to correctional programmes and psychological, social and spiritual services
Offenders human development improved through literacy, education and skills competency programmes
Reducing re-offending to contribute to a safer South Africa

Programme 4: Care
Inmates provided with appropriate nutritional services
Inmates provided with appropriate access to health services
Inmates provided with appropriate hygiene services

Programme 5: Social Reintegration
Probationers and parolees rehabilitated; monitored an accepted as law abiding citizens by the communities
Offenders provided with access to restorative justice processes
Effective management and functioning of Parole Boards

Mr Raseroka said one of the Department’s key focus area was the fight against crime and corruption. The DCS focused on Outcome 3, which was to ensure that all people in South Africa were safe and felt safe.
The outputs were in line with the National Development Plan (NDP), while the DCS specifically focussed on providing a more effective criminal justice system. The DCS drafted its own focus points, which were outlined in the Department’s Strategic Plan. The alignment with chapter 12 of the NDP led to the dismissal of 103 corrupt officials in the previous financial year and the Department developed and implemented its Anti-Corruption Strategy which focussed on prevention, investigation and sanctioning. In line with Chapter 9 of the NDP 21 063 officials were subjected to training in line with the Workplace Skills Plan (WSP).

DCS Annual Performance 2014/15 Plan (APP)
Mr Raseroka outlined the performance indicators and targets for the Department’s five programmes and their strategic objectives. These were further detailed as per the sub-programme under each core programme.

The Administration programme (Management, Finance and Cooperate Services) targets included zero audit qualifications with a reduction of emphasis of matters for the programme. The performance indicators for the Incarceration programme (Security Operations, Facilities, Remand Detention and Offender Management) focused on reducing the number of assaults, unnatural deaths and escapes in correctional and remand facilities. Targets planned to increase the number of new bed-spaces created by upgrading of facilities to 1081 for 2014/15 and decreasing over crowdedness quarterly by 1%. The indicators of the Rehabilitation programme were increasing the percentage of offenders who participated in educational and skills development programmes, plus, increase the percentage of inmates benefiting from psychological, social and spiritual services. The Care programme (Nutritional Services, Health Services and Hygiene Services) indicators were to increase the number of inmates tested for HIV, to increase the availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to the number of HIV positive inmates and to increase the Tuberculosis (TB) cure rate. The Social Integration programme (Parole Administration, Supervision, Community Reintegration and Community Corrections) indicators were to increase the number of victims and offenders who participated in restorative justice programmes and to increase the number of reintegrated through halfway house partnerships.

Department of Correctional Services 2014 Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE)
DCS Acting Chief Financial Officer, Ms Nandi Mareka presented the 2014 Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE). She gave an overview of the five programmes and their goals, as well as the considerations fundamental to the preparations of the budget. The budget of the Department for 2014/15 was R19.7 billion, projected to increase to R20.7 billion over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) in 2015/16 and to reach R22 billion in 2016/17.

Ms Mareka said the main cost drivers were inmate population, supervision cases and officials. The Administration programme had a funded establishment of 6 546 posts and the bulk of the R3.6 billion allocated to the programme, went toward compensation of employees. The Incarceration programme was allocated a budget of R12.2 billion and had a funded establishment of 29 233. The growth in expenditure in the sub-programme between 2013/14 and 2016/17 provided for bed spaces to increase from 118 500 in 2012/13 to 123 248 in 2016/17. At least 16 facilities would be upgraded to increase total bed capacity by 4 748, thereby decreasing over crowdedness by 27%. The Rehabilitation programme was allocated R1.1 billion and had a funded establishment of 2 245 posts. Over the medium term, the spending focus would be on providing offenders with opportunities for personal development and providing psychological, social and spiritual care services. The Care programme was allocated R1.7 billion and had a funded establishment of 1 904 posts. Expenditure on medicine was expected to increase from 2014/15 onwards and the bulk of the spending in the programme went toward Goods and Services (62%). The Social Integration programme was allocated R751 million and had a funded establishment of 2 078 posts. The budget for contractors had increased by R28.2 million to provide for the rollout of Electronic Monitoring.

Ms Mareka provided an overview of the 2014 ENE allocations per economic classification, per sup-programme and per region. Budget allocations per region was outlined which showed the allocations per programme. Gauteng had the biggest allocation of R3 billion with the Free State and Northern Cape region receiving a combined allocation of R1.9 billion.

Discussion
Mr G Michalakis (DA, Free State) said the last report from the Auditor-General highlighted quite a few irregularities on procurement and contract management and he asked what DCS had since done to address the problems. The Rehabilitation programme was very important, and he asked why the programme got the smallest percentage of the budget, and why that budget was underspent, but the Care programme was grossly over spent. The 2012/13 Annual Report put staff shortages at 4.2%, but it had since increased to 5.6% and he asked what the Department was currently doing to reduce that percentage. The 67.5% that went toward salaries was a bit much and the Department needed to be cautious. In 2012/13 the Department planned to create 1 045 bed spaces, but due to delays in the completion of the centres, none were created. In 2013/14 the target was 471 and the target was currently set at 480. He asked why the target was so drastically reduced, as well as what the actual bed space need was. Why had the Department target unnatural deaths increased from 0.027% in 2013/14 to 0.035% in 2014/15.

Ms Mareka said the Auditor-General raised the concern that officials could benefit from contracts because they themselves or family members participated in the contract management processes. Currently the Department could exclude officials from participation based on their PERSAL information, but the Department did not have access to the PERSAL details of Government employees from other departments that could participate. The concern had been raised with National Treasury to assist with database access to exclude any Government employee. If an official wanted to do remunerative work outside the public service sector, authorisation needed to be provided to such an official. The Auditor-General’s report noted that some officials did not have the necessary authorisation to do the kind of work they had been doing. At national and provincial level, it was easily monitored, but it was not easily detected at municipal level. A request had also been put to Treasury to develop a system to assist.

Mr Michalakis asked if the Department was aware who some of the officials were that were found to contravene the rules and what the status of those cases were.

Ms Mareka said the names of the officials were known to the Department. The transactions were labelled as irregular expenditure and some cases were still under investigation while others had been referred to the South African Police Service (SAPS). In some cases other departments were involved and the Department cooperated with these departments in the investigation and referral processes, as well as with internal disciplinary action.

Ms Mareka said the Rehabilitation programme underspent because NGOs offered correctional service programmes and quality assurers assured that those programmes were not substandard. Spiritual services were offered from different religious nominations, free of charge and it supplemented the programme. The Department had also trained a number of offenders using the National Skills Fund (NSF). The Department and all its programmes was labour intensive, but the vacancy rate was highest in the professional sectors such as social workers, doctors and psychologists. The challenge was attracting and retaining professionals.

Ms Mareka said projects like major rehabilitation or constructions that were planned informed the need for additional bed spaces. There had been challenges around the quality of contractors that head up these contractors and it also impacted the projections. The physical infrastructure projects were coordinated by the Department of Public Works.

Ms G Manopole (ANC, Northern Cape) said the presentation was disabling, because the emphasis should have been on the provinces and there were no references to specific provinces in the Department’s Strategic Plan. The ENE referred to the budget allocations per province, but the Strategic Plan did not and it meant there was no linkage between the Strategic Plan and the budget. The Committee represented provinces and there should have been more information about specific provinces.

Ms T Wana (ANC, Eastern Cape) asked what the criteria for budget allocations to the provinces were, because the Eastern Cape was very rural, but had among the smallest allocations. The report should also illustrate the number of inmates eligible for parole as well as the time limits for prisoners awaiting trial and children in the programme. She asked about the executive structure of the Department, because it seemed that most of the delegation was in ‘acting’ positions. She also for asked clarification on the rate of filling vacancies in the Department.

Ms Mareka replied the criteria for regional budget allocations include the inmate population, the number of remand detainees and the number of officials employed. In addition, the number of supervision cases, including probation over a seven year period, for both current and projected supervision was considered. These calculations and projections were then used to assess the number of officials deployed in the regions which also considered the total funded posts. The budget committee monitored these trends on a quarterly basis and the allocations would be adjusted to follow the trends.

DCS Chief Deputy Commissioner: Remand Detention, Ms Britta Rotmann, said length of detention had been removed from the APP performance indicators because DCS did not control the indicator. It was essentially controlled by SAPS, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Department of Justice. DCS did monitor the process during a monthly meeting called the Criminal Justice Review and the law allowed the Department to call cases to court. DCS collaborated with Legal Aid and collected and analysed information on remand detainees and sent it to the Magistrates Commission to be discussed by judges and decided upon. There had been a considerable reduction in the number of remand detainees because of this type of collaboration. Since the implementation of the Child Justice Act there had been careful monitoring of the number of children in facilities. In 2010, 538 children were sentenced and 497 in remand, aged between 14 and 17. With the advent of the Act, many of the children had been placed in the Department of Social Development’s secure care facilities. In the last financial year 129 children were in remand detention and 243 were sentenced.

Mr M Mhlanga (ANC, Mpumalanga) asked for clarification on why Mpumalanga was clustered with Limpopo and North West in the allocations, because the province had two big correctional centres. He asked about the public participation processes and the relationships the Department had with communities and non-governmental organisations. He asked about the status of the Electronic Monitoring measures and what measures were being taken to address awaiting trial prisoners. He asked how the Department assisted individuals after skills training to secure employment, because intergovernmental relations could assist in that regard. He asked if screening processes were in place to assess suitability for training.

DCS Acting National Commissioner, Mr Zach Modise, said Gauteng had 35 000 offenders, Eastern Cape had 18 000 offenders and Mpumalanga combined with Limpopo and North West had just over 23 000 offenders. In 2003, DCS was restructured from a provincial approach to a national approach to address the scope of work.

DCS Chief Operating Officer, Ms Nontsikelelo Jolingana, said within Community Corrections was a dedicated directorate that ensured partnerships with other Government departments, NGOs, faith-based organisations and the National Council of Traditional Leaders. Stakeholder engagements and the victim offender dialogue in communities gave opportunities for stakeholders to participate in DCS initiated projects and it facilitated social reintegration of offenders. Business organisation partnerships facilitated possible employability and many organisations assisted with skills development. DCS had piloted Electronic Monitoring in June 2014 and the initial target was 150 parolees. Eventually 333 parolees were enrolled and the programme was officially launched on 15 July 2014 in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga with 500 participants. The programme would not only be used for probationary purposes, but would eventually be implemented as an alternative sentencing option or in the remand detainee system.

DCS Deputy Commissioner: Personal Development of Offenders, Dr Joey Coetzee, said screening of offenders took place before training, because the level of training needed to be assessed. A number of initiatives involved business communities and from that interaction, employment was sometimes offered to skilled offenders upon release.

Mr M Mohapi (ANC, Free State) said the vacancy rate left much to be desired. He asked what regions and centres were the most affected by the vacancy rate and he asked specifications on what the vacancy rate for all the professions in the Department was. He referred to overcrowding and he asked what regions were most affected and how it would be addressed. He asked to what extent staff got involved in escapes and what corrective steps were being taken, including deterring staff involvement. He asked what other strategic or critical positions were currently employed by temporary personnel.

DCS Chief Deputy Commissioner: Human Resources, Mr Teboho Mokoena, said the rate at which the Department filled vacancies was a concern. The National Commissioner position was vacant and the Minister stated that the position would be filled by the end of August 2014. The filling of the Chief Deputy Commissioner and the Chief Financial Officer positions but had to be put on hold for the new Administration to fill the positions. The Department was battling to employ social workers, psychologists, medical doctors and educators. Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) proved a challenge to the Department. Public service regulations prescribed that once a bursary had been awarded to study, upon qualification such a person should be employed at the entry level of their new chosen career. DCS invested R5.4 million for social work bursaries. The internal recipients of the bursary (42) were now qualified social workers and had opted to continue to serve as ordinary DCS officials. The salary of an entry level social worker was drastically less than their current salaries. The Department had since drafted a request to the Department of Public Service and Administration to request these officials to be employed as social workers with their current salaries as it was. The Department had also since decentralised post advertisements so that regional managers could be accountable for filling vacancies. Memorandums of Understandings with higher learning institutions had been signed to target graduates. Appointments were almost always done in groups and in turn led to en masse retirements. DCS started to forecast retirements to proactively start recruitment processes. The Department planned to craft partnerships with relevant departments such as the Department of Health and the Department of Education to address the problem of capacity. The centralisation of departments to provide a capacity service would also address professionals leaving one Government position for another. The vacancy rate at the end of March 2014 in education was 13.6%, nurses were 13.4%, psychologists were 24.3% and social workers were at 16.1%. In the budget programme the vacancy rate overall was 12.8% for Administration, 3.2% for Incarceration, 13.3% for Rehabilitation, 9.5% for Care and 5.5% for Social Integration.

Mr Modise said escapes decreased, but where it was found that officials were involved, it had been referred to the SAPS. DCS had a ruthless and vigorous approach to those officials. Overcrowding was a consistent challenge, especially with remand detainees. The Department had a capacity of R120 000 and there were just over 110 000 sentenced offenders. The number of remand detainees significantly increased the prison population and additional facilities were badly needed.

Mr J Julius (DA) asked why skills training decreased from 50.25% in 2012/13 to 28.7% in 2013/14 and Further Education and Training (FET) almost by the same margin. He asked if the effectiveness or success of the training could be measured.

Dr Coetzee said the FET indicator was a new indicator for the implementation of the National Curriculum Vocational (NCV). Previously, the theoretical and practical sections were combined. In 2012/13 there was some uncertainty on how to assess the denominator and numerically it seemed that the training numbers dropped. Going forward, the scope had been clarified and the numbers would stabilise. DCS followed the same scenario as both the Departments of Basic and Higher Education and in different provinces, DCS had linked up with FET colleges for support.

Mr Mokoena said the Department ranked very high as far as skills development was concerned. From 2010 to date, a total of 2 440 interns were taken through the system and 4 012 young persons had been taken through learnership programme. In 2012 it was decided that after training the learners, they would be absorbed into the Department. The Department, therefore had no entry level vacancies.

Mr M Chetty (DA, KwaZulu Natal) said more than half of the Department’s budget was allocated to the Incarceration programme and in 2012/13 over crowdedness declined by 7%. He asked for reasons behind the decline and why the target was set at only 1% in the medium term targets of the outer years. The Strategic Plan proposed over crowdedness to be reduced at 1% in the medium term targets, but there was a proposed increase in the budget of R2.3 billion, which far superseded the inflation rate.

The Deputy Minister said the increase in the budget was the inflationary effect. The projected decline in the prison population could not be assured. It depended on how the criminal justice system was performing and decreases in the prison population could only be significantly decreased if interventions impacted in all spheres of the system.

Mr Chetty disagreed and said the inflationary effect did not justify an increase of R2.3 billion.

The Deputy Minister said the budget would increase with R1 billion and with R2 billion to the outer years of the MTEF. The 7% decrease in 2012/13 population could not be sustained. In 2012 a task team investigated the prison population with the intention of reducing the prison population which led to a remarkable decrease and would not be sustained over a long period of time. The Department would submit supporting documentation to support justification for the ENE.

The Chairperson said Mr Chetty should make a submission to the Department about his concerns.

The Deputy Minister said workshop should be organised, especially to deal with the legislative framework. The Department was only migrating now from its pre-1994 paradigm. The White Paper on the new paradigm was only drafted in 2005 and the Department was only eight years into effecting a policy perspective on a fully transformed DCS. The workshop would help to illustrate to the Committee the scope of what the Department still needed to effect.

The Chairperson thanked everyone and the meeting was adjourned.
 

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