Department of Correctional Services 2019/20 Annual Report; with Deputy Minister

Meeting report

Incident that occurred in previous Committee meeting
The Chairperson began by informing the Committee of a viral video in which the chairperson of the audit committee of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), Ms JS Masite, was heard making insulting comments shortly after a virtual parliamentary meeting held on Tuesday, 1 December 2020. In the video, Ms Masite made an utterance in a vernacular language which when loosely translated means “these people are boring”. The Chairperson said the video gives the impression that Ms Masite was referring to Members of the Committee. He asked Ms Masite to confirm if it was her voice in the recording.

Ms Masite confirmed that it was indeed her voice on the video. She apologised for not muting her microphone and explained that her comments were made in reference to a different meeting she had attended, prior to the meeting with the Committee. She expressed disappointment that the video had gone viral before being given an opportunity to explain.

Mr W Horn (DA) said although he is not fluent in Sesotho, he had received a translation. In addition to the literal translation of “these people are boring”, the contextual meaning of Ms Masite’s utterances indicate a degree of irritation with the people in question. He finds Ms Masite’s explanation questionable because, in addition to her comments, it seems as if there may have been mocking of the way that Committee Members greet one another at the beginning of meetings. Ms Masite had also indicated that she would not be able to stay for the entire duration of the meeting if it went past a certain time. Having taken these factors into consideration, her explanation appears highly improbable. The chair of the audit committee should rather own up to what transpired.  

Dr W Newhoudt-Druchen (ANC) confirmed that she had also received and had the video interpreted. It is irrelevant that Ms Masite is disappointed that the video went viral as all meetings of Parliament are recorded and streamed live for the public. It is common courtesy for all participants to turn their video off and audio off during meetings. The impression made by the utterances makes MPs believe that there is an attitude towards the Department of Correctional Services’ audit report which the chairperson [of the DCS audit committee] has been working on. That attitude will not change if the DCS does not do what the Auditor General has recommended. Although Ms Masite insists that her comments were for another meeting, she cannot blame anyone for the video going viral as all proceedings are published.

Ms N Maseko-Jele (ANC) said she hears Ms Masite’s explanation but still finds it unacceptable because her utterances were said immediately after the Committee’s meeting. She does not want to accuse Ms Masite as the matter still needs to be investigated. However, the comments were still said within the bounds of the meeting; therefore, it is understandable to infer that her comments were in reference to the Committee’s meeting. The purpose of the meeting was for Parliament to get answers and explanations regarding the DCS’s audit outcome. She reiterated that she is not accusing Ms Masite, however, a leader is expected to conduct themself in a certain way. The Committee gives officials respect and expects the same in return. She asked Ms Masite to disclose who she was with in the room when she made the comments. Culturally, the utterances have a broader interpretation than the literal translation of “these people are boring”, they indicate that the speaker is fed up. If true, Ms Masite’s comments are highly disrespectful to the Committee. She urged the Chairperson to initiate an investigation.

Adv G Breytenbach (DA) concurred with previous speakers. Like Mr Horn, she had received a translation with indicated a measure of irritation. One perhaps could have an attitude towards the Committee’s inputs if the DCS was excelling and consistently met it targets, however, it has regressed, does not meet it targets and is of poor financial standing. If this is the calibre of staff at the Department, one begins to understand why it is in shambles. Ms Masite’s explanation lacks any foundation and it is clear that her comments were in reference to the Committee’s meeting. However, if she is wrong in assuming this, Ms Masite should provide proof of the meeting she was in fact referring to. She urged for an investigation to be initiated and for Mr Arthur Fraser, National Commissioner, to detail what actions he would be taking. Not only were the comments disrespectful to the Committee but also to Chairperson Magwanishe and the South African people who fund and have an interest in the work of the Committee and incidentally, [who fund] Ms Masite. Disrespect to the citizens of the country should never be tolerated.

Mr S Swart (ACDP) concurred that if true, Ms Masite’s comments were disrespectful to the Committee. As indicated by other Members, the Committee expects a report from Commissioner Fraser. It is important for MPs to assert themselves given the current audit challenges faced by the DCS. If Ms Masite’s explanation is not correct, this ultimately reflects negatively on the integrity of the audit committee.

Ms J Mofokeng (ANC) agreed with previous speakers. It is in the ANC’s view that Commissioner Fraser should provide a report concerning the matter by Friday, 4 December. Like Ms Maseko-Jele, she said the utterances carry broader cultural implications and are in fact an insult to the Committee. Given the Department’s current state and audit outcomes, it is worrying that people display such character.

Mr X Nqola (ANC) said the Committee cannot ignore this matter. MPs have a constitutional obligation to oversee and make the executive accountable on behalf of South Africans. The rules of the house are clear, when one connects to the virtual platform, one is essentially in Parliament. When an individual does something unparliamentary, they are in contempt of Parliament which is an important institution. The kind of behaviour and attitude displayed by the official makes one wonder if the work the Committee is doing to assist the DCS will be fruitful. The Committee should not forget that the public is now anticipating how the matter will be addressed. He proposed that the Committee issues a public statement expressing that it has commissioned an investigation to be done.

Ms Maseko-Jele confirmed that she had heard Ms Masite’s comment before leaving the virtual platform.

The Chairperson asked Ms Masite why she had a delayed reaction if her comments were in reference to a different meeting. Why had she waited an hour and a half to express her frustration and immediately made her comments at the end of the Committee’s meeting? He agreed with Mr Horn that her explanation is not plausible.

Ms Masite replied that the meeting she was referring to was between 06:00 and 07:45, following which she had to immediately join the Committee meeting at 08:00. She therefore did not have the time to express her frustration. It is unfortunate did she did not mute her microphone, but her comments were not about the Committee’s meeting. She said the investigation will address the issues MPs have a challenge with.

Ms Mofokeng responded that Ms Masite’s explanation was still unacceptable because an individual is not supposed to express themselves like they are in their home while at work.

The Chairperson said the Committee is unanimous that Commissioner Fraser should conduct an investigation which provides detail on the previous meeting Ms Masite attended and what remedial action will follow. The Committee will issue a statement as the video has become viral. Though officials may not like the Committee, MPs remain elected officials who represent the people. Any unbecoming statements or behaviour are not an insult to MPs, but to South Africans.

Mr Arthur Fraser, National Commissioner, Department of Correctional Services, said the entire incident is unfortunate. He clarified that Ms Masite is not a member of the Department, but an independent chairperson of the audit committee appointed by the Minister. He noted MPs comments and said he would engage with Minister Ronald Lamola who will institute the report.

The Chairperson said Minister Lamola had already been appraised about the incident and would have to be formally briefed. However, the Committee still expected a report by Friday [04 December].

Commissioner Fraser said he had had a text message conversation with Ms Masite following the meeting. What the chairperson had shared with him was the inverse of what he had heard on the video four hours later. He said he will make screenshots of the conversation available.

The Chairperson noted that discussions on the matter had taken 40 minutes. He proposed that the Committee either returns to conclude its meeting with the DCS at 17:00 or on Friday, instead of adopting the Budgetary Review and Recommendations Reports (BRRR) as scheduled.

The Committee agreed to meet on Friday, December 4, 2020 to conclude its meeting with the DCS. The BRRR will be adopted when Parliament resumes in January 2021.

Department of Correctional Services 2019/20 Annual Report
Commissioner Fraser said the Department’s annual report is being tabled during difficult times and uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic has impacted the way we live and work, it presents an opportunity to learn from current experiences and to create better systems that will enhance access to quality services while ensuring cost-containment. The 2019/20 Annual report represents the hard work done by the DCS to assure that money allocated to the Department is spent in a meaningful manner which delivers rehabilitation and social integration of offenders while creating safe communities. The Department’s budget is spent across five programme areas, namely: Programme 1: Administration, Programme 2: Incarceration, Programme 3: Rehabilitation, Programme 4: Care, and Programme 5: Social Reintegration.

Highlights of the presentation included:
-Performance increased from 62% targets achieved in 2015/16 financial year to 86% achieved in the 2019/20 financial year
-DCS audit outcomes remain qualified due to irregular expenditure resulting from the contravention of supply chain management (SCM) regulations
-Inmate population for 2019/20 was 154 449 against the approved bedspace of 120 567, this presents challenges of overcrowding in the correctional facilities
-Implementation of the Special Remission of sentences has led to the release of 19 153 low risk inmates into community corrections, ultimately resulting in 28% overcrowding in correctional centres and remand detention facilities in excess of approved capacity
-A high inmate to official ratio makes it difficult to manage facilities and gives rise to violence, smuggling of contraband and unnatural deaths
-DCS educational programmes for sentenced offenders obtained an 80% matric pass rate during 2019/20. Offenders enrolled in skills training, engineering studies, business studies and the National Certificate (Vocational) in the 2019/2020 financial year
-DCS finalised 96 disciplinary hearings. 93 implicated officials were found guilty (a 97% success rate on guilty findings) in disciplinary hearings
-The vacancy rate increased from 5% in 2018/19 to 9.4% in 2019/20 due to a high turnover rate and the early retirement without penalty program endorsed by government
-DCS had a total annual budget of R 25 316 882 000, of which 99.5% was spent

The DCS provided answers to outstanding questions posed by MPs in a previous meeting held on 1 December 2020.

Responses by DCS
Irregular expenditure
The DCS has implemented an irregular expenditure register based on the National Treasury irregular expenditure framework as issued by the office of the Accountant General. The register reflects information on the number of irregular expenditure cases, transaction numbers, rand value and status of the expenditure (e.g., disciplinary action, condonement, recovery or criminal charges). The register also contains case number information, the name of the investigator and reporting official. The register is linked to investigation reports which also supply a short description of the case.

Consequence management
Commissioner Fraser said the Department had a total of 1 159 transactions relating to irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The majority of these cases relate to legacy issues dating back to 2009/10. A cumulative 95 cases were reported for consequence management, of which 42 have been referred for disciplinary action. To date, DCS has processed 135 transactions relating to both irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Outcomes include written warnings, suspension without pay, dismissals and recovery. The DCS acknowledges the slow pace in enacting consequence management which it credits to a lack of capacity. The DCS has reorganized the investigative functions to increase responsiveness to incidents. DCS has developed standard procedures, established a review committee for transactions exceeding R500 000, trained officials on relevant SCM prescripts and appointed temporary staff to assist on SCM processes.

Assurance from Senior Management
Commissioner Fraser reported that the DCS has battled with vacancies at the senior management and management levels. The Department has been able to fill some critical positions and is in the process of creating stability through permanent appointments. DCS has appointed an independent chairperson for risk management processes which has resulted in an observable improvement. Similarly, an independent chairperson was appointed for the Information Technology (IT) Governance Committee in 2019. The DCS is developing such mechanisms to improve assurance from senior management (that reports do not contain material misstatements). A National Management Performance Review Committee meets on a quarterly basis the look at the quality of performance information. The Audit Steering Committee is another mechanism which coordinates the external audit process and a combined assurance framework is currently being developed with the goal of creating a standing forum to create better reporting. The Department accepts that this is work in progress however, it is certain that positive results will be seen in the year under review.

Review of policies and strategies
The DCS has also started reviewing policies and has codified some to delineate between policies for officials and those for offenders. Various strategies such as the security strategy are also under review to improve the vetting regime which is currently not fully effective. The DCS is also in the final stages of adopting a new standard operating procedure. A draft management handbook is being developed, this will align with the governance framework to ensure consistency in the practice of supervision and management functions within the Department.

Quality of information
Quality assurance is done at different levels, centre level, management level, regional level and finally at the national management performance review committee level. The DCS accepts the report of the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) and understands why it is qualified. However, when one looks at the DCS status of internal controls, the Department has remained consistent in four out of seven indicators, noting improvement in three of these. Like the Committee, the DCS questions how the AGSA arrived at the conclusion that little to no assurance was provided (that its reports are free from material misstatements) by senior management; that and (only) some assurance was provided by the executive authority and accounting officer. Commissioner Fraser said he believes the Department has not regressed in any area. The AGSA had findings against the DCS’s performance information as it relates to reporting of bedspace. DCS is in the process of adopting a new accommodation system to replace a legacy system which had created current problems with calculations. DCS believes the new system will provide greater integrity of performance reporting.

Liquidity measures
Mr Nick Ligege, Chief Financial Officer, DCS, reported that the Department’s overdraft increased by R84.8 million and currently stands at R251 million. This comes as a result of increases in the debt owed to the DCS by other departments, specifically the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD) and the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). This creates an additional burden on the DCS’s cashflow. Another factor is debt owed by the Bloemfontein Correctional Centre; the matter is currently under litigation.

Interest payments
The Department incurred interest on various payments, encompassing arbitration, municipalities and legal services. It is in the process of closing old accounts held with the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and negotiating the reversal of some interest charges.

Discussion
The Chairperson said it was difficult to engage with the DCS given that the AGSA found errors in the Department’s annual performance report, questioned the reliability of the reporting on achievement and the usefulness of the performance indicators.

Mr J Selfe (DA) asked Commissioner Fraser to provide the Committee with a copy of the text he was speaking from. The issue he had raised in the previous meeting was about specific consequence management. Although Commissioner Fraser explained that some of the irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure is historical which makes it difficult to attribute to current employees, DCS does have a register which accounts for current cases. It would be helpful if specific information of implicated individuals was made available to allow the Committee to follow up on consequence management processes.

One of the people who benefitted from the Special Remission of sentences programme was Mr Andile Lungisa. He asked the Commissioner why Mr Lungisa was released after serving only 91 days of a two-year sentence.

Adv Breytenbach said she was largely covered by the Chairperson’s question on the reliability of the DCS’s report. She asked what the Department has done to capacitate community corrections to deal with the release of parolees during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a recurring question as community corrections has struggled to deal with existing parolees prior to the release of more offenders.

Ms Maseko-Jele said that while Commissioner Fraser had reported that DCS has invested money towards training (its staff), however, the report received yesterday by the Committee concluded that more needs to be done in this area. Is it that the training is inappropriate for the nature of the problems in the Department because the results are not positive? She said she finds issue with the fact that the DCS reported that it is working on improving frameworks, quality assurance and planning while the AGSA reported that this is still a major challenge. The AGSA’s report seems to suggest that not much has changed while the Department has stated that it is improving.

She asked why 500 000 transactions were made without following a competitive bidding process. Certain IT goods and services were procured outside of the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and without following National Treasury regulations. The AGSA had previously indicated that the DCS has issues with compliance with key legislation, why is this so? Why are contracts extended and modified without the approval of delegated officials? [She then spoke in the vernacular. Commissioner Fraser confirmed that he had received a loose translation.]

Mr Horn asked if physical monitoring of parolees had commenced since the country had moved to Level 1 of lockdown restrictions, if so, how many of the 15 000 special release parolees have been visited by the DCS. He said the explanation for vacancy rate is the same as previous years; this cannot be acceptable particularly because retirements do not happen unexpectedly. DCS should be able to plan accordingly to ensure that vacancies created by retirees are filled immediately. The Department has been silent on Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) finalisation, yet the Committee is being contacted by DCS staff members who say no progress has been made despite been earmarked several years ago. He asked the DCS to provide a report on this matter by Friday, 4 December 2020. The Committee knows the history of the Integrated Inmate Management System (IIMS) and the explanation given by the DCS [on slide 22] stating that efforts are being made to increase capacity is disrespectful to MPs. It is clear that the system will never succeed; the DCS needs to indicate when this project will be shelved and when a workable solution will be developed.

He said the report is vague and does not provide enough detail on the status of consequence management. The Committee should receive a detailed explanation of all incidents, the year they took place and a focus on the disciplinary action instituted in the last three years. This will give a better impression of whether or not sound financial management is occurring. The AGSA’s report gives the impression that the DCS views irregular expenditure as a normal feature in the Department. DCS needs to provide a detailed report to convince MPs otherwise.

Dr Newhoudt-Druchen referred to the AGSA’s finding that no investigations were done on fruitless and wasteful expenditure in 2018/19, following which 69% of cases were not investigated in 2019/20. Similarly, no investigations were on irregular expenditure in 2018/19 and inadequate evidence was found to verify if investigations were done in 2019/20. She said the response provided by Commissioner Fraser was unsatisfactory because it did not explain what the DCS is doing about providing evidence and information to the AGSA.

What is the DCS going to do with the root causes and recommendations made by the AGSA? What assistance does the Department get from the internal audit committee and how often does this committee meet? The DCS continues to talk about having an aging workforce; this is an issue the Committee is well aware of. However, South Africa has a high proportion of unemployed youth. What is the DCS doing to incorporate this youth given its challenges with an aging workforce?

The Chairperson said Dr Newhoudt-Druchen had raised an important point regarding the DCS providing the AGSA with information. According to the report, the audit committee was presented with regular management reports to monitor the integrity, accuracy and reliability of information. However, the AGSA reported that it could not obtain sufficient, appropriate audit evidence for the achievements. If the chair of the internal audit committee received regular reports, why could the AGSA not get this evidence?

An issue has been raised about the DoJ&CD owing money to the DCS. The Chairperson requested for Minister Lamola to intervene immediately to reach a resolution.

Closing remarks
The Committee agreed to meet at 07:30 instead of 08:00 on Friday, 4 December 2020 to ensure that MPs have enough time for follow up questions and engagement. The agenda would include receiving a report from Commissioner Fraser on the investigation regarding the issue with the chair of the audit committee, Ms Masite. The Committee expects responses to the questions it has asked and will engage further with the Department. The Chairperson indicated that it would be useful for the AGSA to be prepared to provide answers where needed because there are areas where the DCS has different versions of accounts to what the AGSA has concluded. This will allow a conversational approach between the DCS, AGSA and the Committee.

The meeting was adjourned.