Correctional Services HR matters; Lifer parole applications: Minister update

Meeting report

Opening remarks
The Chairperson gave brief overview on the recent oversight visits conducted at various correctional centres.

Dr Pieter Groenewald, Minister of Correctional Services, introduced the National Commissioner.

Mr Makgothi Thobakgale, DCS National Commissioner,  introduced the DCS delegation.

DCS Organisational structure and filling of posts
Ms Linda Bond, Acting Chief Deputy Commissioner: Human Resources, said that DCS is bound by legislative requirements in terms of section 195 (1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa which promotes efficient, economic, effective use resources as part of the values governing public administration; section 7(2) of the Public Service Act of 1994 which provides for the establishment of the Department of Correctional Services as part of the public service as covered under section 197 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and section 41 of the Public Service Act of 1994, amended the Public Service Regulations in line with the Cabinet Lekgotla decision which states that, with effective from July 2006, Executive Authority can only approve organisational structures of their departments after consultation with the Minister of Public Service and Administration with effect from July 2006.

that Regulation 25 (2)(b)ii) of the Public Service Regulations of 2016 requires the Executive Authority to create and fill posts within the current allocated Compensation of Employee (CoE) budget.

Regulation 40(d) of the Public Service Regulation of 2016 states that an Executive Authority must, before filling a vacancy ensure that sufficient budgeted funds, including funding for the remaining period of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, are available for the post.

Treasury Regulation 9.1.1 requires of the Accounting Officer to exercise all reasonable care to prevent and detect unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure and must for this purpose implement effective, efficient and transparent processes of financial and risk management.

DCS has 243 Correctional Centres, 219 Community Corrections in 46 Management Areas spread across the entire country. DCS is charged with the responsibility of providing a correctional system that caters for the custody of all offenders, sentenced and unsentenced as well as community corrections, under the rights and obligations detailed in the Correctional Services Act, White Paper on Corrections, White Paper on Remand Detention and the Constitution.

Within the Justice Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster, DCS interacts with the Departments of Justice & Constitutional Development, Home Affairs (DHA) and South African Police Service (SAPS) on a regular basis and a regional and management area structure ensures that the Department participates effectively in appropriate structures to mitigate crime.

Public Service Regulations Part 1, Section 25 (2) states that “based on the strategic plan of DCS, an executive authority shall determine DCS’s organisational structure in terms of its core mandates and support functions” whilst section 41 of the CSA requires that incarcerated offenders be provided with a full range of programmes and activities, including needs-based programmes as is practicable to meet the educational and training needs of sentenced offenders.

This creates added infrastructural and logistical requirements at local levels for the custody of inmates and ensuring that they are in constant touch with the community.

The Department is engaged in processes to have a properly aligned structure:
• Validation of the current value chain of the units, centres, management areas, regional offices, branches, chief directorates, directorates, sub-directorates against DCS strategic objective plus function alignment at centre level, management areas, regional offices, branch, chief directorates, directorates, sub-directorates are also part of the plan.
• Identification of role duplications, human resource gaps, evaluation of strength of the workforce and determination of the required post establishment at all levels and components. An analysis of the number and categories of the inmates, which includes sentenced inmates, remand detainees, probationers and parolees is also conducted.

For a properly aligned structure, DCS conducted an evaluation of span of control with a review of the staffing ratios according to different categories of inmates, identification of salary level inconsistencies, development of job descriptions and job profiles, determination of the salary levels for posts covered by the Public Service Act while benchmarking for posts which are covered by the Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) and an analysis of the existing shift patterns in different correctional centres.

during the financial years 2021/2022 to 2023/2024, the Compensation of Employees (CoE) Budget of DCS was reduced with by R9.1 billion. However, an amount of R886 641 million in 2026/27 will be allocated to DCS for carry through cost for the increased spending on compensation of employees in line with the 2023/24 wage agreement. The impact of the budget reduction resulted in DCS overspending on the CoE budget by R671 million in the financial year 2023/2024.

R614 million was spent on salaries (Cost of living adjustments (COLA), overtime, allowances and R57 million on social contributions and employer’s contributions such as housing, medical and pension. As at end of September 2024, DCS is already projecting an over-expenditure of R556 million on the CoE budget. Unfunded mandates for 2024/25 is R735 million for COLA and R208 million on the equalisation of salary gap.

DCS has, during the Adjustment Estimates of National Expenditure (AENE) and Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) submissions, requested additional funding from National Treasury as the situation faced by DCS is posing a serious security risk.

The challenge that DCS is faced with is a balancing act of opting to fill critical vacant positions to address security risks or overspending thus contravening the legislative provisions governing public funds: Public Finance Management Act and Treasury Regulations and the Public Service Regulations.

On 17 October 2023, the Minister of Public Service and Administration issued Circular No. 49 of 2023, which was aimed at introducing control measures to assist Departments to ensure fiscal sustainability during the creation and filling of vacant posts. The austerity measures introduced by this circular were extended to 31 March 2025.

The directive allowed DCS to finalise the recruitments already underway. The directive excluded posts under the Occupation Specific Dispensations with both provisions subject to the availability of funds. Prior to the directive, DCS had advertised posts and the filling of some of these positions has been finalised.

DCS have various vacancies at SMS level: 5 Level 15 (Chief Deputy Commissioner & Regional Commissioner / DDG) vacancies, 12 Level 14 (Deputy Commissioner/ Chief Director) vacancies and 48 Level 13 (Director) vacancies. The vacant SMS posts were advertised in line with the newly approved macro structure on 20 May and 12 July 2024. Unfortunately, due to fire damage at Head Office some applications were destroyed and had to be re-advertised on 27 September 2024.

In April 2024, DCS approved the permanent placement of 1 003 trained correctional officers into Security Officer / Case Officer posts and DCS is finalising the recruitment of 6 192 learners to undergo the Corrections Services Learnership over the next three financial years. These trained learners will eventually be absorbed into vacant entry level Security Officer / Case Officer Posts, with a view to capacitating the category of centre based correctional officers which have the highest vacancy rate of the total vacancies.

In the light of the reduced Compensation of Employee budget, DCS will consider steps to ensure that the expenditure for the CoE budget remains within the allocations. Some of these steps include to prioritise the filling of already advertised critical posts within the available budget, the proactive advertisement of critical posts to support the implementation of strategic and operational imperatives of DCS and to address the current and imminent natural attrition. DCS continue to engage National Treasury on the need for additional CoE budget for the MTEF.

Contraband related misconducts 2022/23 to 2024/25
DCS has various measures in place to reduce influx of contraband in correctional facilities. They monitor and enforce the approved Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), conduct threat and risk analysis in identified Correctional Facilities and intensifying surprise, spot and unannounced searches in Correctional Facilities. They conduct terrain and perimeter patrols during the day and night, continuously monitor, maintain and enforce the approved security policies and procedures and proper searching of all inmates returning from work teams, external hospitals and courts.

DCS utilise security systems like body scanners to identify unwanted items to enter the premises and the proper searching of all officials, visitors and maintenance personnel together with the cars when entering or exiting the correctional facilities. There are 122 cases of smuggling of contraband into correctional centres from 2022/23 to 31 August 2024. Of the 122 cases, 85 were finalised and sanctions were meted out. The highest number of contraband-related cases reported by region was Gauteng with 33 followed by LMN Region with 32.

In 2022/23 there were 22 disciplinary hearings and 22 sanctions were meted out. In 2023/24 there were 47 disciplinary hearings and 47 sanctions were meted out. As at 31 August 2024, 53 disciplinary hearings were conducted, and out of 53, 16 disciplinary hearings were finalised with 16 sanctions meted out to transgressors and 37 cases pending.

Contraband-related misconduct according to the gender and number of years’ service of officials found guilty of committing misconduct were also explained. The analysis indicates that in terms of the years of service, the highest number of officials found guilty of contraband-related misconduct were those with service between 11-20 years (40) followed by 21 years of service and above (26) and 6 -10 years of service is 15. Male officials have been charged with misconduct more than female officials.

DCS faces many challenges in finalising disciplinary cases. The appointed investigators, chairpersons and initiators execute the task on an ad-hoc basis due to their core responsibilities. Delaying tactics emanating from the alleged transgressor trade union representatives and fellow employees that are reluctant to testify during disciplinary hearings against their colleagues remain a challenge.

Delaying tactics by alleged transgressors who prefer to be represented by one shop steward from the pool of shop steward belonging to different trade unions and when there are inmate witnesses for DCS as employer, the inmate witness tend to adopt a hostile attitude which does not assist the case of the employer.

DCS has adopted many interventions. For 2023/24, 40% of managers were trained on investigation, initiating and chairing of cases in DCS as an intervention measure to comply with the stipulated time frame. To address the weakness of prolonged disciplinary cases, a ‘pool of experts’ was established to finalise disciplinary matters within the stipulated time frame. The National Commissioner issues letters on quarterly basis, sensitising Regional Commissioners to ensure that disciplinary matters are finalised within the set time frames.

Discussion
Mr J Engelbrecht (DA) criticised the title of the presentation on contraband and said better title would read: Presentation on illicit drug smuggling in correctional facilities and consequence management.

Did DCS agree that cell phones are the biggest immediate concern when criminals have the ability to be in regular unsupervised contact with their connections on the outside? Criminal kingpins can direct the continuation of their criminal activities from inside a facility.

For 2022/23, 30 243 cell phones were confiscated in correctional facilities which resulted in disciplinary action against 22 individuals. The DSC presentation seems like “tough talk and light walk”d. Consequence management is decidedly unsatisfactory and weak.

Sections 119, 120 and 121 of the Correctional Services Act make provision for criminal charges, sanctions and convictions for officials who contravene. The sanction for an official caught with contraband should serve as a deterrent. Criminal charges against contravening officials should bear better results.

Why does DCS not lay criminal charges against contravening officials as is expected by the law? What should the Portfolio Committee do to ensure DCS applies and enforces the law?

It is clear that financial constraints have a negative impact on DCS. He is particularly concerned about the 2 865 posts needs to be abolished. He is also very concerned about the care, rehabilitation and social reintegration programmes. Will posts in these programmes be cut? The security risk posed by the vacancy of 3 542 centre-based correctional officials is a matter of great concern.

He is perplexed by the apparent wasteful expenditure of funds for human resources. On 10 April 2024, in the Citizen newspaper, there was a big headline: “Sheriff attaches 5 DCS vehicles worth over R1.3 million to pay unfairly treated ex-employee”. This ties in with the Auditor-General report about litigation against DCS.

He would really like to know who decides to fight these cases. Who represents DCS to lose one case after the other and then not comply with court judgments until the Sheriff confiscates DCS assets? This is disturbing and there is a systemic problem in human resources of DCS.

On budget cuts, we need to look at the designation of this department. This is a security department. If you cut budgets in Correctional Services, it opens up security concerns and people tend to die. One cannot “nilly willy” go on saying all departments need to cut 25% of their budget which includes DCS. We have to take care of a very large group of criminals and if we cannot do that, there can be major consequences.

Mr E Cloete (ANC) welcomed the presentations. DCS indicated that it is in the process of developing a micro structure to support the macro structure. How far is DCS with the progress and when does it anticipate the structure to be complete? How many youth, persons under the age of 35 years old, are employed at SMS level and how many of them have grown through the ranks of DCS? How are officials being capacitated and developed? The incarceration programme receives the biggest share of the DCS budget yet the vacancy rate is 9.9%. Can DCS explain?

St Albans Correctional Centre has a vacancy rate of 13.2% with so many other challenges. What intervention plan does DCS have to address the further growth of the vacancy rates? Can DCS explain which type of offences results in verbal and written warnings? Can DCS also unpack the pending status of the disciplinary cases before it?

Mr M Sokopo (ANC) said he is aware that the learnership spoken about in the presentation was advertised in January 2023 already. It is 20 months later and the process is not finalised. What is the holdup? Are people shortlisted for the internships still eligible for the intake? What measures, other than the website, are you taking to ensure that you reach the broader South Africa? How do you know you are reaching people in villages for them to be part of your system?

The officials with less than 5 years’ service are the group that least contravenes the DCS code. The group with more than 20 years’ service are found to be contravening the most. There are delays in recruiting new people. If you fast track your intake it will assist.

How many officials do you have at SMS level under the age of 40 years of age? What is the latest on the audit findings due to noncompliance of policies, procedures, finance and supply chain management? Do the sanctions issued in disciplinary hearings assist to deter the committing of offences by officials or does it just continue?

Mr S Mwali (MK) said if there were only 122 cases of smuggling contraband in correctional centres from 2022/23 to 31 August 2024, then something is wrong. In just one Johannesburg correctional centre, 1 393 cell phones were found and confiscated. In Kgosi Mampuru, 212 cell phones were found and confiscated. This is only cell phones and excludes other items such as dagga. How can the national cases investigated by DCS only reflect 122?

When he looked at the sanctions, there is not one official that was charged criminally as per the Correctional Services Act. This does not encourage people to respect the system so that they refrain from bringing in contraband into the system. DCS is only instituting internal discipline and does not charge officials criminally whilst they are committing crime.

We are sitting with a high unemployment rate yet DCS has a high number of unfilled vacancies. There are enough people capable and ready to fill the vacancies. DCS cannot have so many unfilled vacancies whilst so many unemployed youth sit at home without work.

If DCS takes contraband seriously, the smuggling of contraband into the centres can be curbed. It is evident that there is collusion between the public and officials to get contraband from outside into the correctional centres which is a criminal offence. It is a danger to the inmates as well as to officials.

He asked the Ministry and DCS management to seriously look into the smuggling of contraband and its consequence management as the numbers are not adding up.

Mr G Jonas (PA) said the officials with 11 to 20 years of service contravene the most. What are the grades of these officials? Is there any promotion policy for these officials? If not, then we are actually creating the cause for the ill-discipline of the officials in that bracket.

If we look at St Albans Correctional Centre, there is no fence which creates an easy way for contraband to enter the facility. A fence needs to be erected as soon as possible.

Ms K Kgobisa-Ngcaba (DA) asked if the vacancies for care and rehabilitation workers will be prioritised as these are critical vacancies given that the offenders are going back into the communities. She asked about the 6000 learnerships. What is the idea? Are you recruiting 6000 to train over a three-year period or in batches for three years?

The sanctions that are meted out, particularly the 122 cases, is this only contraband or is it the total for disciplinary cases? If it is solely related to contraband, she would like an explanation on what offence would get you off with corrective counselling? When an official is at the stage of bringing contraband into centres, there is no verbal warning, no counselling, you get fired. So cans he understand why one would give someone corrective counselling when they are undermining the very mandate of DCS.

DCS has 30 000 centre-based correctional officials so 122 people is less than 0.5%. You cannot expect us to believe that only a 122 people are involved in the smuggling of contraband. You are clearly having a problem in detecting the officials who are involved.

During the Committee oversight visit, she asked what rewards DCS gives to the staff who come forward against their fellow employees. Employees are scared of speaking out against their colleagues as no one wants to be ostracised in the workplace. She asked that DCS counter balance that and give an incentive.

Do you congratulate them? As a young person, if she received a call from the National Commissioner, telling her what an outstanding job she was doing, knowing she is now on his radar which spells a possible promotion – those are little things that build morale. What is in place to encourage this? Same goes for the officials with 11 to 20 years’ service who are mostly implicated. It makes sense, if they do not have prospects of promotion, approaching the end of their careers. They have nothing to lose, making some money on the side.

It is the young fresh people that you need to graft into this new ethical system that you want to build. What interventions, systems and programmes do you have in place to cultivate it? This presentation feels very defeatist, signalling this is what the landscape is. There is not enough on what is being done to change the culture and the incentives in DCS.

Ms D James (Action SA) asked what the vacancy rate is and if it is aligned with the growing inmate population. Are we doing forecasting in terms of vacancies? Do you have a way of tracking the national retirement rate? Do you have a system in place to enable DCS to fill the posts of those who retire?

The equity statistics are really disheartening looking at the numbers. How do you get to those numbers and how is that fair? How easy is it to report contraband smuggling? Do you have innovative crime detection programmes within the centres? Earlier you said one of the challenges was managers and investigators conduct the searches on an ad-hoc basis, whereas the crime is so rife and in your face.

Based on what is unfolding at all the centres, what stops DCS to include the conducting of searches as one of the outputs of the managers and investigators? This calls for an online tracking system to report all these cases. When an incident occurs at a given centre it can immediately be entered in the computer so it can filter through immediately. At any given point you should be able to draw data from a computer on how many incidents were happening across the country.

Based on the shocking numbers, the second report reflects that there is no will to address criminal activity within the centres.

Ms B Diale (EFF) asked for the plan for filling the vacant posts, if at the same time DCS says vacancies need to be cut whilst it seeks more funds from Treasury. On contraband, why are you not pursuing criminal charges? If you were pursuing criminal charges against implicated officials, you will not be having officials who do not cooperate because they will be credible witnesses in court.

DCS should give us a report that focuses on contraband within facilities for the Committee to make a determination if DCS is actually doing its work. When you receive a cell phone, what investigations are you doing to determine ownership of that cell phone? Police can within minutes provide data on the ownership and usage of a cell phone.

Why can the original owner and user not be traced? This does not show willingness on the part of DCS to trace this. It is not done because DCS officials play a huge part in assisting inmates to get hold of cell phones. When inmates go to court and come back to the centres, they are searched by officials. So how do they get contraband unless assisted by officials? Please indicate what investigations are conducted when finding a cell phone.

The shortlisting and appointment for learnerships is a bit haphazard. The Committee should also get a report on the learnerships undertaken.

She had sent a complaint to the Minister and is still waiting for a response but she will follow up directly with the Minister. The complaint is about a learner who was first shortlisted and appointed in 2015. The learner is promised every year to be part of the next intake which is never realised.

The Chairperson said the learnership is a serious thorn in the flesh. In the Sixth Parliament, the National Commissioner came to the Portfolio Committee and indicated that there would be an advert for learnerships. Is this the same programme? If it is, have they been appointed? If not, what is the delay in absorbing students? Why do we plan for the next three financial years when we are struggling to even start?

The Deputy Minister was here when we spoke about educational programmes in centres. The Committee was told of the shortlisting for the learnership. Are we still shortlisting? Where are we exactly with this learnership? She wanted a thorough indication on the learnership process so Members have an idea of where we are.

Does DCS conduct exit interviews for resignations? If so, what are the common findings and core issues for them wanting to exit the DCS? When we did oversight, especially last week, we saw the amount of work done by officials and the environment they are working in was stressful even for Committee members just to witness.

In Boksburg she was quite emotional when she interacted with juveniles and when they explained the process inside. One can imagine how that impacts on someone’s mental health. Is there a DCS programme to address the mental health of employees? Is the existing programmes conducted on a consistent basis? The situation in correctional facilities requires a lot of help for employees assigned to those correctional facilities.

The CoE budget was cut by R9.1 billion between 2021/22 to 2023/24. In the same period DCS reported a significantly raised vacancy rate. The presentation states that there were posts that were supposed to be filled that do not entirely require perusal from DPSA. Were those posts funded? If funded, why are they not filled?

Is DCS proactive enough to prepare for vacancies due to retirement? What are the turnaround times for concluding disciplinary processes? Do it ever engage with the vetting and the lifestyle audits of officials? If so, what is the status? If not, why not? Do we still move officials around to ensure officials do not become comfortable staying in one place, which opens up the opportunity to commit unlawful activities?

Why are officials who are found smuggling not criminally charged? At Grootvlei Correctional Centre we conducted an unannounced oversight visit and found the head of the centre rushing to deal with an incident where an official was smuggling a gun into the centre. How far is that matter and has that official been dismissed. We have to find a way to criminally charge officials otherwise worse will be smuggled into the centres.

DCS response
National Commissioner Thobakgale replied that the Human Resources Planning and Budgeting (HRPB) tool is a determination from Treasury, linked to the programme of reducing expenditure on personnel by Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). This is a government project to have a lean mean public service to enable more money for service delivery. Departments are rated and given a quota of positions to keep in their establishment and are only allowed to fill vacancies to that ceiling.
To ensure that this is implemented DPSA locks the feeding of positions on PERSAL. Before one can advertise a position, permission must be obtained from DPSA. After the finalisation of the recruitment, permission again needs to be obtained from DPSA to open the PERSAL to allow DCS to log the position of the appointed person.

DCS has been struggling with the HRPB tool even before his appointment as National Commissioner. This challenge has put DCS in a state of paralysis in filling vacant positions. There was also a moratorium placed on the filling of positions which was lifted in 2021 when he started acting. He said, HRPB tool or not, the moratorium is lifted. When a post is vacant, it has to be filled because the post was in any case funded. That is why the filling of positions started to move.

DCS then wanted to start identifying which positions to abolish, abolish them and then fill positions to fit the staff establishment of 39 000. We were not getting it right because it means you now have to prioritise which positions and decide if you will abolish within administration or in operations. DCS was focussing more on operations and not filling positions in administration. Therefore one sees the vacant positions in administration is high. The HRPB tool is still an ongoing problem for DCS.

The transfer of officials is still being done to some extent but the National Commissioner had to intervene as some of the transfers were yielding negative results. There are area commissioners and regional commissioners who have tried to build their own department and he had to intervene. Head of centres are moved with the approval of the national commissioner. Some transfers are challenged and in a particular incident DCS was found to have done nothing wrong.

On officials that do good, he does encourage them. He takes time to visit such members and congratulate them but DCS does not have an incentive scheme. We do not even have medals as this is some of the good things we lost since we moved from a prison to a correctional system. There was no need for those medals and other incentives to be removed. It was removed in the name of transformation but in his view it was not necessary as it contributed to the good. We have a project to bring back those incentives.

On succession planning, being proactive only started in the year 2022. To advertise a post whilst it is still occupied by someone is not done widely in the public service. We were challenged by one official who said we cannot advertise his position while he is still in the post but we pointed out he had submitted his pension payout form, meaning effectively he was on his way out.

DCS advertised the learnerships in 2023 under the framework that was developed by head office with inputs from the regions on how to go about the recruitment process. We have identified weaknesses and corruption in the recruitment right from the initial submission of forms. A DCS member was arrested for selling forms at a Johannesburg shopping mall. We set different targets for the recruitment of persons such as persons with matric, for women, for people with degrees. We found that agents do away with the criteria, recruit and we sit with a cohort that must go through college. We had to put in place a system where each and every shortlisted group from a management area had to be checked and verified by a task team from head office.

That is the reason it has taken us time to finalise the learnership recruitment. We had to clean the process. We also had to review and improve the training programme as it had been watered down over the years. We received 1.2 million applications to work through to reach a shortlist.

There is a wellness programme for the officials, especially those with mental problems, which is specifically for officials.

The figures reported are the actual figures for detection. This is before the contraband enters the facility. An efficient way of detecting contraband is to utilise technology like body scanners. We only have 17 body scanners; we cannot afford to buy more. The scanners are used at high volume, high traffic correctional facilities. We have requested more funding from Treasury to buy more body scanners which will help to detect more contraband.

The report showed instances where officials were criminally charged but there are instances where officials were not criminally charged and we are following up on those.

For the audit findings on supply chain management, we have implemented an audit action plan. The current financial year that has just been audited showed an improvement. We previously had irregular expenditure of R1.4 billion and we are now under R7 million for irregular expenditure and we know the specific cases. We are addressing it in the regions where it happened.

On CoE, DCS projects an over expenditure but there is a process that we are following to ensure that we do not get there. We have identified overtime and standby claims as an area of wastage. We have done an analysis and we are going to put together a report to the Ministry. We might even have to investigate the overtime to get to the core of the matter and determine if there is abuse.

DCS has not implemented a promotions policy. We reviewed and approved a promotions policy in 2021. For us to implement a promotions policy comes with cost. We have discussed with the unions on how we can have an alternative incentive process but the unions are saying if there is no money, there is no promotion.

The age analysis of smugglers is a worrying factor. We have to clean the process of recruitment and we are going to put in a specialised team to ensure that the young officials are protected from falling into the trap. It is disheartening that it is the senior group that are perpetrating most. They are the group that is supposed to instil discipline. It goes back to the discipline lost over the years, especially when we transitioned from a prison system to a correctional system.

Some of those officials are actually gang members who have signed themselves into gangs. It is not speculative smuggling, they are part of the system and that is making it difficult to deal with. The acting chief security officer is handling the project that we are busy implementing with SAPS to eradicate crime within correctional centres.

The State Attorney represents us in litigation. There are cases where papers will be served at the Office of the State Attorney and not get to us. Matters go to court, we do nott know anything about it and order is granted against DCS. In the Matebula case, an interim order was granted against DCS to move the inmate from C Max to a general communal cell. We were not served with papers and we are now having to contest that interim order.

DCS is huge and there is litigation happening almost on a daily basis which is handled at the regional offices. The head of legal services at the regional office is only one person. The amount of work and capacity constraints is a huge determining factor on how litigation is dealt with. In cases where we receive exemption from the State Attorney to represent ourselves, we appoint private attorneys and our papers are well drafted and are filed on time. We however have our own incapacities and do not blame everything on the Office of the State Attorney.

DCS does conduct lifestyle audits on officials but it is mostly conducted at middle and senior management level.

Ms Bond answered about the abolishment of certain posts and specifically those in the social reintegration programmes. To put into perspective, we as a Department are quite reluctant to abolish posts. We are still waiting on National Treasury to give us an indication if they will be able to assist us. If we have to abolish 57% of our social reintegration posts, it will be proportionate across all regions. At this stage, we are just not comfortable doing that.

DPSA has given us a timeframe of six months after the development of the macro structure, to complete the micro structure. However, because of the delays we have had in developing the micro structure because of the approach we are not able to follow, meaning consultations at the very lowest level, there are some slight delays. We are aiming to finalise the micro structure by the end of the financial year.

We do have programmes for the development of our youth as well as for the development of all our officials. The greatest number of vacancies is in the incarceration programme which has the greatest amount of funds. The reason for the large number of vacancies is because a lot of them are in the security environment.

Misconduct that leads to a written warning, as indicated in our challenges, would rest on the merits of the case. If a case is weak then you cannot really issue a firm sanction. We have one official at the SMS level under the age of 40.

It is unfortunate that the large number of vacancies is not necessarily funded with the projected over expenditure that we have. We do have a system of tracking retirements and we do have exit interviews. The main reasons officials are leaving are the type of environment that they are facing and also the shortage of staff, where they just cannot operate under that level of staff shortage.

A lot of officials just burn out. We do counsel them and discourage them from resigning because after they have resigned they want to come back due to personal economic circumstances.

According to the details of the 122 cases there was a written warning but again the sanction depends on the merits of each case and the extent to which an official was involved. Sometimes there is more than one official involved and some are less involved than the others.

Ms S Mawela, Director: Employee Relations, noted that some cases are reported to SAPS, however SAPS declines to register and investigate some of these cases. The turnaround time for disciplinary cases to be finalised is 90 days.

Minister Groenewald said that it was previously emphasised that DCS has many challenges but we must take hands. We differ on certain issues but we must differ with respect. He welcomed critical questions from the Committee members because they highlight the problems and challenges we have.

We must also say that some or other way you must also come forward with proposals to see how we can improve. It is evident that out of many challenges we have, we as a Department do not make decisions on our own as we are dependent on the Department of Justice, DPSA, Treasury and Public Works. It is a process from my side as Minister to engage with the heads of those departments and when you talk to them, they first tell you all the challenges they have before they listen to your challenges and how to solve it.

The process is going forward to engage as Minister with other ministers to see how we are going to address these challenges. A critical one for me is to engage with the Department of Justice. If we find an official guilty of smuggling in contraband, there should be a simple process to terminate the services of such an official, but we have labour unions which makes things not as simple as that. He has already met with POPCRU and PSA and he appealed to them to assist when it comes to disciplinary action.

We are aware of the challenges and it is good that the Committee asks the critical questions because it expose matters more explicitly in order for us to see how can deal with it. We are not sensitive to criticism and he does not see it as criticism, he sees it as a question and he has been on that side in the legislature for many years. We must take hands.

Follow-up questions
Mr Engelbrecht remarked on an official that said the police did not want to open a case as the amount of dagga found was not enough. The amount of dagga is consequential because one is not charging for possession of illicit drugs. Charges in terms of sections 119, 120 and 121 of the Correctional Services Act can be made for one half or one tenth of one gram. It remains contraband, the amount of dagga is irrelevant. If there is a problem with SAPS, we can take it up with them.

Ms B Diale (EFF) wanted to know what DCS is doing about investigating and tracking the origin of smuggled cell phones.

Minister’s response
Minister Groenewald said he should have added SAPS to the list of departments he engage with. DCS is unfortunately not in a position to do the investigation. He is in conversation with the Minister of Police. There are operations by gang members within our facilities, operating on the outside and the Minister of Police spoke to me about it. We are in a process of looking at these things.

When the Minister went to Grootvlei, the scanner did not work. They then utilised a small scanner which were not as effective as the bigger scanner. Grootvlei then said the scanner had not worked for three years. He told them he could not believe it and that it is unacceptable. DCS is in the process to publish a request for tenders for a pilot project. It is not published yet but it is already compiled. This is a pilot project to specifically detect incidents, through a centrally controlled security system.

Cell phone jammers are unfortunately not that simple to utilise. Goodwood Correctional Centre is close to the community and N1 highway. People say when jammers are used at Goodwood, the community is affected and when accidents happen on the N1, emergency services cannot be dispatched. There is new technology that we are looking at but money is a problem. Budget is a huge problem.

On the Medium Term Development Plan 2025-2029, provision is made for 15 000 learners which includes this current complement of 6192. Part of the problem is that DCS officials like those in SAPS and SANDF, retire at age 60 and not 65 so you have to ensure that the process of developing people coming into DCS. Budget cuts cause a gap in that development. Keep asking the questions because that way we identify the problems. Unfortunately we do not have quick fixes. We want to deal with a lot of the challenges but we are having these constraints.

Chairperson’s comments
The Chairperson thanked the Minister for the replies. The Committee needs to understand the magnitude of smuggling contraband including drugs into facilities. The Committee will ask DCS to meet again on the smuggling of contraband in all 243 correctional facilities.

It is important to give the Committee a report on the learnership programme to see the fruits.

DCS should present to the Office of the State Attorney on the seriousness faced on litigation.

The smuggling of cell phones is a worrying factor. When we entered C Max Section at Kgosi Mampuru, our phones were not operational, we could not phone or text one another because the network was jammed. Why are we not introducing that system in all facilities? This will result in smuggled cell phones being redundant without network. Let’s engage ICASA as well on this.

Boksburg has a way of addressing contraband. Let’s adopt that programme of the Boksburg facility. The Committee suggestion to DCS is to bring centres to benchmark with Boksburg, especially on security issues – including Baviaanspoort on the security system, especially the Gauteng centres.

The Committee has stressed a lot about the lack of perimeter fence at Goodwood, Leeukop and St Albans Centres. We need to prioritise these perimeter fences. It cannot be left unattended if we want to deal with security issues and smuggling.

There is a system where only a limited number of officials have access to a cell phone. If an official needs to have a cell phone, you need to apply and submit reasons for this. Why are we not introducing and rolling that system out to all facilities? Isolated inmates are able to send out information through officials.

DCS must find a way to mitigate vacancies, especially critical posts that require to be filled. The ratio of officials to inmates in facilities is a scary factor. One official having to oversee 25 to 30 inmates is worrying and we cannot leave it unattended. DCS and the executive needs to find a way to mitigate this.

The Committee understands and sympathises with the current challenges that you are facing but let us find a way to operate, especially the security teams, so they do not have that pressure of the workload. Those are the recommendations the Portfolio Committee is putting to the executive and DCS.

The Committee agrees with the Minister that those officials who are found in possession of contraband should be dismissed. Let the 90 days to finalise the disciplinary process be 90 days and not more than that. On any outstanding matter we will write to DCS for you to report on it in writing via the secretary of the Portfolio Committee.

Minister’s update on completing the backlog of lifer parole applications
Dr Groenewald reported that the backlog has been cleared. All profiles, including the inherited backlog of 495 cases and 104 new cases, were concluded as of 3 October 2024. This comprises 170 backlog cases and 44 new cases that were still in transit to his office at the time the the numbers were presented to the Portfolio Committee on 17 September 2024.

Three individuals currently serving life sentences have been granted parole and are subject to deportation. Two are citizens of Mozambique and one is a citizen of Zimbabwe.

Five applications for medical parole were considered by the Minister in the period 3 July 2024 to 3 October 2024. One was approved and four were declined.

Discussion
The Chairperson thanked the Minister for clearing the backlog.

Ms James asked the Minister why the cases were not concluded sooner and what the challenges were.

Mr Mwali asked the Minister what the reasons were for referring some cases back.

Minister Groenewald said the 495 cases were inherited from the previous Minister and the question should be posed to the previous Minister. On Mr Mwali’s question, he said it’s a complex situation with approximately seven reports that are needed to make an informed determination. A crucial thing for him in the reports is the risk factor.

In many of the applications he did not receive a risk analysis. With great respect, he cannot make a decision without a proper risk analysis. There are some other factors like the psychiatrist and criminologist reports. A report from the criminologist is important as it determines the risk of reoffending.

Deputy Minister Lindiwe Ntshalintshali said that where gaps were identified, DCS will substantiate those gaps. We would like the Portfolio Committee to assist us to address matters especially with SAPS as indicated in the challenges.

Also if the Committee can assist us with Treasury to obtain the funding as we are not willing to lose those 208 posts. The way DCS is clustered is also problematic. We are supposed to be a security department but when budget cuts are introduced, we are the first to suffer.

Minister Groenewald said let us participate with each other, let us take hands. We will not solve these problems on our own but if we take hands we can solve them.

Chairperson's concluding comments
The Chairperson thanked everyone for the interaction on these very serious issues. She noted that a number of the Committee members sit on the Portfolios Committee on Police as well as Finance, which is good.

The meeting was adjourned.