Department Annual Report and Financial Statements: briefing

Mr D Bloem (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Department of Correctional Services Annual Report

SUMMARY
The Department of Correctional Services presented their Annual Report to the Committee. The Annual Report were not discussed page by page, but the Members asked questions pertaining to some critical issues. The main concerns raised concerned prison overcrowding, as well as the education of prisoners and communities. The outsourcing of the prison kitchens was also mentioned as a point of concern.

MINUTES
Mr N Balfour (Minister of Correctional Services) pledged his co-operation to the Committee. He would not tolerate any Department ill-doings or incompetence, and he asked the Committee to also confront him if they thought that he was not performing. With this Department, he had received his first ever 'Qualified Report' and would have to face SCOPA. It would be an uphill battle to clear the Department of all the irregularities but that they would win the battle. He also called for the Members to be tough on issues and also tough on one another. The two critical areas highlighted that needed immediate attention had been medical aid to correctional officials (Medcor) and the IT of the Department. He mentioned another issue that had been a nightmare, the White Commission. He said that he wanted to speak to Justice White face to face because he did not understand the report as it was too complicated for him. He ended off by saying that all of them were in it together and should carry the blame together.

The Chairperson thanked the Minister for his speech and emphasised that the Minister would not be shielding the Department but would exposed the irregularities. He said that the Committee gave their support to that approach. He went on and said that they would enforce discipline and respect and that the code of conduct was more important than striking. He expressed his concern about the Auditor General's report and said that although they had inherited the problem; they still had to give attention to the problems in the report.

Discussion
Ms Direko (ANC) asked the Minister about the modus operandi of the tenders to build the new jails. She said that there were people with inside information into the tender process and that gave them an advantage. She said that they wanted to see equity in the tender process.

The Chairperson asked about the high turn over of staff. He also wanted to know why everybody were in acting positions and why there was a lack of professional people in Correctional Services.

Mr Matseki (Deputy Commissioner) responded that they were concerned about the high turnover of eight people per month and said that they are addressing the problem at the moment. He also mentioned that this high turnover resulted in taking people from specific positions and placing them where they are more needed. There were also problems with the backlog of processing job applications. He mentioned the example where the Department advertised 1015 jobs and received 1.5 million applications. Concerning the lack of professional teachers and doctors, he said that the problem was that professional people tended to take lower risk jobs and opt for higher salaries. This fact made it difficult for the Department to attract professionals, but they have interviewed some nurses for the vacancies and had already issued appointment certificates. There were however technical problems with the salaries and that is why the people have not started to work and they are negotiating an adjusted salary package.

The Chairperson asked who was responsible for the technical problems and why technical problems occurred. He wanted to know why unskilled people were doing the jobs.

Ms Mathibela (Deputy Director: Human Resource Management) responded that salary packages were never negotiated with the nurses before the appointments were made.

Mr Molefe (ANC) asked why the public were not aware of things that happened in the Department. He also wanted to know how far they were with the implementation of the Johannesburg declaration.

Mr Moatshe (ANC) asked what the criteria for people acting in a position were.

The Chairperson also asked about the internal communication of the Department and the gender representivity of the Department.

Mr Gillingham (Chief Financial Officer) answered that communication to the community had been a problem in the past, but they were doing community outreach projects at the moment to involve the community. Another initiative that they were working on was to create family days where the families of offenders spent a day with the prisoners. Concerning internal communications he said that there were good systems of internal communication but that it was an easy way out for people to say that they did not know what was happening. Concerning the acting positions, he said that a person could only be appointed in an acting position if that position was approved and financed. The position would then be for three months whereafter it could be extended for another three months. The vacant position could only be filled with people that were one level below the position.

The Chairperson mentioned that some people had been acting for more than seven months without the position being funded.

Mr Gillingham responded that only if a position was approved and financed could it be filled and the reason why the positions had not been funded was because it had not been approved.

Ms Chikunga (ANC) mentioned that this led to disorder in the Department.

Mr Gillingham responded by saying that there must be consensus by the identified person to act and there was a process that had to be followed which meant that people were rotated to acquaint them with different aspects of the Department.

Mr Fihla (ANC) commented on the challenge of overcrowded prisons. He said the Committee were going to "gate crash" and bring other role players on board. He also mentioned that the Committee would be visiting the prisons themselves to check the sentences of the prisoners

Mr Fihla was also very concerned about the massive overspending by the Department and wanted to know why it had happened.

MR Moatshe inquired about gangsterism, rape and drug trafficking in the prisons, and wanted to know what was being done to eradicate it.

Mr Gillingham responded that the Department had no money to cater for awaiting trial prisoners and children. The fact that the prisoners had not been sentenced also meant that they were not yet the responsibility of Correctional Services but were still the responsibility of the Justice Department. Children were the responsibility of the Department of Social Development. He mentioned that one of the reasons for overspending was the fact that the hospital fares went up. The setting up of a seven-day establishment within three years would increase the effectiveness of prisons. However, to institute this seven-day establishment, they would need an additional 9 730 personal.

Ms Rwexana (ANC) raised the question of the accreditation of rehabilitation centres. She wanted to know if there was a national standard that the centres had to comply with. She also wanted to know why some centres were not accredited. She was also unsatisfied with the skills training that the SETA's were offering

Mr Fihla commented that inmates that had long sentences should not be allowed to sit around and do nothing and prisoners had to come out of prison with skills.

Ms Rwexana raised a concern about the few correctional facilities for women.

Mr Gillingham said that most centres had accreditation but that it did not necessarily cover every single area. Concerning the skilling of prisoners, the policy was that the tools that the prisoners used in prison were to be handed to him on release. He also said that young females represented a very small percentage of prisoners and that it was impossible to have a female wing at every prison.

Ms Direko asked why prisons did not grow their own vegetables. She also enquired if prisoners received certificates for the skills they learnt in prison so that they could compete on the outside.

Mr Tolo (ANC) asked to what extent the people in the communities were informed that prisoners have paid their dues to society.

Mr Molefe enquired about the transfer of deceased prisoners as well as prisoners far from home.

Mr Gillingham answered that some prisons had farms, but that they were not yet self-sufficient and could not produce all year round so they had to contract outside producers to supply enough fresh products. Concerning the transfers, he said that prisoners that were in prisons far from home could only be transferred if there was a cross transfer.

Mr Moatse enquired about the problem of closed prisons. He asked how long they would remain closed.

Mr Fihla stated that communities needed to be educated to accept prisoners back into the community. He said that they needed electronic monitoring.

Ms Chikunga asked about facility management and the capital impact of four new prisons. She also asked if the community could be briefed on the outsourcing of prison kitchens.

Mr Gillingham said electronic monitoring would not prevent re-offending and that parole was part of the deal and the offenders had to attend workshops. Concerning the four new prisons, he said that the capital budget was too small and that a feasibility study showed that they should not start with it. He also mentioned that the Department had no control over the tender process to build new prisons, and that it fell with the Department of Public Works. He also expressed his concern about the new asset management programme. He said that the prison workshops had been too big to list every single nail and screw that were used in the workshops.

Mr Gillingham said that prison kitchens could not cope with the needs of the overcrowded prisons and therefore they had to outsource the kitchens to private companies. The companies had to comply with the law concerning all meals and they had to be accredited. The companies also had full facility management that led to food theft dropping to zero. This also limited the movement of staff.

The Chairperson scheduled a date at which the Committee would meet to thoroughly discuss the outsourcing of the kitchens as well as the Auditor-General's report.

The meeting was adjourned.