Hansard: NCOP: Motion
House: National Council of Provinces
Date of Meeting: 04 Jun 2013
Summary
No summary available.
Minutes
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TUESDAY, 4 JUNE 2013
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
________________________
The Council met at 14:02.
The Chairperson took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.
NOTICES OF MOTION
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START OF DAY
NOTICES OF MOTION
Mrs B L ABRAHAMS: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move on behalf of the DA:
That the Council-
1) notes that the Eldorado Park community is happy that President Zuma and the Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane have committed the government to eradicating all drug dealers and "lolly lounges" in Eldorado Park;
2) further notes that all "lolly lounges" will be closed down with immediate effect;
3) also notes that special courts with the same status as those during the World Cup will be set up to deal with drug dealers and related cases;
4) further notes that government is to investigate ownership of "lolly lounge" and turn "lolly lounges" into rehabilitation centres if these places belong to government in that they must be taken back;
5) notes that government must do what government needs to do; and
6) finally notes that the community of Eldorado Park is appealing for this project to become a national project and not an electioneering project.
Mr D A WORTH
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Mrs B L ABRAHAMS
Mr D A WORTH: Hon Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move on behalf of the DA:
That the Council-
1) notes that it has been reported that certain powers and functions have been taken away from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and given to Minister Edna Molewa, the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs;
2) further notes that according to the Government Gazette dated 31 May 2013, these are administrative powers and functions relating to regulations in respect of protected marine areas and these also extend to the protection of whales, dolphins, sea turtles and sharks; and
3) finally notes this section of the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' portfolio, which has now been transported back to Water and Environmental Affairs, is to be welcomed and will hopefully clarify and streamline the functionality of this portfolio.
Mr K A SINCLAIR
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Mr D A WORTH
Mr K A SINCLAIR: Hon Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move on behalf of Cope:
That the Council-
1) notes that the tenth anniversary of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme is celebrated in Kimberley, the capital of the Northern Cape, from 4 June to 6 June 2013;
2) further notes that the KPCS is the process established in 2003 to prevent so-called conflict diamonds from entering the mainstream rough diamond market;
3) also notes that KPCS was introduced by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 55/56, following recommendations in the Fowler Report;
4) further notes that the process was set up to ensure that diamond purchases were not financing violence by rebel movements and their allies seeking to undermine legitimate governments;
5) also notes that the effectiveness of the process has been brought into question by organisations such as Global Witness, which pulled out of the scheme on 5 December 2011, claiming it had failed in its purpose and did not provide markets with the assurance that the diamonds were not conflict diamonds; and
6) reiterates the importance of the process specifically in Africa to ensure that the resources of the developing world are used in a responsible manner to improve the quality of life of all people involved in the value chains of these commodities.
Mr S H PLAATJIE
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Mr K A SINCLAIR
Mr S H PLAATJIE: Chair, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move on behalf of the Cope:
That the Council-
1) notes that the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-13 ranked South Africa 140 out of 144 countries when it came to the quality of the education system;
2) further notes that in respect of the quality of mathematics and science education, South Africa ranked an abysmal 143 out of 144 countries;
3) notes that this shocking statistic should not come as a surprise as it was revealed in the Annual National Assessment that performance amongst learners in Grade 6 mathematics averaged 27% in 2012;
4) calls on the Minister of Basic Education to stop patting herself on the back for the rising number of matriculants year after year and correct the state of the education system in the country.
Mnr J M BEKKER
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Mr S H PLAATJIE
Afrikaans:
Mnr J M BEKKER: Agb Adjunkspeaker, ek gee hiermee kennis dat op die volgende sitting van die Raad ek 'n mosie sal voorstel namens die DA:
Dat die Raad-
(1)kennis neem dat op Vrydag 31 Mei 2013 te Oudtshoorn, het vyf raadslede van die ANC bedank en lede van die DA geword;
(2)verder kennis neem dat die DA hulle, tesame met hul ondersteuners in die geledere van die DA verwelkom; en
(3)ook kennis neem dat hierdie optrede 'n einde bring aan die chaos wat in die munisipaliteit van Oudtshoorn geheers het.
Mr W F FABER
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Mr J M BEKKER
English:
Mr W F FABER: Hon Chair, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move on behalf of the DA:
That the Council-
1) notes that it has come to our attention that the Limpopo mid-term examinations did not start on Monday as planned;
2) further notes that school learners all over Limpopo province met with closed doors as opposed to having a scheduled exam, as the mid-term examinations had been postponed;
3) also notes that monies required to be paid in terms of the norms and standards that should have been paid two months ago had not been paid owing to a new computerised financial management system introduced by the provincial treasury that had made the transfer of funds impossible;
4) further notes that it is unacceptable that the implementation of new systems by the Limpopo treasury should have such a negative impact upon learners who so eagerly prepared for this examination;
5) also notes that this money is paid to schools to cover administrative costs, for example the copying of examination question papers; and
6) requests the Minister get her house in order so that learners do not pay the price for administrative failures.
MOTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: Mr D D GAMEDE /sam/ TH (Afr)/ END OF TAKE
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NOTICE OF MOTION: Mr W F FABER
CLAUDE MOSHIYWA WINS 2013 COMRADES MARATHON
(Draft Resolution)
Mr D D GAMEDE: Chairperson, I hereby move without notice:
That the Council –
(1) notes with appreciation that Claude Moshiywa won the 2013 Comrades Marathon, on Sunday, 2 June 2013;
(2) further notes that Moshiywa, who took third place twice in previous years, won the race in five hours and 32 minutes;
(3) also notes that the uphill race started at the Durban City Hall and finished at the Oval Cricket Stadium in Pietermaritzburg;
(4) further notes that Moshiywa became the first South African to win the up-run Comrades Marathon in 21 years, after it was won by Jetman Msutu in 1992; and
(5) takes this opportunity to congratulate Moshiywa on his outstanding performance in winning the race.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
Mr G G MOKGORO
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Mr D D GAMEDE
BODY OF WELL-KNOWN PAEDIATRICIAN FOUND
(Draft Resolution)
Mr G G MOKGORO: Chair, I hereby move without notice:
That the Council –
(1) notes reports of the recovery of the body of Dr Louis Heyns, who was a University of Stellenbosch lecturer and a paediatrician at Tygerberg Hospital;
(2) further notes that the police have revealed that the well-known paediatrician was hijacked and murdered elsewhere before his body was buried in a shallow grave at the notorious prostitution spot on the Strand beachfront, dubbed Lovers' Lane;
(3) takes this opportunity to convey our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Dr Louis Heyns during this difficult time; and
(4) condemns in the strongest terms this senseless killing, and commends the investigators on having arrested the suspects.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
Mr T E CHAANE
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Mr G G MOKGORO
PREMIER THANDI MODISE SUPPORTS YOUTH IN NORTH WEST PROVINCE
(Draft Resolution)
Mr T E CHAANE: Chair, I hereby move without notice:
That the Council -
(1) notes and welcomes the announcement by the Premier of North West province that the provincial government would appoint 606 unemployed graduates across the province in internship programmes to gain much-needed workplace experience and to increase their chances of employability and ultimately absorption into the labour market;
(2) further notes that R11,9 million has been provided in the budget for the 2013-14 financial year;
(3) also notes that 170 bursaries would be awarded to needy and deserving students in an effort to address the provincial priority skills needs;
(4) further notes that 20 unemployed youths from the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mopati District have completed their engineering learnership programmes and are qualified and permanently employed by various municipalities as artisans;
(5) takes this opportunity to commend the premier and her government on their continued commitment in this regard, and calls on other provinces to follow suit.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
Mr H B GROENEWALD
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Mr T E CHAANE
CELLPHONE VIDEO FOOTAGE OF MAN BEING KILLED BY MOB
(Draft Resolution)
Mr H B GROENEWALD: Hon Chairperson, I hereby move without notice:
That the Council –
(1) notes that it is with great shock to have seen on Monday cellphone video footage of a man being killed by a mob near Mahikeng in front of the police;
(2) further notes that the police van drove near the crowd hooting, but the police did not get out of the vehicle to rescue the man;
(3) also notes that they watched the man being killed because they were afraid to face the angry crowd;
(4) further notes that police spokesperson Captain Pelo Makau said they were investigating a case of murder and no one had yet been arrested; and
(5) asks for an urgent investigation and requests the communities to allow the law to take its course and not to take it into their own hands.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
Ms R M RASMENI / KC//A N N(ed)/ END OF TAKE
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Mr H B GROENEWALD
Shocking treatment of senior persons at Hanover Park health centre
(Draft Resolution)
Mrs R M RASMENI: Chairperson, I hereby move without notice:
That the Council –
(1) notes with concern and shock numerous complaints about the poor state of, and poor service at, the Hanover Park Community Health Centre in Cape Town;
(2) further notes that elderly patients sometimes have to wait up to 12 hours only to collect their chronic medication without being helped;
(3) also notes that a surprise visit to the clinic by the media last Thursday further revealed problems such as the unhygienic and dirty state of the clinic and clinic staff being hostile towards patients;
(4) further notes that several letters written by the Hanover Park Health Forum to the provincial department of health, complaining about this state of affairs, have been ignored and not responded to;
(5) takes this opportunity to call on the Western Cape provincial department of health to urgently investigate the complaints and the general state of the clinic; and
(6) calls on this department to implement urgent corrective measures and also to monitor the situation at the clinic on a continual basis.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
Mr D JOSEPH
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Mrs R M RASMENI
NEW EVIDENCE IN ARMS DEAL SCANDAL
(Draft Resolution)
Mr D JOSEPH: Hon Chair, on behalf of the DA, I hereby move a motion without notice:
That the Council –
(1) notes that new evidence suggests that a British arms company bribed senior officials with lavish gifts to win the R20-billion tender in the government's controversial arms deal;
(2) further notes that the alleged bribes are revealed in a series of encrypted faxes and interviews with former BAE staff;
(3) acknowledges that this is the biggest scandal that South Africa has experienced in its new democracy;
(4) notes also from the secret deals which grew from it, that it is clear that ANC Cabinet Ministers in 1998 did not think about the poor when the arms deal was signed; and
(5) further notes that the new evidence must be investigated by the Seriti commission when it continues with its investigation in August.
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Is there any objection to the motion?
Hon MEMBERS: Yes!
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: In the light of the objection, the motion may not be proceeded with. The motion without notice will become a notice of motion.
Ms L MABIJA
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Mr D JOSEPH
Brave woman constable APPREHENDS rapist
(Draft Resolution)
Ms L MABIJA: Chairperson, I hereby move without notice:
That the Council –
(1) notes that a young woman police constable of Polokwane in Limpopo enchanted a serial rapist with a very brave and risky trick by putting on a school uniform and walking like a schoolgirl;
(2) further notes that the tiny body of the young constable, Ntjwakae Nchabeleng, fooled the rapist who thought that the disguised constable was a real schoolgirl and his next victim of prey and that she would satisfy his sexual lust;
(3) also notes that the unsuspecting criminal was successfully trapped;
(4) takes this opportunity to commend and salute this young constable on her brave and innovative deed to trap and arrest a serial rapist and for her contribution and her commitment to protecting and serving, and making South Africa a safer place; and
(5) calls on all policemen and policewomen to note and follow the exemplary commitment and dedication of this young and brave woman.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
First order: Ms B P MABE ///tfm/// END OF TAKE
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MOTION WITHOUT NOTICE: Ms l mabija
CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE ON WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES – OVERSIGHT VISIT TO THE KHUTHI HOME CARE AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE AND THE SIYAZAMA CENTRE, 23 MAY 2012
Ms B P MABE: Chairperson, hon Deputy Ministers, hon members, the Kuthi Home-Care and Development Centre is situated in Khayelitsha. This home care and development centre is a 24-hour centre for children with mental and physical disabilities. The centre is currently unfunded by any government department as it lacks registration.
However, the centre still receives referrals of children from the Western Cape provincial department of social development. In this regard, it receives a subsidy of R150 from this department every three months for the children referred. The facility is primarily self-funded from fees paid by parents at a monthly rate of R700 per month.
The facility currently has the following features. It is housed in a container without any facilities - electricity is sourced from the neighbouring house by using an extension cord. The facility has one classroom that houses all the children. The children also do their activities in this classroom. This is unreasonable, and the classroom also does not have sufficient ventilation. The container within which the facility is housed is not owned by the Khuti Home Care and Development Centre, but is rented from the local Presbyterian Church.
There are currently no facilities for staff, who have to sleep on the floor. The staff maintain the facility as a 24-hour one. The five staff members attend to 11 students. In respect of security, the facility is surrounded by a single perimeter fence, which does not provide adequate security.
The Kuthi Home-Care and Development Centre is currently in need of the following: an adequate piece of land on which to establish a permanent structure; transport for disabled students; funding; food; nappies; further training from the Western Cape provincial department of education; electricity; office equipment; and assistance from the Western Cape provincial department of health and social development as a childcare facility.
The Siyazama Centre for disabled children was previously funded and registered with the Western Cape provincial department of health. However, its registration as a special-care facility and its funding were revoked in 2011 owing to the following issues: financial mismanagement at the centre; poorly maintained and unhygienic buildings and structural damage; exposed barbed wire at child height; improperly maintained paths and jungle gyms, all being extremely dangerous to children; and, in respect of food preparation, the facility was found to be inadequate and unhygienic.
As a result of the issues raised, the 53 students housed at the Siyazama Centre were relocated to an alternative facility in 2011. In the interim, the centre continued to operate and now receives funding from the Western Cape provincial department of social development in respect of the workshop training programme.
The Western Cape provincial department of health has not re-registered the facility as a special-needs facility, nor has it had any involvement with the centre since the removal of the children in 2011. The challenges experienced by the Siyazama Centre are the nonpayment by some parents, and the lack of transport for disabled children.
The committee therefore makes the following recommendations: that the Western Cape provincial department of public works and the City of Cape Town be requested to assist the Khuti Home-Care and Development Centre in identifying and securing a vacant piece of land on which to build a permanent facility; and that the Western Cape provincial department of social development be requested to assist the Khuti Home-Care and Development Centre in addressing some of the challenges it faces in respect of funding and registration as a childcare facility.
In conclusion, the committee noted the challenges experienced by both centres in relation to delivering a quality service to their clients, and commended the centres for the outstanding work they had done in improving the lives of children with disabilities. Thank you, Chair.
Debate concluded.
Question put: That the Report be adopted.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Report accordingly adopted in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
Ms B P MABE / Kn//Mia / END OF TAKE
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FIRST ORDER: Ms B P MABE
CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE ON WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES – PARTICIPATION IN THE FIFTH STATE PARTIES MEETING ON THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AT THE UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Ms B P MABE: Hon Chair, this report is dated 24 April 2013. The Select Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities participated in the fifth state parties meeting on the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 18 September 2012. Chair, I will not bore the House with the contents of the report, but will just zoom in on the recommendations.
The committee recommended that the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities fast-track the submission of the Country's Report. Organisations, such as Disabled People SA, should be encouraged to liaise and work closer with committees in order to further engage with the challenges faced by people with disabilities. The Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities needs to continue working with United Nations agencies, such as the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, towards capacitating both government officials and nongovernmental organisations with regard to improving their reporting at national, regional and international level. Thank you, Chair. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Question put: That the Report be adopted.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Report accordingly adopted in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
3RD& 4TH ORDERS: Mr T E CHAANE
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SECOND ORDER: Ms B P MABE
CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE ON FINANCE - APPOINTMENT OF DIRECTOR FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE
CONSIDERATON OF REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS - APPOINTMENT OF DIRECTOR FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE
Mr T E CHAANE: Hon Chair and hon members, the establishment of the Parliamentary Budget Office and the appointment of the director are the culmination of work that has been undertaken by Parliament in the implementation of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act of 2009. Section 77 of the South African Constitution gives powers to Parliament to amend Money Bills.
In giving effect to section 77 of the Constitution, Parliament introduced the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act as an instrument for amending Money Bills. Section 15 of this Act establishes the Parliamentary Budget Office, which must be headed by a director.
The Money Bills Act prescribes that the director be appointed by both the Houses of Parliament, on the recommendations of the
Select Committee on Appropriations and the Select Committee on Finance. The core function of the Parliamentary Budget Office is to support the implementation of the Money Bills Act by undertaking research and analysis for the Select Committee on Appropriations and the Select Committee on Finance, including annually providing reviews and analysis of the documentation tabled in Parliament by the executive; providing advice and analysis on proposed amendments to the fiscal framework, the Division of Revenue Act and Money Bills and on policy proposals with budgetary implications; monitoring and synthesising matters and reports tabled and adopted in a House with budgetary implications; keeping abreast of policy debates and developments in key expenditure and revenue areas; monitoring and reporting on potential unfunded mandates; and undertaking any other work deemed necessary by the director to support the implementation of this Act.
In order to build an effective Parliament that is responsive to the needs of the people, management of the legislative and oversight programme of Parliament demands capacity, competence and collective action. It is imperative that as the policy-making process becomes more complex as does the need to allocate in an efficient, economic and effective manner the limited financial resources to government policy priorities, parliamentary committees must be adequately supported, resourced and capacitated.
It is envisaged that the Parliamentary Budget Office will serve to address bias in resource allocation, thus enhancing fiscal discipline; serve to raise the quality of debate and scrutiny of expenditure proposals, that is, the Budget Votes and annual performances plans; and serve to promote transparency and accountability.
Since May 2012, Parliament has contracted Prof M I Jahed, who was seconded from the Development Bank of Southern Africa, to assist Parliament in the process of setting up the Parliamentary Budget Office. The project, led by Prof Jahed, has been able to outline and clarify the functions and scope of the office, design an operational structure, establish networks with external stakeholders, and engage political parties and relevant committees.
Prof Jahed holds a PhD in Economics and obtained experience and expertise in economic development, economic policy formulation and public and development management. He served as senior economic planning specialist at the Development Bank of Southern Africa, whilst chief economist and head of policy, strategy and research of the Nepad Secretariat – the New Partnership for Africa's Development – and has served as a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in the Graduate School of Public and Development Management.
In reaching its decision on the appointment of the director, both the Select Committee on Appropriations and the Select Committee on Finance took into consideration the substantive interaction that Prof Jahed has had with different political parties and with individual hon members; his extensive expertise in finance and economics; and the degree of professionalism with which he has conducted his work over the past 12 months. Based on the above, both select committees are of the view that Prof Jahed is a suitable candidate to head the Parliamentary Budget Office.
In accordance with section 15(5)(a) and 15(5)(b) of the Money Bills Act, both committees recommend that Prof Mohammed Jahed be appointed as director of the Parliamentary Budget Office with immediate effect, subject to agreement to a five-year performance-based renewable contract with conditions of service which include salary and allowances being substantially the same as those in the top rank of the Public Service, as per subsection 15(b) of the Money Bills Act. We therefore table this report for consideration by the House. I thank you.
Debate concluded.
Question put that the Report of Select Committee on Finance – Appointment of Director for the Parliamentary Budget Office - and the recommendation that Prof M I Jahed be appointed with effect from 4 June 2013 be agreed to.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Question agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
Question put that the Report of Select Committee on Appropriations – Appointment of Director for the Parliamentary Budget Office – and the recommendation that Prof M I Jahed be appointed with effect from 4 June 2013 be agreed to.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Question agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
FIFTH, SIXTH, SEVENTH AND EIGHTH ORDERS: The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES / LMM/.../TM / END OF TAKE
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THIRD & FOURTH ORDERS: Mr T E CHAANE
APPROPRIATION BILL
(Policy debate)
Vote No 21 - Correctional Services:
Vote No 23 - Independent Police Investigative Directorate:
Vote No 24 – Justice and Constitutional Development:
Vote No 25 – Police:
The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister Radebe, Deputy Ministers, Adv Ngoako Ramatlhodi, Mr Nel, chairperson of the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development Mr T M Mofokeng and members of the select committee, National Commissioner Mr Thomas Moyane, senior members of the Department of Correctional Services, and colleagues, last Monday, 27 May, as part of the launch of the Western Cape Art and Craft Gallery at the Goodwood Correctional Centre, we also launched Volume One of a poetry series by offenders, entitled Unchained. Allow me to quote a stanza from a poem by offender Sebolelo Shabangu:
Silly of you if you chose to self-destroy;
Some come in destructed and come out reconstructed;
Though a stumbling block I chose to make them stepping stones;
I salute you prison;
You reconcile, you rehabilitate, you correct and even reintegrate.
The Freedom Charter says: "Imprisonment shall only be for serious crime against the people and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance."
As at 27 May, South Africa's inmate population was 152 514; 45 043 were remand detainees, and 107 471 were sentenced offenders. The number of offenders sentenced to life imprisonment increased from about 400 in 1994 to more than 11 000 in 2013. More than one third of those incarcerated are youths. In addition, there are 65 931 offenders outside correctional centres who live in their respective communities under correctional supervision.
According to the latest National Offender Population Profile, the major crime categories are economic, aggressive, sexual and narcotics. Gauteng had the largest share of sentenced offenders, followed by the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and, in the last spot, the Western Cape at 15,4%. In terms of unsentenced offenders, Gauteng had the highest number, while Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West had the lowest.
Central to imprisonment is not the removal of a person from normal unhindered membership of society. It is not just the grim and stoical doing time. It is not even regret and remorse. What is central is rehabilitation and reintegration as a better human being. Society and corrections can do much in this regard, but everything depends on what the offender himself or herself does. It is not enough that someone is forgiven, what is critical is: Is this person ready to be forgiven? An offender must use their time in a correctional centre to discover their real talents and capabilities. At least 95% of those incarcerated will return to society after serving their sentences, barring natural attrition.
Offenders must read, study and work. We must impact on the hearts, the heads and the hands of offenders. To this end, the following programmes will be accelerated in 2013-14. Electronic monitoring is now available to the courts, particularly for remand detainees - which number 45 043 - noncustodial sentencing and parolees. It costs the taxpayer R9 876 per month for each inmate currently inside, whilst electronic monitoring costs R3 379. Electronic monitoring enables offenders to be monitored within metres 24 hours a day, every day.
Our contribution to preventing drug abuse includes schoolchildren being taken on tours of correctional centres, with motivational talks from rehabilitated offenders. In Gauteng to date, 1 107 school tours have been undertaken by 56 000 learners and 3 000 educators.
From 1 April, it is compulsory for every inmate, without a qualification equivalent to Grade 9, to complete Adult Basic Education and Training Levels 1 to 4. As at 30 April, 10 000 offenders were registered for Abet Levels 1 to 4 in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and all the other provinces. This year, 1 413 offenders are registered for the Report 550 – former matric - mid-year examinations, and 2 015 offenders for the National Senior Certificate, NCS, examination in October and November.
Last year R66 million was spent on training 5 837 offenders, including in scarce skills such as welding, plumbing, bricklaying, plastering, electrical engineering, carpentry and agriculture. In May 2012, 416 youth offenders graduated with their International Computer Driving Licence certificates.
Within two months of launching the Reading for Redemption campaign on 17 September, more than a million rand worth of books were donated. Partnerships have been established with the University of Zululand, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Unisa, the Walter Sisulu University and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
As per the National Framework on Offender Labour, we are increasing the number of offenders who participate in offender labour and skills development programmes. On 12 February, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Basic Education to use offender labour to build schools and supply furniture. Offenders across the country are giving back to disadvantaged communities and demonstrating remorse for crimes committed.
Offenders and officials have built and renovated several houses and schools, including doing tiling and reroofing, cutting grass and trees, clearing bushes and cleaning yards. Our production workshops, which operate as business units, include 10 wood workshops, 10 steel workshops, 19 textile workshops, six bakeries and three sanitary towel workshops. Agricultural productivity takes place on our 21 Correctional Centre farms and 96 smaller vegetable production sites, all spread over some 40 000 hectares of land.
Since the launch of the Victim Offender Dialogue, VOD, programme on 28 November 2012, more than 85 VOD sessions have been hosted and 1 342 Department of Correctional Services officials trained across the country on the VOD implementation guidelines. The VOD programme is based on a theory of justice that considers crime and wrongdoing to be an offence against an individual or community, rather than just a crime against the state. Restorative justice that fosters dialogue between victim and offender shows the highest rates of victim satisfaction and offender accountability.
As at April this year, 65 000 - which is 98% of offenders under community corrections - complied with all their parole conditions and did not reoffend. Parolees who obtained skills at correctional centres are being provided with work tools and start-up kits to start their own businesses.
Numerous programmes are being rolled out in the provinces. In Gauteng, female learners in conflict with the law from high schools in Johannesburg, including Westbury High School, Forest Hill High School, Botha High School and Kenilworth High School, were taken on tour to the Johannesburg Correctional Centre as a crime-prevention measure. Inmates, parolees and ex-offenders are being utilised to intensify crime-awareness campaigns at other schools, encouraging learners to pursue a crime-free life. At the Helen Joseph Hospital, 17 parolees do work over weekends from 08:00 to 12:00.
In the Free State, offenders are being utilised to clean state institutions such as schools and clinics. Winter jackets are being sewn from offcuts and handed to disadvantaged communities.
In the Eastern Cape, offenders were utilised to build the Bomvini Primary School, the Tolwana Senior Secondary School, the Samson Primary School and the Putuma Junior Secondary School. Offenders are participating and exhibiting artwork at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. In the Buffalo City Municipality, offenders clean and cut grass along the parks.
In the Western Cape, the house of a single mother, Ms Bulelwa Gwavu from Mbekweni, was reconstructed by offenders and officials within two weeks after it was gutted by fire. In the Southern Cape, officials donated money and offender labour was utilised to construct a house for 56-year-old Mr Andries Hendriks who is disabled. The Vulindlela Educare Centre faced closure but, after the intervention of the Department of Correctional Services, offender labour was used to renovate the centre, and it continues to be a safe haven.
In the Limpopo/Mpumalanga/North West region, the Monyuku High School benefits from a vegetable garden tended by offenders to the value of R80 000 a year. Through the Arehodishaneng Co-operative, parolees run a chicken project that produces eggs and meat for the community to the value of R500 000 per year. Several schools in this region have also been renovated.
In KwaZulu-Natal, at this year's Royal Show in Pietermaritzburg, the Department of Correctional Services was awarded first position in the "Dairy Heifers" category. The premier of the province, Zweli Mkhize, handed over a house, which was revamped by offenders, to 118‑year-old Themba Mkhize in Ezakheni. At the Mzwilili Junior Primary School in Umlazi, where the body was found of eight-year-old Nonjabulo Sabela, who had been brutally raped and killed, offenders have been assisting with cutting the grass and clearing the bush and generally renovating the school. A copy of the novel Kwakungeke kube nje was handed to its author, Celimpilo Cele, who is an inmate at the Qalakabusha Correctional facility. This novel won the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Literature Writing Competition, and was published by Oxford University Press.
The overall budget for 2013-14 for the Department of Correctional Services is R18,748 billion. Finally, we thank the House for its ongoing support and oversight. Once more, I would like to thank the Deputy Minister, Adv Ramatlhodi, National Commissioner, Tom Moyane, senior management and all officials for their work in support of our policy objectives. I thank you. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF POLICE / EKS/LIM CHECKED// END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 249
The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF POLICE: Chairperson, Ministers and Deputy Ministers who are present here today, chairperson of the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development, Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen although I don't see them – oh, they are up there in the gallery – this past Sunday the Ministry of Police and the SA Police Service was in active support of the Minister of Social Development and her entire department during the official closing of the event for Child Protection Week in Tzaneen, Limpopo. The event ended but the campaign activities are continuing in earnest throughout the year of 2013 in alignment with the government programme of action of 365 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children.
Children and youth have indeed been put at the top of the priority list of this ANC–led government. The President has taken the lead in this endeavour, and has emphasised a revised youth incentive to alleviate an acute poverty and unemployment situation that is experienced by the majority of young people in South Africa, who are mostly black youths.
Indeed, the government is indeed taking stock of the progress made on youth development, and is identifying challenges and shortcomings that have seen the youth of this country bear the brunt of all types of social ills owing to a lack of socioeconomic development, and the related relevant skills and technical expertise needed in the working environment.
Most probably, the blatant challenge of all that is facing the South African youth, which emanates from a lack of access to developmental programmes, is the high level of substance and alcohol abuse, rape, sexual abuse, violent crimes against the most vulnerable of our society: children, women, the elderly and people with disabilities.
Contrary to the saying that, "When all has failed, government becomes a last line of defence for any societal challenge, including fighting and preventing crime," as the police leadership, we are saying that the community, in partnership with government, must become the alpha and omega of this defence line for the most vulnerable people. Those people closest to them commit this crime against our most vulnerable people. It is difficult to detect and detain the perpetrator as long as the community is distant from the police.
The reality is that most of the crimes committed in South Africa are crimes that arise out of factors over which the police have little or no control of whatsoever. Crime-stimulating factors, such as poverty, unemployment, gender inequality and a decline in the standards of morality or moral fibre, have nothing to do with the core mandate of the police per se. This means that a broader notion of safety and security must be sought – a security that is not solely defined in policing terms, but a security of the most vulnerable that is defined in human terms.
All our departmental activities and programmes to combat and prevent crime point in the direction of humanising crime-combating and prevention. This is why the SA Police Service has given the financial year 2013-14 the theme: "2013 is the Year of the Police Station: Improving Frontline Services." This programmatic approach is not far from the founding policy document of the ruling party, the ANC, which is the Ready to Govern policy document.
From the onset, the first democratically elected ANC-led government founded its policy of safety and security on one basic principle: A national security that acknowledges political, economical, social and environmental dimensions. The ANC's Ready to Govern policy document resolved:
Underdevelopment, poverty, lack of democratic participation and the abuse of human rights are regarded as grave threats to the security of the people.
Our departmental programmes as the SA Police Service are thus geared to national security that is building a nation, and that is coherent, cohesive and co-ordinated towards a better life for all. The policy blueprint of South Africa, the National Development Plan, NDP, desires the same outcome: to create an environment that is conducive for all that dwell in South Africa to pursue their personal goals and to take part in social and economic activities.
The Police Service is thus zealously active in all the relevant interministerial committees, especially the Interministerial Committee to Combat Alcohol and Substance Abuse and the Interministerial Committee on Violence Against Women and Children, which are both led by the Department of Social Development.
In the interministerial committee on the root causes of gender-based violence, the SA Police Service is providing specialised services in prevention, protection, response, care and support through the national management of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, the FSC Unit. The FSC Unit prioritises rape cases, and already a total of about 499 life sentences have been given to the heartless criminals in the financial year 2012-13.
However, we must emphasise that as the Police Service we are no longer only interested in satisfying quantity or volume-based arrests of child rapists, molesters, exploiters and murderers. We are also focused on efficient investigations that include improved and accurate statement-taking in these cases and impactful conviction which involves prolonged sentences for these heinous criminals.
In this regard, the SA Police Service is placing high volume on our current forensic science laboratories. Advances in technology have made DNA testing an established part of crime investigation and prosecution, especially crimes that are perpetrated against our most vulnerable groups in South Africa: children, women, the elderly and people with disabilities.
The SAPS is in the process of finalising the legislation obligation that will see the establishment and administration of a national DNA database. The DNA Database Bill has been tabled before Parliament. Already in existence is the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Act, Act 6 of 2010, which was signed into law by the President on 18 January 2013. Despite criticism and baseless allegations from the prophets of doom about our SAPS forensic laboratories, the SAPS continues to make commendable progress in the eradication of backlogs irrespective of the increase in the number of exhibits received. For instance, for the financial year 2012-13, the backlog decreased by 17% from 25 345 in the quarter one to 20 998 in the quarter two.
We are indeed on course to maintaining and sustaining advanced technology and equipment, including well-trained and highly skilled forensic analysts and crime-scene experts. The end of this financial year, 2013-14, will realise the further deployment of advanced technology and an additional 710 forensic analysts and crime-scene experts.
As the Police Service, we are aware that one of the most important spheres to work with in order to curb child abuse and other youth-related crimes is the school environment. Since educators spend a great deal of time with abused children who are their learners, it becomes important that educators know how to manage these children in the schoolyard and in the classroom.
As I said in the National Assembly last week, the Minister of Police and the Minister of Basic Education signed a protocol implementation agreement in April 2011 to partner for the promotion of safer schools and to prevent the involvement of young people in crime. Out of 25 474 schools, 16 810 schools have already been linked to police stations with functional Safe Schools Committees since the protocol came into effect.
The Minister of Police and the Minister of Basic Education have now delegated their respective duties to their Deputy Ministers to formally launch this protocol. The launch will sensitise parents and inform school media and all other parties, that have vested interests in school safety, about the programmes. It will also highlight the responsibility of both the SAPS and Basic Education in promoting an environment that is conducive to learning and teaching.
We are partnering and collaborating with the Department of Home Affairs and with the Film and Publication Board by facilitating the reporting of child pornography cases for investigation. The SAPS is also actively collaborating with the Department of Social Development and the SA National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence through the Safe Schools programme to address drugs, crime and violence in primary and secondary schools.
The SAPS schools-based crime-prevention co-ordinators will visit schools and facilitate awareness raising of the negative impact of drugs and gangsterism at schools. In my own constituency in the Free State, under the leadership of my premier and my MEC for Safety and Liaison, we recently launched a Free State provincial crime-prevention strategy that calls for a multiagency approach in addressing crime, especially at schools.
During this launch I had an opportunity to engage with youngsters who are addicted to drugs. I am sad to inform you here today that two of the youngsters I interacted with have already died owing to mob justice vigilantism.
Sesotho:
Ke kahoo re kopang setjhaba, re re: Uwele hle setjhaba sa heso, ha re sebedisaneng le sepolesa; re se ke ra inkela molao matsohong. Sepolesa ha se sebedisane le batho hore ba tle ba tsebe, ba ele hloko hore ha ho na le ntho e tla etsahala, ba hle ba be bomalala-a-laotswe Foreistata mane, Ntate Jacobs.
English:
Our festive season operations for the financial year 2012-13 have indicated a trend of a high number of arrests for drug- and alcohol-related crimes, with the Western Cape registering the most affected, at 3 511 arrests. Congratulations!
It is clear then that the visit by the President to Eldorado Park was spot-on. Drug-related crimes are on the increase. The biggest increase in ready dockets was recorded at a rate of 17,01%. As the department, we are hopeful that these integrated programmes, with the Department of Social Development and the SA National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, will begin educating parents on how to spot the signs of drug addiction and gang association so that they are able to recognise if their child is involved and be able to seek appropriate intervention.
With these programmes, we are consistently reminding parents, families and educators that they are unwitting frontline officers in identifying children or youths who could potentially cause a risk to the peace and order of our communities. A week ago, as we know, a 14-year-old youth, who has since been suspected of being under a certain influence, almost wiped out his entire family. With the help of the community, this young suspect was immediately arrested after killing his mother and two siblings, and brutally hacking his grandmother nearly to death. The grandmother is still fighting for her dear life in hospital. The SAPS leadership, indeed, welcomes this working-together approach with the police to apprehend the young suspect of this shocking crime. As the Ministry of Police, we are on course to enhance and deepen this partnership between the police and the community.
Currently, we are viewing the entire policy on policing. The Green Paper on Policing has already been tabled before Cabinet and is now ready for public engagement with the entire nation. The community policing forums and the community safety forums are being strengthened under this new policy to ensure greater participation of communities in policing matters.
It is our hope that this strengthened partnership will also conscientise the community about the extreme conditions under which the police work. Let us all imagine the psychological conditions of those police officers who were the first to respond to the crime scene of the hacked-up family. Let us all take home the fact that the work of a police officer is often traumatic, dangerous and exhausting as a result of witnessing a traumatic act such as a murder, a rape or brutal assault, or the remnants of a brutal and unspeakably violent murder.
It is for this reason that management of the SA Police Service management is not only seeking to improve – and provide for - the working environment and general health and wellness of police officers, but the department is also busy reviewing a policy that will make trauma counselling compulsory for all police officers, as this counselling is voluntary at the moment. In the meantime, we are continuing to plead with and encourage our police officers to demystify the myth that "Men do not cry."
We are pleading with you to use the resources that have been provided by the SA Police Service Employee Health and Wellness Programme, which provides psychological, spiritual and social work services and quality-of-life management. This is a psychosocial network of external providers that offer psychosocial interventions to employees of the SAPS and their immediate families. There is also a 24-hour call centre providing one-to-one telephone counselling and individual trauma debriefing. The call centre staff are available 24/7 to attend to walk-in cases.
In further boosting the morale of our police officers, we are also pleased to announce that the promise made by the President way back on 5 September 2011 on the Police's National Commemoration Day is making good progress. This promise was that a SAPS Education Trust Fund would be established for the families of those members who died on duty, especially for their children's education needs.
The SAPS Education Trust's operating structure is now in place. The verification of the database of deserving beneficiaries has been done. The SAPS Education Trust will be launched officially on 25 July 2013 as part of Mandela Month activities. As the SAPS leadership, we want to ensure that the dependants of these fallen heroes do not go destitute.
As a responsible and caring government, we are also making sure that we strengthen oversight of those who police the police, that is the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Ipid. Much as we care about the psychological and emotional stability of police officers, we are equally committed to the good behaviour of our police officers.
In its one year of existence, Ipid has already shown resolution in getting rid of the few bad apples amongst the ranks of hard-working, credible police officers. Ipid has already led to the arrest of some corrupt and brutal police officers. Ipid has confirmed that it will prioritise the pandemic systemic corruption within the SAPS during the 2013-14 financial year. Chairperson, we must also, as a Ministry, indicate to you or to this House that the process of the appointment of a permanent Ipid head is at an advanced stage. We will have a full-time head by August.
Equally, as the Ministry of Police we have a duty to ensure that the quality of life of all our members is improved, whether active, retired or deceased. In this case, we are still continuing with realising the project I announced at last year's Budget Vote. We are on course in establishing a SAPS non-statutory forces – SAPS NSF - project task team, with the support of the SANDF integration project office to fast-track the implementation of promotion; full recognition of service; pension and privileges; leave days; and skills development of those former NSF members who have been integrated within the SAPS.
Coupled with the SAPS NSF project is the intake of 1 586 SAPS reservists who were trained in the past financial year and permanently employed as security guards to safeguard government institutions. A further 570 intake is planned for this financial year to address the outstanding security needs of the SA Police Service. There are high hopes to link the successful implementation of the above two programmes with the SAPS' centenary celebrations. Policing in South Africa reached the milestone of 100 years of existence just last month.
The SAPS's centenary celebrations will also serve as a means to recognise the contribution made by police officers, in the fight against criminality in our country, within the democratic dispensation. Some of the visible achievements made by the SAPS since the advent of democracy are that its recruitment, training methods and development programmes target women.
As a department, we have made sure that we have participated in the national equity component that was established in 1996 in order to ensure the promotion of equal-employment opportunities and the optimal functioning of women in the SAPS. In 1995, we had 11 260 female police officers. In 2005, there were 17 945 female police officers. Currently, we have more than 20 000 female police officers, but we are still lagging behind in gender equity because we have more than 190 000 police officers in total.
It is befitting then that the SA Police Service has won the bid, with the full backing of our government, to host the International Association of Women Police's 51st training conference to be held in KwaZulu-Natal on 22 September to 26 September 2013. This will be the first of its kind in Africa.
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Minister, your speaking time has expired. You have one minute to wrap up.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF POLICE: Chairperson, thank you very much. All members of Parliament are invited to support women police in Durban on the days I have just mentioned. On these days, we will also be celebrating having won the bid to host this conference in our own country, South Africa. I thank you very much. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT /Mosa/A N N(ed) / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 250
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF POLICE
The MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Chairperson, Minister Ndebele, Deputy Ministers Nel, Ramatlhodi and Surty, and hon members, I feel deeply honoured and privileged to present to this august House the Vote of the extended justice family for the 2013-14 financial year.
As we begin the month of June, our national Youth Month, we honour and salute gallant freedom fighters such as Anton Lembede, A P Mda, Solomon Mahlangu, Peter Mokaba, Walter Sisulu, O R Tambo and countless others who in their youth planted the seed of a fearless struggle that ensured that we today enjoy the fruits of our hard-earned democracy. Anton Lembede, who was a great philosopher, lawyer and a leader had this to say about the selfless sacrifice of our youth of yesterday. I quote:
We are not called to peace, comfort and enjoyment, but to hard work, struggle and sweat. We need young men and women of high moral stamina and integrity; of courage and vision. In short, we need warriors.
Our country needs more warriors from our youth of today to preserve our constitutional democracy and advance the transformation goals envisioned in our Constitution.
In this month, we also commemorate the centennial legacy of the notorious Land Act of 1913. As the justice sector, we seek to implement measures that are geared at strengthening the development and advancement of our jurisprudence on land adjudication. To this end, we have proposed certain legislative measures that aim to strengthen the Land Claims Court, which my counterpart in the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform is considering.
As we approach the 20th year of our democracy, we are inspired and bound by the pledge that our iconic leader Nelson Mandela made during his inauguration in 1994, and I quote:
We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.
This pledge is as relevant to our debate today as it is to our government's quest to address the challenges of inequality, poverty and unemployment.
Twenty years signify a turning point in the life of any institution or government. As every parent would know, 20 years in the upbringing of a child symbolises a bridge from childhood to adulthood. At this transition, a child strives to develop his or her self-identity as he or she prepares for the adventurous stage of maturity. Similarly, 20 years of our democracy have been a period of self-discovery during which we occupied our rightful place amongst the nations of the world. Through this period of self-discovery, we have taken titanic breath strokes in promoting and advancing democracy and the rule of law at home, in the region and on the continent. Our constitutional and legislative transformation is our bedrock from which has sprout the programmes that promise a different South Africa and a qualitatively better one than the one we inherited from the apartheid regime.
During this illustrious journey, our Parliament has passed over 1 294 pieces of legislation through its impeccable lawmaking prowess; our executive, characterised by its industry and foresight, has designed and implemented a maze of policies and legislation; and, in its wisdom, the independent judiciary continues to deliver judgments which shape the course of our destiny as a young nation into the future. Together these three distinct, equal and mutually reinforcing branches of government form an axis on which our constitutional democracy is anchored.
Our Constitution envisages a clear vision of a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic, equal and prosperous society that we all aspire to. Consistent with this vision, the ANC-led government has made significant progress in consolidating our democracy and building a strong government founded on the supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law and human rights.
Chairperson, allow me at this point to briefly outline some of our programmes through which we seek to advance equal justice, human rights and the rule of law. The National Development Plan envisages a South Africa where everyone feels safe in their homes, in their schools and at work, where women walk freely in the streets and where children play safely outside. This is an inspirational vision that propels everyone in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster to do even more. As a result of this inspiration, the concerted and integrated efforts of our cluster and law enforcement agencies are bearing fruit. This is evident from the Victims of Crime Survey conducted by Statistics SA between January and March 2012.
The following outcomes of this survey, which targeted a sample of households across all provinces of our Republic, are worth noting. Most households - 66,4% - travel less than 30 minutes to the nearest police station; 90% of households know where the nearest magistrates' courts are situated; 53% expressed satisfaction with how the courts dealt with perpetrators of crime and listed conviction rates and appropriate sentences as reasons for their positive attitudes towards the courts; 35% felt that the courts were lenient in dealing with perpetrators of crime; while a further 25% felt that the cases dragged on for too long owing to long postponements
As the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster and law enforcement agencies, we commit ourselves to doing even more to exceed the targets that we have set for ourselves. It is in this context that we note, with regret, the attack on the National Prosecuting Authority, the NPA, and the sentiments by some that this important constitutional institution is in deep crisis. These sentiments are far from the truth. May I reassure this honourable House and South Africans that the National Prosecuting Authority is in a healthy state and continues to carry out its constitutional mandate without fear, favour or prejudice. We will be tabling the annual report of the NPA shortly, which will show some of the important strides that this institution and the justice sector as a whole have made in advancing the course of justice.
It is from the concerted efforts of the prosecutors, the judiciary, legal professionals and support staff that we are able to report the following. Of the 916 917 new cases registered for the 2012-13 financial year, 942 792 had been disposed of by 31 March 2013. This shows a higher disposal rate against new cases that are being registered. The number of offenders sentenced to life imprisonment increased, as the Minister Ndebele has highlighted, from 400 in 1994 to 11 000 in March 2013.
Conviction rates across all levels of the courts show an overall increase of 89,9% for all courts, which is broken down as follows: district courts recorded a rate of 90,5% as opposed to 88,1% in 2012; regional courts recorded a rate of 91,9% in 2013, as opposed to 74,3% in 2012; the High Courts recorded a rate of 87,5% in 2013, as opposed to the 84% in 2012; sexual offences recorded a conviction rate of 65,8%, up from 65,1%; and commercial crimes recorded a 92,9% conviction rate, up from 91,6% attained in 2012.
Backlog courts continue to play a significant role in reducing our caseload. These courts have finalised 57 668 cases since their establishment in November 2006. We have taken a very conscious decision to create permanent magistrate posts and supporting staff in instances where these courts have been sitting continually for lengthy periods of time.
It is important to stress that our courts sit every day and in those courts, each - and at any given time - every one of the more than 3 100 prosecutors countrywide puts his or her foot forward in search of a conviction. That is their job, which they do under the supervision of their line managers who, in turn, function under the watchful eye of the Director of Public Prosecutions in each of our nine provinces.
The productivity of our courts is further enhanced by the efforts of the judiciary under the able leadership of Chief Justice Mogoeng. Case-flow management structures at both the High Courts and magistrates' courts are in place to monitor each stage of the trial. A National Efficiency Enhancement Committee, comprising heads of courts, the Directors-General of Justice and Constitutional Development and of Public Works, the heads of the NPA and of Legal Aid SA, has been established and meets regularly to address blockages across the entirety of the criminal justice value chain. I have also structured meetings with heads of courts where challenges that remain unresolved are escalated at this level of engagement. We continue to leverage mutual benefits and draw strength from the government's motto of "Working together we can do more."
We are very grateful that Parliament has finalised the Judicial Code of Conduct which has come into effect. We are optimistic that the Regulations on Judges' Disclosure of Registrable Interests, which I am advised that this House is still considering, will be finalised soon. Both the code and the regulations will go a long way in strengthening measures that are geared at promoting and enhancing judicial independence and accountability.
We have also stepped up our efforts in fighting corruption. The close interaction between the Special Investigating Unit, SIU, the Anti-Corruption Task Team, the Hawks and the Asset Forfeiture Unit are yielding notable results as we speak. Let me warn, at this juncture, the perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence: we are ready to deal with you.
The Sexual Offences Unit in the National Prosecuting Authority and its counterparts in the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units in the SA Police Service are ready to meet you at our 57 dedicated sexual offences courts where you will face the full might of the law.
Last year, these units secured over 363 life sentences in sexual offences cases. Our firm political commitment to this objective is matched by the allocation of additional financial, human and technological resources. This will ensure that we create conditions in which the dignity of victims is respected and the maximum in terms of convictions can be secured. Additional intermediaries are being appointed, closed-circuit televisions are being installed and additional magistrates will also be appointed.
We are pleased that this House has also approved the Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act, the Superior Courts Bill and the Sheriffs Amendment Act. These pieces of legislation are geared to further advance the transformation of our judicial system. The Superior Courts Bill, in particular, provides for a legislative mechanism for the rationalisation of the 13 High Courts.
I am pleased to report as well that the SA Judicial Education Institute, which is assigned the responsibility for the training of aspirant and serving judicial officers, is in full swing. Since it commenced with judicial education programmes in January 2012, the institute has trained 2 187 judicial officers and has had 56 seminars and educational workshops.
The finalisation of the Traditional Courts Bill, which is before this honourable House, will not only repeal the remnants of the Black Administration Act of 1927, but will also bring the quasi-judicial functions of traditional leaders into conformity with our Constitution. In the absence of a regulatory framework, it becomes difficult for traditional leaders to be held accountable for the exercise of their quasi-judicial functions which relate to dispute resolution. The complaints and alleged acts of abuse of public power by certain traditional leaders, including gender prejudices and biases against women, are not the consequences of the Bill, but the absence of a regulatory framework to regulate their quasi-judicial mandate.
The department will soon be commencing with the review of the powers and functions of Justices of the Peace, who, similar to traditional leaders, have an important quasi-judicial function in the administration of justice.
The transformation of the legal profession is another important area we are focusing on. The Legal Practice Bill, which is before Parliament, seeks to change the systemic make-up of this legal profession. It provides for the establishment of democratically elected governance structures that will regulate the admission and conduct of legal practitioners. The Bill also sets out a framework for the complete overhaul of the admission requirements and vocational training, which have become barriers to access to the profession for previously disadvantaged individuals.
We are steadfastly moving with our reform of state legal services. We will soon be introducing to Parliament a Bill that will replace the State Attorney Act of 1957. This Bill seeks to establish a dispensation of solicitor-general who will represent the state in civil litigation. Furthermore, we have increased the allocation of legal work and briefs to previously disadvantaged individuals from the 65% we set in May last year to 70% in this current year. We are confident that the target we have set will benefit more women, and thereby enhance opportunities for them to nurture their legal skills, which are indispensable for appointment to the judiciary.
Since 1994, we have built 43 new courts, most of which are in rural villages and areas that were previously marginalised. We have also upgraded 24 branch courts and converted them into full-service courts.
The current major projects are the construction of the Limpopo High Court, which is scheduled for completion in June 2014; and the construction of the Mpumalanga High Court, which is expected to commence in July of this year. A further eight magistrates' courts will be constructed within the next five years. These include Dimbaza and Bityi in the Eastern Cape, Mamelodi in Gauteng, Port Shepstone in KwaZulu Natal, Springbok and Garies in the Northern Cape and Plettenberg Bay and Goodwood in the Western Cape. Over the next three years, the department will spend R3,1 billion on the construction of courts and other infrastructure.
The increasing demand of maintenance services has challenged the department to find innovative ways to facilitate maintenance cases and make speedier payments to maintenance beneficiaries. We have already introduced the electronic funds transfer system, the EFT system, to improve efficiency in our courts.
This year, we have also increased the centres of payment of the Guardian's Fund benefits from 10 in our previous financial year to 29. This fund, the value of which currently stands at R9 billion, contributes to the improvement of the quality of life of thousands of our orphaned children.
Through the Small Claims Courts we ensure that the most vulnerable and poor members of society, in disputes of a less than R12 000, are able to obtain legal remedies without having to fork out a cent to obtain the services of a lawyer, meaning "mahala" [free]. We are on course to reach our target of establishing at least one functioning and active Small Claims Court for each and every one of the 387 magisterial districts.
A total budget of R16,7 billion has been allocated to the department. Of this, R5,8 billion is for court services, R3 billion is for the NPA, and R1,8 billion for public entities and Chapter 9 institutions. We are also going to be increasing our investment in Thuthuzela Care Centres, upgrading the information technology for the criminal justice system, and providing additional capacity for Legal Aid and the Office of the Public Protector, as well as the Human Rights Commission.
Let me thank my Deputy for his continuing unwavering support, Director-General Nonkululeko Sindane, Memme Sejosengwe, and the heads and chairpersons of all statutory bodies. Also, special thanks go to the chairperson of the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development and members of this committee for their leadership and guidance. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr T M H MOFOKENG / NN/GC / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 251
The MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Mr T M H MOFOKENG: Deputy Chair, hon Ministers Ndebele and Radebe, Deputy Ministers Nel, Adv Ramatlhodi and Sotyu, National Commissioner Ntate Moyane, and hon members, the National Development Plan's Vision for 2030 envisages people living in South Africa who feel safe at school and at work. They should also enjoy community life free from fear.
Women should walk freely in the streets and children play safely outside. This calls for a Police Service that is well resourced and professional, well staffed by highly skilled officers who value their work, serve the community, safeguard lives and property without discrimination, protect the peaceful against the violent, and respect the rights to equality and justice. For this to be achieved, we require a well-functioning criminal justice system in which the police, the judiciary and Correctional Services work together to ensure that suspects are caught, prosecuted and convicted, and, if found guilty, securely incarcerated and rehabilitated.
Our people long for a free South Africa that is at peace with itself. We need a strong criminal justice system, which requires co-operation among all the departments in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster. The correct implementation of the recommendations in the Review of the South African Criminal Justice System will go far in dealing with the system's current weaknesses. The current budget should realise that the Police Service is essential for a strong criminal justice system.
The National Development Plan proposes linking the police code of conduct and a code of professional police practice to promotion and disciplinary regulations. The decision to demilitarise the police, moving away from its history of brutality, was a goal of transformation after 1994. The scars of apartheid police brutality are still fresh in our minds and any police conduct similar to past behaviour will receive condemnation from our people.
The remilitarisation of the police in recent years has not garnered greater community respect for police officers, nor has it secured higher conviction rates. Certainly, a paramilitary police force does not augur well for a modern democracy in an aspiring, developmental state.
The police require capacity and skills to become more competent, professional and efficient. Our communities will then see them as a resource that protects them and responds to people's needs, based on the laws of our country. We are well aware of the criticism and noise as a result of police conduct that resulted in the death of Andries Tatane, Mozambican national Mido Marcia, the Marikana incident, and only recently a Tshwane University of Technology student was shot and killed when police stopped and searched the vehicle he was in.
Our police should know that they are not above the laws of our country, and are expected to uphold them like any law-abiding citizen. Those found on the wrong side of the law should face the consequences. These include criminals in the Police Service who dent the image of committed police officers. The efforts of police are highly appreciated to rid the service of those corrupt officers. The recent visit during a provincial week to the Phuthaditjhaba and Tsheseng police stations in the Free State revealed that those stations are underresourced and that makes it difficult for the police to be efficient. The shortage of vehicles impacts negatively on their performance.
Also affected is the community policing forum. The area is mountainous and borders Lesotho. The area can't be properly patrolled, and stock theft is too high.
The good work done by the police cannot go unnoticed. The recent raids of hostels in Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng, as well as Mitchells Plain and Eldorado Park; the arrest of drug dealers in KwaZulu-Natal; and the closing of drug-producing laboratories in our communities are highly appreciated. Violence against women and children cannot be ignored, and we hope our police will do much to curb it.
The budget should also address the welfare of police officers in order to boost their morale. It must also address equipping them so that they are safe on duty and do not get killed while performing their duties. We also take this opportunity to condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the killing of our police by criminals.
Achieving long-term, sustainable safety requires tracking the fundamental causes of criminality. This would mean mobilising state and nonstate resources and capacity at all levels, including citizen involvement and co-responsibility.
The successful reintegration of released inmates into society is largely dependent upon the quality of rehabilitation programmes and conditions into which former inmates are released. Correctional Services play a vital role in rehabilitating inmates and reducing recidivism by preventing former inmates from relapsing into criminal activity and, in so doing, putting the safety of communities at risk.
The budget must address the vacancies in Correctional Services - the shift system - as was raised at the Groenpunt Correctional Centre during our oversight visit. The violence that erupted in the Groenpunt, St Albans and Pollsmoor Correctional Centres should be addressed so that it never occurs again.
Gang-related violence and the smuggling of dangerous weapons, cellphones and drugs must also be looked into. The abuse and assault of inmates by correctional officials must be addressed, including the assault of correctional officials by inmates. Inmates are also human and their rights should be respected. They must be allowed access to medical treatment when they are sick, especially those with HIV, Aids and TB.
The dialogue between the inmates and victims should be encouraged and should spread to all centres. The correctional centres should be used as centres of learning and academic excellence so that inmates become better citizens upon leaving the centres. Government departments must also review and relax rules for appointing people with criminal records when these people have been rehabilitated and are requesting a second chance. The electronic monitoring system of parolees should be extended so that many inmates are placed on parole, which will alleviate overcrowding.
The budget for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development should also ensure that enough resources are available for the implementation of the Superior Courts Bill, which was recently passed by Parliament. We hope that the taking over of some responsibilities by the Office of the Chief Justice will allow the wheel of justice to turn smoothly. The case backlog and the disappearance of dockets should be addressed. The new remand system should be expanded, which will assist in decreasing escapes of accused taken to courts.
We welcome the recently opened court in Ntuzuma and we hope that it will assist the people of that area in accessing justice. The budget should also assist in the renovation of dilapidated courts and the speedy completion of new courts. The delays caused by Public Works to complete the projects timeously delays and denies our people justice.
The recent outcry about the failure of the National Prosecuting Authority to secure convictions is also a cause for concern that the department should address. Example are the cases of employer Mrs Breytenbach; the acquittal of two suspects in the rape and murder case of Anene Booysen; the acquittal of Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown, which was taken on appeal and turned down this morning; and many others where the accused have been acquitted because of lack of evidence. This is said well aware of those cases where convictions have been secured.
The budget should also address the transformation of the judiciary, especially the placing of women and people living with disabilities on the bench. The ANC supports the Budget Votes of the Police, Correctional Services, Justice and Constitutional Development. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr J M G BEKKER / MALUTA\\\tfm///END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 252
Mr T M H MOFOKENG
Mr J M G BEKKER: Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers, hon colleagues and hon guests, to debate four Budget Votes simultaneously is a big order. I will try to make a few remarks about each one. I always believe that the police of a country should be respected by every citizen. The citizens see the police as their safety and security insurance. I am, however, afraid that in our country we are ashamed of their behaviour in most cases, except a small minority who are willing to give their lives for the country.
We read daily about missteps by members of the police. We hear daily criticisms of their behaviour. The enforcers of law and safety have no respect for the laws of this country and for their fellow citizens.
Afrikaans:
Dit gaan ons egter niks help om hulle te kritiseer en af te breek nie. Die regering moet sekere basiese beginsels toepas om dit reg te stel.
Ek wil begin by keuring. Ons het 'n geweldige hoë werkloosheidsyfer, maar baie swak of bykans geen keuringsproses nie. In die wêreldtegnologie is daar soveel toetse om 'n mens se vlakke van bekwaamheid en vermoë om stres te hanteer, te bepaal. Word daar enigsins hieraan aandag gegee? Polisiebeamptes verloor selfbeheer en hulle naasbestaandes en die mense om hulle moet dit ontgeld. Dit word veroorsaak omdat hulle nie stres kan hanteer of opleiding kry hoe om druk te hanteer nie.
Hoe goed is die opleiding van die poiisie? Word speurders opgelei op 'n basis dat hulle die werk kan doen? Daar word gedurig na getalle verwys, maar die tekens van swak opleiding is orals. Hoeveel sake word deur howe van die rol gehaal, omdat daar swak of min getuienisse is? Weet hulle hoe om 'n oproerige skare te hanteer en te beheer?
Daar moet 'n trots by die polisie gekweek word dat dit 'n prestasie is om in die polisiemag te wees. Dit moet 'n voorreg wees en nie 'n reg nie.
English:
The SA Police Service's Crime Intelligence Division was created to attend to police officers' behaviour. It is actually there as a safeguard for the police. It is now a police force to police our police.
As a result, it has become a huge department with a budget allocation of R197,9 million, increasing by 23% per year. The total number of cases against the police is astonishing. The number of active cases in Gauteng for 2013 is 767 with 127 court matters. In KwaZulu-Natal, it is 861 with 107 court cases. They do not have enough investigators to attend to all the cases. Now you can understand why the public has completely lost confidence in the police.
Afrikaans:
Dit is ongelooflik dat polisiebeamptes aangekla en skuldig bevind kan word op soveel kriminele oortredings. Hoe gaan ons die golf van bedrog en kriminele oortredings gestuit kry? Ons is egter dankbaar vir die lede wat dit as 'n roeping sien.
Ons glo daar sal by die basiese beginsels begin moet word om die Polisiemag skoon te kry, in plaas van om hulle te vervolg soos kriminele. Die beginsels is keuring, opleiding en dissipline binne die mag. Merieteanstellings sal gemaak moet word. Ons kan nie hierdie hoë vloei van leiers van die mag hanteer en die geweldige hoë koste vir 'n oneffektiewe departement absorbeer nie. Die hoof van die polisie kan nie in die gevangenis gaan aftree nie.
English:
If we look at justice, we immediately notice the big backlog that exists in all our courts. Is this due to bad and insufficient investigations by the police, or is it due to bad management of the courts? We believe that the period from when a criminal charge is laid to when the court gives judgment is too long, sometimes up to two years. We are happy that the sexual offences courts are going to be reinstated. We are worried that the budget will not be able to finance them.
Afrikaans:
Ons is egter ontsteld dat sommige magistrate en aanklaers deelgeneem het aan 'n onbeskermde staking. Ons is dankbaar vir die magistrate en aanklaers wat soms onder moeilike omstandighede hulle werk doen. Die interaksie en kommunikasie tussen die polisielede en amptenare van Justisie laat ook veel te wense oor. Die gesamentlike doelwit moet wees om kriminele te vang en te verhoor op 'n regverdige manier.
Die Openbare Beskermer geniet baie hoë aansien in die oog van die publiek. Hulle glo sy is die enigste wat dit kan regkry om reg te laat geskied. Die funksionering van Justisie is van uiterste belang en ons glo dat die bestuur en werking nie onder verdenking moet wees nie. Ons glo daarom dat die aanstelling van sleutelpersone baie aandag moet geniet. Daar was die afgelope tyd te veel onsekerhede rondom hierdie persone.
Ons is bekommerd oor die rol wat politiek hier speel en glo dat die aanstelling eerder op 'n ander wyse gedoen moet word as deur die President, of liewers dat die liggaam wat hom adviseer, nie polities-gedryf moet wees nie. Ons soek net effektiwiteit en doeltreffendheid om hierdie groot probleem van misdaad aan te spreek.
English:
To stop crime we need to use Correctional Services as a way to rehabilitate offenders. It is no use to put offenders in jail for years and then after they are released they come back and commit a greater offence. The department can measure their success rate by measuring how many offenders come back and after what period. This is the only way to measure their effectiveness. It is of the utmost importance that an offender must be reintegrated into his or her society. There must be parole rules to help and keep an eye on an offender to go back into normal life schedules.
Afrikaans:
Gevangenes moenie net opgesluit wees nie, maar moet werk, opgelei word of die geleentheid kry om te leer. Bewaarders moet goed opgelei wees en dit ten doel hê om hierdie mense te help. Die mag van bendes in gevangenisse moet aan bande gelê word deur leiers op te spoor en te verwyder en geen kommunikasie met die buite wêreld toe te laat nie. Daar moet gepoog word om gereelde oortreders weg te hou van eerste oortreders, andersins word hulle verkeerd opgelei. Hulle ontvang universiteitsopleding in die pleeg van misdaad vanaf die ou inwoners.
Oorbevolking is 'n groot probleem en in plaas van meer fasiliteite moet gekyk word na ander straf maatreëls buite, om die getalle af te bring. Daar is 'n te groot aantal verhoorafwatiges en bykans onskadelike persone in aanhouding.
Die samevoeging van groepe moet fyn beplan word, met die gevaar van oordraagbare siektes. Die regte in die Menseregte wetgewing word hier misbruik. Almal het regte, maar dit moenie ander onskuldiges benadeel nie. Hoekom moet 'n HIV-skoon persoon saam met 'n draer van die virus geplaas word?
Ons glo dat die werking van hierdie vier departemente veel te wense oorlaat. Die regering sal die interaksie tussen die departemente moet verbeter en daarna streef om 'n wisselwerking te verkry. Almal moet dieselfde visie en missie hê. Ons hoor, volgens die statistiek, dat daar 'n groot verbetering is, maar dit is nog nie waarneembaar nie.
Ons gaan die stryd teen korrupsie verloor as ons dit nie stuit nie. Hierdie is 'n uiters belangrike onderdeel van die staat wat hierdie ramp kan vermy en die gety kan laat draai. Ek dank u.
src
Mr A G MATILA / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 253
Mr J BEKKER
Mr A G MATILA: Hon Deputy Chair, hon Ministers, members, ladies and gentlemen, today as the ANC we have come to debate and support the Budget Votes of the Departments of Police, Correctional Services, Justice and Constitutional Development, and of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Ipid, in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security, JCPS, cluster.
Outcome 12 is meant to ensure that all people in South Africa are and feel safe. The outcome we expect is that the Police Service is trusted by the communities it polices. Although we have come here to support the budget of the SA Police Service, we share the concern of many other South Africans that the police have disappointed us in the Republic of South Africa.
This year alone, we have seen the brutality of the SAPS expand when rough members beat up innocent people, for example the death of the Daveyton taxi driver, and the shooting and killing of the Marikana strikers by police officers. The police can and must do better. While the crime rate has gone down, the figures for death in police custody, or death because of police action, are still too high. In the past financial year, death as a result of police action or in police custody decreased from 797 in 2010-11 to 720 in 2011-12. What can we expect to see in the 2013-14 report? The perception is that it certainly has decreased. I hope the figures for 2012-13 confirm this. This is a tragedy that we cannot afford. It is a tragedy that the SAPS and indeed the country can ill afford.
The Auditor-General has shown that the SAPS has a problem with managing consultants and corruption within the institution. We cannot have a situation in which the premier law enforcement agency is clearly not in a position to deal with corruption in its own ranks.
We have heard the Minister state that the budget of the SAPS has been increased to R76 billion for this financial year, and we expect that it will be increased over the medium term. When we think about it, it is a huge amount and we have to make sure that such a budget is translated into effective financial management and effective crime prevention that make all our people safe. But what are the areas that we need to focus on when dealing with the police?
Firstly, professionalism must be at the core of the work that the SAPS does. We expect the SAPS to treat the people they police with respect and dignity. The few rotten apples in the organisation must be dealt with, and we are glad that the Minister has indicated that he will not tolerate such individuals in the SAPS.
Secondly, the SAPS must take the incidence of stock theft in rural areas seriously. We are certain that the syndicates that operate in rural areas can be arrested. We expect no less, and we firmly believe that this must happen as a matter of urgency.
Thirdly, we must make sure that the SAPS has watertight plans to deal with its capital building expenditure, because our communities urgently need quality policing services. The maintenance and management of the SAPS vehicle fleet must also be tightly managed so that members do not have problems attending to complaints from our communities.
Lastly, the ANC must applaud the Police Commissioner, Gen Phiyega, for assuming the leadership of the SAPS with the confidence that will undoubtedly promote the wellbeing and career equity of women in the SAPS.
It is clear that the SAPS management has placed sector policing at the top of its agenda. We can only succeed if the police and communities are closer to each other, and sector policing provides this opportunity. We also want to congratulate the SAPS on making more material resources available to detectives in the course of this year, the Year of the Detective. The training of detectives provides better opportunities for reducing crime, apprehending guilty parties and better forensic-dependent methods.
Despite the criticisms levelled at the SAPS, we must be clear that there has been progress. I am one hundred percent convinced that the overwhelming majority of members of the SAPS want to see the crime profile of the country change so that people are and feel safe.
We are happy that there are 176 Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences units around the country. We are happy that over 900 police stations have been involved in the roll-out. We believe that the specialist training provided for officers in these units will go a long way to protect our women and children.
It is under the leadership of the ANC that we see the proposals from the National Development Plan find effect, with the hosting of the first international conference on women being facilitated by the SAPS. The SAPS is clearly showing us that it is able to bring down the rate of crime and that it can do this with the help and support of all South Africans
We are clear that Ipid must play an important role in dealing with police officers who violate the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act. We believe that Ipid should deal much more vigorously with noncompliance with the Domestic Violence Act by members of the SAPS. The ANC is clear that Ipid must take its mandate seriously when it comes to ensuring that the SAPS is rid of corrupt elements who do not deserve to be in the police.
But before Ipid does so, it needs its leadership and management structures to be effective. Currently, the top structures of Ipid do not inspire confidence, because most of them are film stars – meaning actors. We believe the time for acting appointments is over. No structure or government department can be effective if there is no leader – no one in a position to take the proper decisions because of he or she is in an acting position. We are thankful that the process of appointments is now being finalised. Ipid must align its budget and annual performance plans with the provisions of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Act.
The ANC has resolved to carry through this programme of making sure that corruption does not contaminate the policing institutions. We therefore support the development of the new Independent Police Investigative Directorate Act. We now need to see the vigorous implementation of the Ipid Act.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate has indicated that it is on a new trajectory and has begun to align its programmes with the new Act. We believe that Ipid should proceed down that path, which would enable its structures to cope with the organisational demands placed on it by the pace of the developments. We are also pleased that Ipid has taken its place in the JCPS cluster, and we are convinced that greater levels of co-operation between the SAPS and the Ipid will now be possible. The ANC will continue supporting the Ipid budget.
The Department of Correctional Services has many challenges. We are of the opinion that the department delivers a necessary and valuable service to incarcerated inmates. However, there are a number of challenges faced by the department.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon member, your time is over. Could you conclude?
Mr A G MATILA: Chair, let me conclude by saying to the hon Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development that the community of the eastern side of Tshwane has been waiting for ... because soil was turned in Mamelodi a few years ago and they were told that a regional court would be built there. To date, this area includes Bronkhorstspruit, Cullinan, etc. Unfortunately, those people are suffering precisely because they have to travel over long distances to the overcrowded central Pretoria court. We therefore hope that the Minister will investigate this particular matter and make sure that the process is undertaken quickly. As the ANC, we support all the Budget Votes. I thank you. [Applause.]
Ms M SCHEEPERS / AZM MNGUNI / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 254
Mr A G MATILA
Ms M SCHEEPERS: Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Minsters, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, our justice system consists of the police, prosecutors, presiding officers – which are the judges and magistrates that are often referred to as the courts - and Correctional Services. This value chain of our justice system is critical to all successful convictions and proper sentencing, and any weaknesses in any element of this chain has dire consequences for our society.
I will be concentrating on the entry level of the justice value chain, which is the police who are at the coalface of our national peace and security. I wish to emphasise that, like all callings and professions, our men and women in blue are recruited from our society. If we see good and bad police officers, they are a reflection of ourselves as communities. We must be introspective and determine whether we are an inherently violent society and whether our children, who join the SA Police Service, will be immune from violent behaviour.
In 1996, the government adopted the National Crime Prevention Strategy, which provided the framework for a multidimensional approach to crime prevention. As a society, we commend the SAPS for our safety and protection, as evidenced by the decrease in crime. In particular, bank robberies have decreased by 64,2% over the past three years, cash-in-transit heists by 53,6%, murder by 17,2%, sexual offences by 11,9% and rape by 2,9%.
We applaud the Minister for reintroducing the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences units to combat these horrendous crimes against the most vulnerable members of our society: women and children.
As a caring government, our President heeded the call by concerned mothers in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg, this past month, to rid their community of the scourge of drug trafficking and abuse, unfortunately by the most vulnerable of our society, which is our children, our future.
These statistics bear testimony to the fact that there is a breed of Police Service official that understands, appreciates and respects his or her uniform and badge. We must, therefore, as a society ask the pertinent question whether the reduction in crime is the result of a change in behaviour within society, or hard work by the SAPS in crime prevention.
I want to concede that the latter pertains. We read the print media, we see on television and we hear on radio of the arrest, successful prosecution, conviction and sentencing of criminals, owing to the dedication of our men and women in blue.
Indeed, these successes emanate from a new culture that we as society are observing and experiencing with regard to the SAPS – that of community partnership. We must therefore demystify the word "impimpi", which in the new democratic state should be given a positive connotation as it applies to whistle-blowing. It is only truly through an integrated justice system, in partnership with communities, that peace and security will be sustained.
There have been unsavoury incidents involving our Police Service members in the recent past, some of which received intensive media exposure to the detriment of the uniform and the badge. When the White Paper on Policing was adopted, we stated that in the new democratic order that South Africans demand and deserve accountable, effective and service-orientated policing.
The rights enshrined in the Constitution, enacted in 1996, aim to ensure safety by protecting citizens who come into contact with the law, and by obliging the state to provide adequate security from those who perpetrate crime.
In the past, the majority of citizens were concerned about abuse by the agencies of state. However, with the advent of democracy, the public now also demands the effective provision of safety. This means that policing in a democracy requires professional law enforcement, which does not infringe on human rights. This also requires a concerted effort by government, in partnership with civil society, to prevent crime before it occurs.
The above policy statement is as relevant today as it was then, and it shall remain so in the future. We call upon the hon Minister to ensure that it permeates all management echelons and ranks in the SA Police Service. The ANC supports the Minister's Budget Vote of 2013-14. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES / TH/END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 255
Ms M SCHEEPERS
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Deputy Chairperson, Ministers Ndebele and Radebe, Deputy Ministers Nel and Sotyu, hon members, and management under the leadership of Commissioner Moyane of Correctional Services, the three main streams of core business of the department are vested in three programmes: remand detention, incarceration and corrections, and social reintegration. My focus areas mainly find presence in remand detention and social reintegration.
Hon members, I am pleased to share with you the considerable progress that the department has made in terms of remand detention. The remand detention branch was established on 1 April 2012. Subsequent to that, the branch head was appointed, and she is in place. The vacancies in the branch structure on the national level were filled, and a draft regional and management area organisational structure was developed and submitted for approval. We are hoping to fill positions at those levels soon.
One of the first and key responsibilities of this new branch was to develop a White Paper on Remand Detention that is aligned to Correctional Services legislation and specifically to the Correctional Services Matters Amendment Act. This has been done.
Several key stakeholders and interest groups have consulted on the White Paper. The document has now been submitted to the national development committee for further consultation processes with the director-general's committee, the Ministers' committee and the Cabinet committee, and will eventually come before Parliament for approval.
In this regard, the department works closely with partners in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster and enjoys excellent support from them. Case-flow management meetings and criminal justice review meetings, as well as Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster development committee meetings are attended, and the refinement of the remand detention system features prominently on their agendas.
The protocols on section 49G: maximum incarceration periods for remand detainees, and section 49E: referral of terminally ill remand or severely incapacitated remand detainees to court, were endorsed and approved by the relevant Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster directors-general. Protocols were further unpacked into operational policies, and the relevant forms required for implementation were developed.
Standardised presentations were also developed and circulated to the national integrated court and the case-flow management secretariat for further distribution to all the provincial and local case-flow structures that are chaired by the judiciary. The official implementation date for section 49E protocols was 1 December 2012, and referrals are being monitored at the national level. The official implementation date set for section 49G protocols is 1 July 2013, and the preparatory processes for promulgation are in place.
Information technology solutions for implementation and accurate data capturing were developed in 2012 and implemented on 1 April 2013. These solutions will assist in determining which remand detainees qualify for referral to court at certain intervals in line with section 49G provisions.
A tool for calculating the length of detention was also developed and implemented on 1 April 2013, with a three-month testing period in place. In addition, a monitoring tool was developed for completion by all regions that will make it easier for the calculation of a national average length of detention of particular inmates.
A security risk classification system for remand detainees was developed in conjunction with the SA Police Service. This was done during 2011 to 2012. A testing phase of the system and tools started on 1 December 2012 and will continue during 2013-14. Once the system's effectiveness and reliability are guaranteed, it will be rolled out to all remand detention facilities in the country.
Twenty-six dedicated remand detention facilities were established across the country, and a further 109 centres have been authorised to establish remand detention sections with effect from 1 March 2012. Twenty-two video arraignment courts in correctional centres serving 47 magistrates' courts have been established. However, challenges relating to both Telkom and the ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network - and theft of equipment have prevented the system from functioning optimally.
Bright yellow uniforms are being manufactured by offenders in the department's textile workshop. According to projections, the wearing of uniforms by all remand detainees will start during the second half of 2014. This will contribute to better security management in remand detention facilities and improve hygiene issues.
Although we do not want to accommodate children in remand detention, there are, unfortunately, cases in which a court has no alternative but to refer children for remand detention to our centres. In that case, we are working in close collaboration with the justice sector to ensure that we adhere to the stipulations of the Child Justice Act.
I am pleased to report that the total number of children in remand detention has decreased considerably over the past three years. The installation of audiovisual systems in parole board offices is due soon. Final-bid evaluation documents and recommendations were submitted to the procurement division for submission to the national bid adjudication committee. We are waiting for the awarding of this contract.
In 2007, the department developed a policy on restorative interventions. This included the victim-offender mediation model, which outlines the process of identifying offenders who are genuinely ready to take part in victim-offender mediation.
We must appreciate the role of inspecting judges for the observations that they are making regarding areas where the department needs to make improvements. In this regard, I would like to pay special homage to Justice Vuka Tshabalala and his team.
The legal services component of our department has been bolstered by the appointment of a chief director. We are faced with a massive and extensive legal risk that emanates not only from offenders and remand detainees, but also from our officials and their respective labour organisations in some instances.
In conclusion, we would like to express our deep appreciation to this House for supporting our budget. I would also like to thank my Minister, his commissioner and the management team of Correctional Services for a good working relationship. We work as a team, and we are doing very well. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr M W MAKHUBELA / Mpho/.../TM / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 256
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
Mr M W MAKHUBELA: Deputy Chairperson, thank you very much for the debate on these four Budget Votes. I want to start with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. It seems as if there is a big crisis as far as mob justice is concerned. What could be the problem? Does the problem follow the statement made by a certain gentleman who said that, "Prisons are only for people that cannot resolve problems," that "Lawyers cannot deal with legal matters," and that "Africans must solve their problems in an African way and not use the white man's way". This statement can prompt ... those people to do that.
I heard the Minister talking more about – and not defending - the National Prosecution Authority, NPA. The NPA has lost its credibility since 2009. It is better for them to build it now so that they can attain the respect they are supposed to have. If they don't do that, they will never get any respect from that group. You see them in the media - time and again they are there.
The issue of black languages or African languages is long overdue. We are 18 years into democracy now. We have learned judges – retired judge Pius Langa, and Ngcobo; we have Moseneke and Mogoeng Mogoeng – who can sit down and come up with a programme of using African languages in court. But when are we going to use them?
Department of Correctional Services, thank you very much: You are very good. I respect you. I'm sure it's because you are still new there. There is a monster called kgolomodumo in the Sesotho language. But in the prisons department this monster is called Bosasa. Sometimes you are still standing outside. If you got into the belly of that structure, Minister and National Commissioner, you would be doomed. You would be like Jonah going to Nineveh. You would only talk through an intercom from the tomb. You would never work. Don't get into that. I would like to ask: How many people are working as directors and are also family members of officials in that kgolumodumo?
Now, I come to the Police department. What do members of the Police Service say about seeing police officers disperse a crowd on TV? Are these officers in line with the training they have been given? Are they doing what you know they are supposed to do? If not, what did you do? Let me give you some advice. There is a book on mob psychology written by Raymond Momboisse from the University of Cincinnati in America. Go and get that book. It describes the size of the police who must ... Those people are very good.
Detectives, how many times did you brief the commissioner about investigations? The scene of a crime is where you get evidence. If you don't get evidence there, you are doomed to failure. There is a book on hints on the investigation of crime and investigation tactics written by Charles Swanson. These books will help these people.
How old are your Nyala vehicles? They are too old. How old are they? They are still using them. Let us be a modernised Police Service. Don't work like the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, because you have no resources. Now you have lot of resources. Please do what is required. The Ipid has no resources. Please help them. Why are recommendations written to the national commissioner not coming forth?
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Nyambi, are you rising on a point of order?
Mr A J NYAMBI: It's a question, Chair.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Nyambi, could you please take your seat? Continue, hon member.
Mr M W MAKHUBELA: Ipid do not have resources. When they send recommendations to the national commissioner, the recommendations do not come back with answers. Why? These people must be strengthened to do the work they are supposed to do.
We appreciate the conference of the ladies. It will be a very good thing. Thank you very much for that. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr J J GUNDA / GC / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 257
Mr M W MAKHUBELA
Mr J J GUNDA: Hon Deputy Chair, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers, members, ladies and gentlemen, let me start by quoting what Martin Luther King, Jr said:
Our hope for creative living in this world house that we have inherited lies in our ability to re-establish the moral ends of our lives in personal character and social justice. Without this spiritual and moral reawakening, we shall destroy ourselves in a misuse of our instruments ... This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.
Afrikaans:
Adjunkvoorsitter, die polisie is veronderstel om ons trots te wees wat veiligheid en dissipline betref. In ons hedendaagse lewe is dit tragies om te lees en te sien hoe sommige polisiemanne hul plig teenoor die gemeenskap misbruik om hulle te mishandel en hulle te disrespekteer. Die begroting van die Departement van Polisie is veronderstel om dienslewering aan die gemeenskappe maklik te maak, maar daar is altyd 'n tekort aan hul vervoer asook aan hul personeel.
English:
Let me focus on just one problem in the police. The police are there to assist us. But victim-support centres are really needed throughout the country. In small places, it is a struggle to have that – and what is the reason? It is because they don't budget for these centres. The budget of the Police Service must not suit the police. It must suit the people of South Africa. It must suit the needs of the people of South Africa. They should not budget for them to benefit. They should budget for the community of South Africa to benefit.
Let me come to the Department of Correctional Services. The purpose of the Department of Correctional Services is to correct offending behaviour, to rehabilitate and to help offenders to reintegrate into the community. When I look at the budget of the Department of Correctional Services, I find it amazing that for their main purpose, they only budget 10%. So, how effective will they be in reaching their main purpose of rehabilitating and reintegrating offenders into the community?
It is time for us to take action. It is time to help our people change their thinking. The Department of Correctional Services needs the assistance of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. We keep on blaming the Department of Correctional Services for overcrowding and that, but the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development does not play its role. They are sending people to prison who they are not supposed to send to prison. Why don't they send them for correctional sentences so that the prisons don't have to be overcrowded? There are people who have been in prison for five years for a crime that cost R60; six years for a crime that amounted to R100. But this costs government lots of money.
It is evident that these departments are not departments that we can say ...
Mr A J NYAMBI: Is the member prepared to take a question?
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon member, could you please not waste time.
Mr A J NYAMBI: It is just a question.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Please, hon member, don't waste time. Sit down. [Interjections.]
Afrikaans:
Mnr J J GUNDA: Dit is tragies dat ons vandag in Suid-Afrika sien ... [It is tragic to see in South Africa today ...]
English:
... and I want my colleagues to understand what I am saying here today – South Africa belongs to all who live in it, not to certain elite groups. South Africa doesn't belong only to a certain group of people. It belongs to all who live in it, who suffered under apartheid, and every one of us has the right in South Africa to be treated equally. [Interjections.]
By saying that, I not only want the Department of Correctional Services – every department, you can go to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, and you will find people sitting there for 35 to 40 years. Nobody talks about them. Now the Department of Correctional Services has a case against it: the department did not employ the Employment Equity Act and all that. But what about the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development? It is not only the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, but a lot of other departments that are ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Adams ... Hon Adams ...
Mr K A SINCLAIR: Out of order!
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): ... unnecessary and ... No, no, no! Unnecessary ... I am talking to you. Hon Adams, I am talking to you, unless you say that you are not prepared to listen, in which case there is only one option: Gaan uit. [Leave.] [Laughter.] Continue.
Mr J J GUNDA: Thank you, Deputy Chair, for protecting me. [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Order!
Mr J J GUNDA: Deputy Chair, let me just thank you for protecting me. I would like to say to this House today that the budgets of the departments must suit the people of South Africa, and not certain individuals and not certain departments. They budgeted because they are using taxpayers' money, and so they must budget for South Africa. I thank you. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon members, I ask for the last time for order!
Prince M M M ZULU /Mia / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 258
Mr J J GUNDA
Prince M M M ZULU: Deputy Chair, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, heads of different departments, on behalf of the IFP I support all four Budget Votes before the House.
IsiZulu:
Kunezinselele ezithile okudingeka ukuthi umuntu abhekane nazo, ake ngiqale ngoMnyango wezokuHlunyeleliswa kweziMilo. Lo mnyango akuwona ihhotela lapho abantu bakithi beyophumula khona bacabange. UMnyango wezokuHlunyeleliswa kweziMilo kumele ukwazi ukuqondisa isimilo somuntu ukuze akheke. Lo mnyango ngeke uphumelele ohlelweni lwawo uma ungeke ubambisane noMnyango wezobuLungiswa nokuThuthukiswa koMthethosisekelo ukuze ixoxisane ngokuthi ngabanjani abantu abahanjiswa emajele kanye nokuthi abanye babekwa kumaphi amajele angahle akhiwe.
Ukugcwala kakhulu kwamajele kukhomba ukuthi uNgqongqoshe ubeka izenzo zalo mnyango ebucayini obukhulu zokuba zigitshelwe yilezi zigilamkhuba ngendlela engenakho ukubekezeleka ezweni. Ngiyanicela boNgqongqoshe, njengoba nikhona nonke, hlanganani niyibhekisise le ndaba mayelana nokuthi yini enizoyenza ukuqinisekisa ukuvikeleka kwabasebenzi bethu ukuba basinde ezigebengwini.
Ukugcwala kwamajele iyona nkinga enkulu ezweni lakithi. Kodwa-ke, njengomuntu ozalwa ngumfundisi, ngiyacabanga ukuthi mhlawumbe likhona iqhinga ongeza nalo ukwenza lo mnyango ube ngcono kunokuhlala emishini.
KuNgqongqoshe wezobuLungiswa nokuThuthukiswa koMthethosisekelo, ngithi angikuhlaseli, kodwa kubalulekile ukuthi ngilikhulume iqiniso elingephikiswe lokuthi emnyangweni wakho, abashushisi, izimantshi kanye namajaji, ngelinye ilanga kudingeka ukuthi nihlangane nihlale phansi. Kukhona icala elake lenzeka eThekwini ngenxa yokuthi umuntu edakiwe. Lowo muntu ukwazile ukuthi aphumelele kanti kukhona omunye owayedakwe yizidakamizwa. Ukudakwa ngotshwala kanye nokubhema izidakamizwa yinto efanayo kodwa amacala akhona agwetshwa ngezindlela ezihlukile.
Uma ulalela uMnyango wezobuLungiswa nokuThuthukiswa koMthethosisekelo eGoli, uthola ukuthi umuntu ugwetshwe ngenye indlela, kanti omunye eThekwini ugwetshwe ngenye indlela. Kuyasidida lokho thina. Sigcina sizibuza ukuthi: "kusenomnyango owodwa noma eyisishiyagalombili noma eyi-14 kuleli zwe?" Kumele kubhekisiswe ukuthi nigwema kanjani ukuthi umuntu uma enza icala elilodwa kanti udle izidakamizwa athole ukulungiswa kwesimilo sakhe ngokuphelele, zingabikho izinselela.
Ake ngibeke ezinye izinto eMnyangweni wezamaPhoyisa. Kulezi nsuku uma uhlangana nephoyisa kumele ubaleke uyocasha ngoba uhlangane nezigebengu ezikwazi ukubulala abantu, zibadubule ngezibhamu zikahulumeni. Imali elahlekelwa nguhulumeni ngenxa yokumangalelwa ingu-R14 billion. Lena akuyona imali encane, kodwa imali engenza okuthile ezinhlelweni zikahulumeni ukuze kuthuthuke izimpilo. Amacala okumangalela amaphoyisa makhulu ngoba kukhona amaphoyisa aziphathisa okwezilwane uqobo, lokhu kuvimbela ukuthi abantu bakithi baphathwe ngendlela engconywana uma benamacala, bashushiswe ukuze baboshwe ngendlela okuyiyonayona.
Yizo zonke izinto uhulumeni okufanele azibheke ukuze sazi ukuthi sidlula kanjani kuzo. Ngiyacela ukuthi uMnyango wezemiSebenzi yoMphakathi wakhe amajele amaningi. Ukugcwala kwamajele kungahle kube yinkinga enkulu.
Nawe Bhungane, abantu mabagwetshwe, amacala angahlali kuphela. Njengoba uzakwethu ebesho ukuthi uma umuntu entshontshe insipho, ngesinye isikhathi uhlala isikhathi eside ejele ngaphandle kokuthethwa kwecala lakhe; uhlezi ejele nje udla imali yahulumeni usuku ngosuku. Lezo izinto okumele sibone ukuthi sizimisa kanjani ukuze sazi ukuthi bonke abantu bagcina belulekile ngokomqondo.
Sengigcina, kukhona into ebizwa ngokuthi udilikajele kayisikhombisa. Isigwebo esinjalo silahlisa umuntu ithemba. Isimilo saloyo muntu ngeke siphinde sikwazi ukuqondiswa ngoba loyo muntu naye useyazibonela ukuthi ubhekene nodilikajele abayisikhombisa, kusho ukuthi impilo yakhe isiphelile. Ngaleyo ndlela umuntu onjalo wenza yonke into embi ejele; ukushisa amajele kanye nokulwa okungalawuleki. Umnyango wakho, abashushisi, izimantshi kanye namajaji kumele nibheke ukuthi niphuma kanjani kule ndaba yodilikajele abayisikhombisa, ikakhulukazi uma umuntu enze amacala athile. Ngiyabonga.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Order! I now recognise the hon Nesi. Hon Nesi, you can speak from where you are.
Mr B NESI / JN(Zulu//LIM CHECKED// END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 259
Prince M M M ZULU
Mr B NESI: Hon Deputy Chairperson, from the beginning I want to thank you for protecting me here, because I am not going to take questions. I will answer outside. I will even entertain point of orders outside. Hon Ministers, hon members, comrades and friends, I rise to support the debate on the Budget Votes.
In 2009, our manifesto, as the ANC, singled out five priorities. I will focus on one priority: crime. Today we take stock of the last few years of how we have implemented that programme of the ANC. The hon Minister has pointed out how far the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has come in implementing our programme on making justice accessible to all our people in all the far-flung corners of this country.
During our term, we have passed very many important pieces of legislation. The Superior Courts Bill sets out new management principles for the courts and makes the Constitutional Court the apex court in the administration of justice. We have passed legislation to combat human trafficking; we have passed the Children's Bill; we have passed the torture Bill; and we have passed many other pieces of legislation.
We have also recognised that this government of the ANC has taken the protection of vulnerable groups, in particular the protection of women and children, very seriously. We have seen the police being held to account through the strengthening of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Ipid. We have seen mechanisms put in place by Ipid to begin to deal with the many problems of rogue police officers and police officers who commit crime.
We are under no illusion that Ipid is experiencing problems in changing its mandate and aligning its structures, but those are challenges that we own. We are on the right path to creating a policing culture in terms of which the police are held accountable for their actions.
We, in the ANC, have worked hard and will continue to work hard to make sure that rogue members of the law enforcement fraternity are disowned if they become wayward and unaccountable. Our democracy cannot afford such behaviour from officials. In this respect, we support the increase of the budget of Ipid.
This government and indeed this Parliament have shown that they have the resolve to strengthen the rule of law in this democracy by strengthening the agencies and the institutions that support them. We have the necessary confidence in the police to continue with their resolve in dealing with organised crime, organised violence and indeed violent criminals. The budget of the police has also been increased and, as the ANC, we support that.
Regarding the DA-led so-called beautiful province of the Western Cape, the DA has been making a lot of noise in the past two weeks in this House about the beautiful province of the Western Cape. When the committee visited Mitchells Plain and Bishop Lavis - fortunately, the hon Bloem was there - members of those communities said that during the era of Ebrahim Rasool in the Western Cape, the Department of the Police supported their communities from national to province level. [Interjections.] The community policing forums were supported with infrastructure in order to make sure that they were able to deal with crime and all the challenges that they were faced with. Unfortunately, when the DA came into power, they stopped all that. Through this action, they have stopped supporting crime prevention and turned the youth of Mitchells Plain into zombies who are laced with tik. They have put nothing in its place.
Hon De Villiers, I was so ashamed to listen to a descendant of the Khoi and San claim that the Western Cape was beautiful, because I wondered what was beautiful about this Western Cape. How can we claim today as the ANC, or as any South African or African, that the Western Cape is beautiful when there are buckets next to the airport? How can we claim that the Western Cape is beautiful, but see shacks all over the place when you travel from the airport? What is beautiful in this province? African children are dying because of crime, because of tik, because of drugs. Is that the beauty we are talking about? I don't understand what the DA is talking about when they tell us about the beauty of the Western Cape.
As you know, the ANC will unconditionally defend the communities' right to safety and security from criminals, but when such criminals are convicted and sentenced by our courts, we must unconditionally defend their right to humane treatment while they are incarcerated.
Our Department of Correctional Services is a crucial part of the criminal justice system, and the ANC has been at the forefront of transforming this department so that it is able to give better care to its inmates. Hon Minister, we unconditionally support your victim-offender dialogue programme to bring back the dignity of victims of crime.
We have seen how the transformation of the department, led by the ANC, has changed ...
IsiXhosa:
...bekumele ukuba undiphe amanzi ke sisi kuba ndiphethwe ngumkhuhlane.
English:
Again, we are under no illusion that this is not easy given our violent past, but here again we own our problems and we, in the ANC, will change this ethos of Correctional Services in our democracy, because we care about all our people of our beautiful country, not just about a beautiful province.
But beautiful as the Western Cape is, there were people yesterday throwing the same buckets in the middle of town. What is it that is beautiful when people are throwing buckets around? I want the DA to tell us - maybe tomorrow, not today. Don't rush now.
Like the police and prisons, the Public Protector is accountable to this Parliament.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Excuse me. The water is for the hon Nesi.
IsiXhosa:
Andingxamanga.
English:
Mr B NESI: Please Ma'am, I know I still have time. The Public Protector is accountable to this Parliament. The institutions of government belong to all the people of this country. They are not the personal property of anybody. The institution of the Public Protector is the creation of the ANC, and, like all other government agencies, it is accountable to this Parliament.
IsiXhosa:
Iyasibhida ke thina le nto siyi-ANC yokuba umama lo okanye usisi uMadontsela, kubanakale ukuba amatyala azixakekise ngawo ngamatyala abantu abaziwayo okanye abantu abaphezulu mhlawumbi abantu abathile apha emhlabeni. Akachopheli amatyala aba bantu i-ANC ithe yabalwela, ukutsho oko, abona bahluphekileyo, abangakhuselekanga nabasesichengeni, abafazi, abantwana nabantu abakhubazekileyo.
Siyamcela umama uMadontsela njengokuba enamandla angaka nje, akhe asebenzise la mandla akhe ukunceda abahlwempuzekileyo. Makangasoloko ejonge icala elinye, kumatyala aza kuthi afumane umtsalane koonondaba nakwezinye izinto.
English:
We see how this Public Protector is chasing cases, particularly the high-profile cases. She has done so at the expense of ordinary people with ordinary cases who have not been able to benefit adequately from her office and the people who work with her. These are people with a passion to make a difference for small people like farmers and industrial workers.
IsiXhosa:
Asimva ethetha nokuthetha ngaba belungu batyisa abantu ngeengonyama ezifama.
English:
If our institutions are to work, they must work for all the people of this country, big and small, high profile and ordinary.
IsiXhosa:
Ixesha lisavuma mama ungazihluphi ngam. [Kwahlekwa.]
English:
The ANC supports a better vision and a better approach to governance through these budgets. Our path is one. There are elements of a single vision to which we subscribe. That vision is laid out in the architecture of the National Development Plan, NDP. We have the resolve to carry out the five priorities of the NDP, as far as building safer communities is concerned.
Through these budgets, we have strengthened the criminal justice system. The level of co-operation between the departments in the security cluster is growing by the day and is being strengthened under the leadership of the ANC. We have evidence that the professionalism of the police is being enhanced by the investments we are making in the detective services and other key divisions of the SA Police Service. We are holding the SAPS to account through the strengthening of Ipid. We have passed legislation that attests to our resolve.
As the ANC we are continuing with a programme of demilitarising the police so that events such as Marikana are not repeated in our society. Those who claim that the brutality of the police today is the same as the brutality of the apartheid police - such as the DA, Terror Lekota and Dennis Bloem included – live in a heaven of political grapes. [Laughter.] They must be told if they don't know ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Bloem! Hon Bloem, please sit down.
Mr D V BLOEM: Maybe the member smoked something strong. [Laughter.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Bloem, no, no no! Sit down.
Mr B NESI: ... that the ANC has a clear programme of dealing with police brutality. This programme is encapsulated in the NDP - lest they forget where we come from with the systematic terror legislated in the apartheid parliament. Ours is different; we are dealing with a few rogue police officers. Everyone under the apartheid police was guilty of systematic brutality. The majority of police today are subject to integrity measures, which we in the ANC have developed. The ANC is the only party that has the tradition and resolve to change this.
We are building an integrated approach through the strengthening of the criminal justice system. The ANC supports the Budget Votes of the Police, Ipid, Correctional Services and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr D V BLOEM: Chairperson, may I ask this man a question?
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): No. [Laughter.]
The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES / LN/Checked by Nobuntu / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 260
Ms B NESI
The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Deputy Chair, in case we need to correct some behaviour, the officials are here. [Laughter.]
The police deal with what is called the suspect, justice deals with the accused, and the Department of Correctional Services deals with the offender. When we do so, we start from the basis – Ndabezitha - that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. Therefore, our task is the transmogrification of the offender into a law-abiding citizen. That is our task.
The officials are central to this process, and they face the offender unarmed on a daily basis. If you say they are doing life, these are the officials that face that offender every day, unarmed. They transform them; 95% of the people, who come out, come out transformed and they don't come back. Of course, one gets a few that reoffend. The Department of Correctional Services has allocated 72% of the R18,7 billion to the core services of security, of rehabilitation and social integration, not just 10%, as the hon Gunda was saying.
Therefore, we are grateful to this House for approving the budget for our core business. We thank you very much. I also want to take this opportunity to thank you, Deputy Chair, and to thank the officials and say that in this, the year of the official, we must keep the morale high so that we carry out the task of having a law-abiding citizenry. I want to thank the officials and the Deputy Minister for their support, as well as the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster, which always stands together in dealing with matters that affect the security of this country, so that our people can be free and feel safe. I thank you very much. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF POLICE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 260
The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF POLICE: Chairperson, let me take this opportunity to thank all members who contributed to our debate on Budget Vote Nos 23, 24 and 25. Of course, chair of the select committee, I totally agree with you that the kind of police officers we would like to see are professional police officers.
I have taken note of everything that has been said. Hon Matila, I've taken note of your points. Ms Scheepers, thank you for your positive contribution. I have also taken note of the issues you raised.
Let me come to the hon Bekker. I am so disappointed. I said to myself that I was sure it was because you had already written your speech that there was no way you could be strategic. With regard to all the issues that have been raised here - the strength and the new programmes that have been given to the Police Service - it seems as if the hon member did not listen. Unfortunately, because the speech had already been written he just had to read it.
Afrikaans:
Wat my nogal verbaas ... [What surprises me somewhat ...]
English:
... is the fact that ...
Afrikaans:
... ons niks sê van die ander polisiemanne en –vroue wat goeie werk vir ons doen nie. [... we don't mention anything about the other policemen and policewomen who do good work.]
English:
You only concentrated on a few individuals, which I did say we were paying attention to. We know who those people are. We have Ipid, which is attending to the cases of those few individuals, but unfortunately ...
Afrikaans:
... het ons ons tyd hier – ek wil nie sê gemors nie, maar ek dink die lid het ons platform misbruik deur te fokus op al die verkeerde dinge wat die polisie doen, sonder om enigiets te sê oor die mooi dinge wat hul doen. [... we have – I don't want to say wasted our time, but I think you misused this platform by focusing on the wrongs the police have done, without mentioning any positive aspects of their work.]
English:
I am sure the police are very disappointed in you.
Mr Makhubela, you know better. I was your chairperson when you were the general. One thing I want to tell you, Mr Makhubela, is that the problematic police officers that we have in the system are the ones that were appointed in your time. [Interjections.] They are the ones giving us problems now. The new recruits that we have, since we changed our curriculum, are very good police officers.
IsiXhosa:
Abasihluphayo ngaba babeqeshwe nguwe, Mnu uMakhbubela. Ngabo abayingxaki xa kungoku. [Uwelewele.]
English:
Now, you must come forward and assist us on how then we must attend to those challenges.
I am sure the Ipid that you were talking about here is not the Ipid that has only been in office for a year. The Ipid I spoke about is the Ipid that came into effect on 1 April 2012. You have been speaking about the outdated Independent Complaints Directorate, the ICD, which does not even exist now. Hence, we brought in the Ipid, precisely to address the challenges that you have tried to highlight here. Those things happened during the time of the ICD. After we discovered them, I came up with that legislation with you when we decided on Ipid, which is now in existence. [Interjections.]
I am not going to say anything about the victim support centres, hon Gunda. Victim support centres never existed during the apartheid time. We came up with victim support centres. Hence, all the old police stations that existed before 1994 do not have those centres. We are the ones who are trying to create small structures attached to the police stations in order to have victim support centres.
Of the 1 127 police stations that we have, we have tried our best to set up centres in more than 800 police stations. Those centres are being run by the police in partnership with the communities.
Afrikaans:
So, ek weet nie van watter polisiestasie julle praat nie. Miskien praat julle van die polisiestasie wat oud is in De Doorns, die polisiestasie wat oud is in Orchards, of die polisiestasie wat oud is in Hexrivier en waar ons nou ons eie ... [So, I don't know which police station you refer to. Perhaps you refer to the old police station in De Doorns, the old police station in Orchards, or the old police station in Hex River where we must now use our ...]
English:
... own initiatives and everything. We went there; we tried to establish these structures as we thought it was befitting, as the ANC government, to have those centres.
Hon Nesi, thank you very much for your contribution. Of course, Mr Nesi, the Western Cape government thinks that we are a federal state, as they want to have their own policing and control and to regulate the police. If they are so clever - because most of them are lawyers - why don't they read the Constitution so that they can see that that would be unconstitutional?
You can't have your own federal state somewhere in the Republic of South Africa and want to regulate the police. The reason why they did away with the community policing forums and the community safety forums is because those structures came up with the ANC, the black government. There has never been a better way of fighting crime without the involvement of the community. I thank you very much. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT / Nb (Eng&xh)/Mia (Afr)/Checked by Nobuntu / END OF TAKE
UNREVISED HANSARD
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
Tuesday, 4 June 2013 Take: 261
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF POLICE
The MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Chairperson, I also want to join my colleagues in thanking this House for supporting all these four Budget Votes, which is an indication of the full support and confidence in the work that we are doing.
I want to raise a few issues. Hon Mofokeng, on the issue of the Office of the Chief Justice: as you will recall in 2009, the President issued a proclamation establishing the Office of the Chief Justice as an interim measure towards a judiciary-controlled administration of the courts. That process has been facilitated further by the signing into law of the Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act and the anticipated signing into law of the Superior Courts Bill. When all those are in place, that process will go a long way in ensuring that we transfer staff and some budget to the Office of the Chief justice as an interim measure until the model of a judiciary-controlled administration is finalised.
I am satisfied with the progress that has been made in order to ensure that the judiciary is totally independent of the executive. Hon Bekker, regarding the issue of backlog courts: these courts are working very well in our view, which is evidenced by the progress of the cases that go through these backlog courts. The backlog courts sometimes even work over weekends. When it comes to the budget, this year we are going to be spending about R80 million in order to ensure that these courts succeed.
Regarding the overall budget for the re-establishment of the sexual offences courts, even though we always want more money ... The budget is not of our own making; it is a collective view of Cabinet and, at the end of the day, it has to be supported by Parliament. Maybe next time, if you fight more for the security cluster budgets, we will have more money. But we are satisfied that the measures that we have put in place in order to re-establish these sexual offences courts for this year are going to go a long way in making sure that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are brought to book.
Hon Matila, on the issue of the Mamelodi court: I indicated in my main speech that the Mamelodi magistrate's court is one of the priority courts for the next five years. I am happy, though, to indicate to you that the construction of the Mamelodi court will start in February 2014. In the meantime, there is a court, though it is not a full-service court, which has been redesignated in Mamelodi. It is next to the police station in Mamelodi. This measure will go a long way in ensuring that justice is done.
On the issue of the hon uMntwana Zulu, I just want to indicate that each case is adjudicated on according to its own merits. No two cases are the same, even if the cases are for the same offence. This is because there are other factors that judicial officers take into account. For instance, there might be extenuating circumstances, or there might be aggravating circumstances. There is the adage that "One size fits all, but not in this case." I just want to assure you that the judicial officers take into account all surrounding matters.
When it comes to the hon Gunda, maybe we need to give him some political education about the difference between the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, and the judiciary. The judiciary is not part of the executive. I indicated earlier that there are three branches of government. There is the executive, which is responsible for policy implementation; there is the legislature, Parliament - which is the NCOP and the National Assembly - that passes the law; and there is the judiciary that adjudicates. The judiciary doesn't report to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development or to me. It is independent. The judiciary is accountable to the Constitution and the law, which it must apply without fear, favour or prejudice. So, your attack is a misdirected one in terms of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. [Laughter.] Our judiciary is independent.
Lastly, to end where I started, I want to thank everybody once more for participating in this debate on these four Budget Votes. I do hope that next year we will get more time so that we can ensure that all the good progress that is made in Correctional Services, the Police and in Justice and Constitutional Development can be properly reflected on. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
The Council adjourned at 17:05.
GG/END OF TAKE
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