Hansard: EPC: Debate on Vote No 21 – Correctional Services
House: National Assembly
Date of Meeting: 16 Jul 2014
Summary
No summary available.
Minutes
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 155
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,07 Aug 2014,"Take 155[Old Assembly Main].doc"
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,16 Jul 2014,"[Take-155] [Old Assembly Main][90P-4-082A][nm].doc"
WEDNESDAY, 16 JULY 2014
PROCEEDINGS OF THE EXTENDED PUBLIC COMMITTEE – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
________________
Members of the Extended Public Committee met in the Old Assembly Chamber at 10:01.
House Chairperson Mr C T Frolick, as Chairperson, took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.
FIRST ORDER
START OF DAY
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 155
APPROPRIATION BILL
Debate on Vote No 21 – Correctional Services:
The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Chairperson, colleagues, Members of the Assembly, Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Thabang Makwetla; chairperson of the portfolio committee, Mr Mathole Motshega; and of course the Whip of the committee, Mr Mojake; colleagues at large; the acting commissioner, Commissioner Modise; Judge Tshabalala, the Head of the Judicial Inspectorate, in his absence; Dr Ramathesele – who heads the advisory board – of the Medical Parole Board; colleagues, friends and the House at large, thank you for this opportunity to introduce the Budget Vote on Correctional Services.
We as the Department of Correctional Services see ourselves as an important and an integral part of our integrated criminal justice system that is tasked, as mandated by the ruling party in its manifesto, to advancing the ideals expressed in the National Development Plan, NDP, of ensuring that all South Africans are and feel safe. To this end a number of interventions, programmes and policies as well as legislative reforms are intended, during the current term, to ensure the realisation of this goal.
Among these key interventions is the down management of congestion in correctional centres. The resolve of the South African government to fight crime through, amongst others, the introduction of minimum sentence legislation and the broadening of the sentencing jurisdiction to cover lower courts resulted in an exponential increase of inmate population between 1995 and 2004 from 116 846 to 187 036. This has worsened the country's international profile in respect of incarceration rates registering 403 inmates per 100 000 of the population.
To address overcrowding, a multipronged overcrowding management strategy was adopted, including the strengthening of diversion programmes, alternative sentencing, building of additional bed spaces, better management of the parole system and promotion of successful social reintegration and reduction of reoffending. These bore good results as we reduced the inmate population by 31 000 from 187 000, as I mentioned earlier, in 2004, to 157 170 by the end of March 2014, a reduction of 29 866 in 10 years which equals a 16% reduction.
We still have a long way to go though because, despite the progress I have just alluded to, overcrowding in general and a lowered incarceration rate from 403 to 292 inmates per 100 000 of the population is still very high. Part of the solution is the construction of 5 900 additional bed spaces by 2019, broadening of the use of electronic monitoring of inmates and their placement under community corrections. The area of strengthening of oversight and advisory structures is also going to be an area of focus.
Besides overcrowding we have noted that incidents of violence and gang-related atrocities among offenders as well as the stabbings of officials continue to increase in some areas. We have set up a high level national task team to investigate these incidents, assess our security systems and make recommendations on the type, scale and scope of intervention to arrest and reverse them. The task team has begun its work in St Alban's Correctional Centre in Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape, where we have witnessed continued incidents of violence.
I note with appreciation the good work of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services under the leadership of Judge Vuka Tshabalala, whom I have had an opportunity to meet briefly recently. We will endeavour to ensure that nothing inhibits their ability to provide the constitutionally guaranteed judicial oversight on Correctional Services, going forward. This is also to ensure that the constitutional rights of inmates are also respected.
Now, coming to improving the remand-detention system, in March 2014 the Department of Correctional Services concluded a ground-breaking policy framework on the management of remand detainees. The passing of the White Paper on Remand Detention Management in South Africa is a significant milestone in this regard. The policy seeks to close a gap left by the White Paper on Corrections passed in 2005 as well as the amendment made to the Correctional Services Act – that is, the current Act.
Through continued transformation of the country's remand-detention system, South Africa is now edging closer to the ideal international target of 25% of all inmates being remand detainees. Since the year 2000, remand detainees have been reduced by 31,9% from 63 954 to 41 600 in June 2014, of which 5% - that is, 1 922 - has spent at least two years in custody.
This is a product of increased collaboration with various partners within the criminal justice cluster which will be further enhanced with the establishment of an integrated Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services. Interventions include the tracking of these categories of remand detainees for periodic referral to courts in line with section 49 of the Correctional Services Act, as amended. The Office for the Criminal Justice System Review has recently started looking at the top 20 longest awaiting-trial detainees in order to address human rights issues and the right to a speedy trial.
It is estimated that over 95% of inmates will return to society after doing time for various offences. Presently in South Africa, 69% of 157 170 inmates are youth of 35 years of age or younger. Most of them are from broken families, with a weak understanding of and commitment to key social values, poor education levels and generally with little to lose.
We will continue to build on the foundation established since the advent of democracy in terms of our rehabilitation interventions by ensuring that from the 2014-15 financial year, 64% of offenders complete correctional programmes and that an 80% participation rate of offenders involved in education and skills development programmes is maintained. May I also add on this note that we see this department playing a critical role, from a preventative point of view, in ensuring that we encourage positive behaviour amongst young people in order to further reduce the number of young people involved in crime.
We will step up the collaboration with, amongst others, established universities, the National Youth Development Agency, the Sector Education and Training Authorities, and the Departments of Basic and Higher Education as well as Labour.
Health care services will also receive attention. The department has ensured access to effective primary health care while those in need of secondary and tertiary health care services are taken to public health care facilities. The fight against the scourge of HIV and Aids as well as tuberculosis will be intensified. We will improve the percentage of inmates that are tested for HIV and Aids and ensure that appropriate services are provided in this regard.
The next area of focus will be optimising technology alternatives to incarcerations and for victims' participation. In November 2014 we expect to launch a videoconferencing system in all 53 Correctional Supervision and Parole Board, CSPB, offices in South Africa. This innovation is intended to help reduce the barriers of participation in the parole hearings - like physical distance and language barriers - in our efforts to centralise victims in the determination of offender parole hearings.
Although phenomenal progress was made since 2009 in mobilising victims to participate in parole hearings of the CSPB, from just 108 to 1 125 cases per year, this still represents less than 5% of hearings that result in parole placements of offenders that roughly reaches 25 000. With this videoconferencing capacity, built with funding from the Criminal Asset Recovery Account, victims can be informed to go to their nearest CSPB offices and be linked to the actual parole board hearings. And let me emphasise that, in line with the obligations under the law and the Constitution, we will intensify victim participation to ensure that we strike a balance in our criminal justice system.
The area of social integration is another focus area that we will give attention to. We will embark on an intensive campaign of promoting alternative sentences within the cluster, establishing social compacts to strengthen social acceptance of ex-offenders, enhancing restorative justice and tightening the supervision of parolees, probationers and remand detainees as well. Although there has been phenomenal improvement in compliance with conditions of probationers and parolees from 82% in 2012-13 to 94% in 2013-14, the department will invest more on building the credibility of the system amongst the criminal justice partners and communities.
I am delighted to say that there are many pockets of excellence within the Department of Correctional Services where unemployed youth from surrounding communities and other beneficiaries were brought in over a period of time to be trained with offenders in, amongst others, motor mechanics, furniture-making, electrical engineering and business management.
The building of institutional capacity will receive attention. We shall ensure that the department functions at full capacity with respect to the filling of strategic vacant posts including the posts of National Commissioner, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Management and the Regional Commissioner of the Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West region. This will be done as part of ensuring that all strategic and operational vacant positions are filled in order to strengthen the managerial capacity of the department. We have planned to also train an average of 16 500 officials each year in line with the workplace skills plan to gear the department for a heightened delivery of services over the next five years and beyond.
Alongside the human capital focus and investment will be the modernisation of the correctional system in order to provide a reliable, integrated and secured information and communication technology, ICT, infrastructure and system. This includes an integrated inmate management system for a single view of inmate and offender information based on biometric identification of inmates and offenders to curtail instances of identity fraud and erroneous releases.
With regard to the budget and good governance, the budget of the department for 2014-15 is R19,721 billion, projected to increase over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, to R20,795 billion in 2015-16 and to reach R22,081 billion in 2016-17 at an average growth rate of 5,6%.
Amounts totalling R72,6 million in 2014-15; R72,8 million in 2015-16 and R77,9 million in 2016-17 have been reprioritised within the 2014 MTEF baseline from noncore goods and services items for spending on the following policy priorities: Implementation of victim-offender dialogues; purchasing of security equipment; replacement of dilapidated workshop and agricultural machinery and equipment, and Integrated Inmate Management Systems. [Interjections.] Thank you very much. I hope all colleagues will support this Budget Vote. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,23 Jul 2014,"Take 156 [Old Assembly Main].doc"
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,16 Jul 2014,"[Take-156] [Old Assembly Main][90P-4-082A][nm].doc"
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 156
The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: Hon House Chairperson, hon Minister Masutha, Deputy Minister Makwetla, Acting National Commissioner Modise, Inspecting Judge Tshabalala, Dr Ramathesele, officials of the department and entities and hon Members of Parliament, the challenges of high levels of crime, overcrowding in our correctional centres, recidivism, and challenges of rehabilitation, and social integration cannot and will not be understood without the understanding of the legacy of the slave trade, colonialism and apartheid which manifested itself in the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality. It is this legacy of apartheid colonialism that prompted President Jacob Zuma's administration to come up with a radical socioeconomic development programme.
Hon Minister, the ANC supports your radical programme of action and believes that it will go a long way in addressing this legacy of the past that my friends on the other side want to wish away. I want to remind them that the slave trade, colonialism and apartheid destroyed the African social fabric and created moral decay and socioeconomic conditions which breed crime and corruption. [Interjections.] You are the architects of the challenges we have today.
Towards the end of the 19th century, African people were conquered and dispossessed of their land and its natural resources. The establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910 was followed by the passage of the Natives Land Act of 1913, which made South Africa a white man's land and allocated only 7% of the total surface of South Africa to the African majority. This resulted in overcrowding and demands of Africans for land, forcing the colonial authorities to increase African territories to only 13% of the total surface of South Africa, which was barren and unable to sustain people and their livestock. This forcible dispossession of land and its natural resources created the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequalities which forced Africans to seek work in mines, on white farms and in industries. [Applause.]
As the colonial authorities did not provide housing, Africans became labour tenants and squatters on the white man's land. The resulting human and material conditions degraded and dehumanised the landless African people and rendered them homeless and hopeless in the country of their birth. Thus, the struggle of the African people was primarily for the restitution of their land and the recovery of their humanity, ubuntu-botho, and its inherent values of human dignity, equality, freedom and justice for all.
The democratic state inherited this legacy of colonialism and apartheid which was exacerbated by the lack of education and Bantu education, as the hon Minister said. Therefore, in June 2011, the National Development Commission identified nine key challenges facing the democratic state. These challenges include youth unemployment, poverty and high levels of inequality and social conditions which are a fertile ground for crime. So, my friends on the other side now know where crime comes from. I hope that they will help support the Minister's programme.
South African correctional centres, therefore, are full of African victims of colonialism and apartheid who have made South Africa an unsafe country to live in. Hence, Vision 2030 of the National Development Plan, NDP, is to build safer communities. In these circumstances, incarceration cannot be the primary goal of our correctional centres. The primary goal must be to remove criminals from society in order to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into society as productive citizens.
South Africa faces a special challenge, because about 70% of the population is under the age of 35 and the majority of the inmates are young people. As the youth are our future it means incarceration delays youth development and therefore arrests our future.
The NDP has correctly identified the need to: Increase substance abuse treatment during incarceration; increase education, training and skills programmes within correctional centres; urge business to work together with the Department of Correctional Services to proactively identify skills needs for development that would increase the chances of their absorption into the economy after release; capacitate community organisations to assist with reintegration after release; and identify, vet and resource these community organisations.
Therefore, the hon Minister's programme is fully in line with the NDP and will certainly take South Africa forward. The ANC, therefore, welcomes the commitment of the Ministry to the strategies that will hasten transformation, such as broad-based black economic empowerment, gender equity, poverty alleviation and job creation, because all of this will help to heal the wounds of the past and create safer and better communities. This is what we mean by radical socioeconomic transformation.
The current mission of the department is consistent with the National Development Plan. It seeks to contribute to maintaining and protecting a just, peaceful and safe society by enforcing court decisions and sentences in line with relevant legislation, detaining all inmates in safe custody while ensuring their human dignity and promoting the general development of all inmates, and those subject to community corrections. This correctional policy will create conducive conditions for the development and rehabilitation of the youth in correctional centres.
The strategic goals of this department are in line with what this country requires, because this country says that the youth are our future. These thousands of youth have been placed in the Minister's care and, unless the Minister does as he promised, it will mean that our country has no future because those kids in those centres will have no future. Therefore, the ANC wants to give the Minister full support in his work because he has correctly diagnosed the problem and developed the appropriate plan to deal with it.
In particular the ANC wants to support the Minister's plough-back strategy linked to post-release activities that will see ex-offenders and parolees become involved in activities aimed at rebuilding society's trust in them and enabling them to make meaningful contributions to social and economic development. In both urban and rural areas, hon Minister, as you pointed out, there is unused land, buildings, and agricultural implements that can be used to advance your plough-back strategy. I can assure you, hon Minister, that, as the MPs of the ANC, we will use our parliamentary constituency offices, PCOs, to mobilise society, mobilise other youth, mobilise institutions and make sure that your plough-back strategy does not just remain talk but becomes a reality.
Minister, we also want to support your idea of creating centres of excellence. These correctional centres must produce skilled youth who will become your foot soldiers in the plough-back programme. Therefore, hon Minister, we believe that your approach is going to make rehabilitation and social integration easy. We also believe that, given the limited resources, your idea of mobilising universities, FET colleges, community organisations and faith-based organisations to partner with your department makes absolute sense.
We think the Minister's department should also work with other departments such as the Department of Social Development, the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the SA National Defence Force who already have formal agreements with interfaith movements in order to make sure that these programmes are implemented.
Hon Minister, there are people who do not understand that human development has spiritual and material aspects. They think that human beings are just pigs that must be fed and grow so that they make profit. [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order, hon members!
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: Human beings are, first and foremost, spiritual beings with minds, bodies and souls. [Interjections.]
Hon Minister, your idea of working with faith-based organisations makes absolute sense, because human beings, especially the youth, must be holistically developed. That means you must develop their spiritual and physical beings so that they are complete and useful citizens.
Those whose children are not in correctional services specialise in making noise when we are discussing matters of great importance to the nation. [Applause.] They forget that their current prosperity is directly linked to the conditions in the prisons because they refuse to share their prosperity. They create poverty and unemployment and, when they have to employ, as lawyers, etc, they only look after their own kind.
We are committed to building a united, nonracial, nonsexist, democratic South Africa which is prosperous in which the worth of everybody will be measured by our common humanity. [Interjections.] Unlike you, we do not care about the colour of the skin. [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order, hon members!
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: We want to assure you that, with or without you, we are going to take South Africa forward under the leadership of this Minister. [Applause.]
Hon Minister, let me conclude by saying that you have inspired us to think that we must have a campaign to save the youth which will ensure that every young person that comes out of a correctional centre finds a reception committee waiting and will find jobs in terms of the plough-back campaign that you are going to lead. So, adulthood means self-respect and respect for others and the ability to listen to others so that you can learn, because the ANC leads, teaches and delivers. [Applause.] We are going to deliver and take South Africa forward. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr J SELFE / END OF TAKE
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,22 Jul 2014,"Take 157 [Old Assembly Main].doc"
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,16 Jul 2014,"[Take-157] [Old Assembly Main][90P-4-082A][nm].doc"
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 157
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA
Mr J SELFE: Chairperson, I'm not sure whether what we heard just now is a sermon or a history lesson, but I would like to congratulate the Minister and the Deputy Minister on their appointments. I would also like to pay tribute to the many thousands of dedicated officials of the Department of Correctional Services who perform exemplary work in very difficult circumstances.
This is the first year since we became a democracy that the Departments of Correctional Services and Justice are merged into a single Ministry. On one level, this makes perfect sense because so much of what happens in correctional services is affected by the efficiencies of the justice system. Good case flow management ought to lead to fewer remand detainees, which in turn ought to result in less overcrowded facilities.
Effective and integrated IT systems will allow both the justice system and the correctional services system to identify offenders, record previous convictions, sentence them appropriately, manage their sentence plans and, in due course, allow the parole boards to recommend the release of deserving individuals.
Yet both the departments are very complex. Both require careful, labour-intensive management and oversight, particularly by Parliament. I worry that because of the complexities of the work of the justice department and the legislation that it is planning to introduce, such as the Traditional Courts Bill and the re-structuring at the magistrate courts, the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services will not be able to spend the time and effort required for proper oversight of the correctional centres.
I fear that Correctional Services will become the stepchild in the relationship. That is not good. There are 243 correctional centres in South Africa that accommodate about 157 000 inmates. Many of the facilities are old and dilapidated, and do not lend themselves to rehabilitation. A further 66 000 probationers and parolees are supervised by the community corrections branch. [Interjections.]
Ms M C C PILANE-MAJAKE: Chairperson, is hon Selfe ready to take a question?
Mr J SELFE: I will take it at the end if I have time.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon Selfe, continue.
Mr J SELFE: Many of the facilities are old and dilapidated. The department has a staff of roughly 42 000 people. The fact is that there are major problems in the Department of Correctional Services. These problems are not new, but they remain unresolved, largely because of a lack of continuity in the senior leadership and management of the department.
Since 1994, the DCS has had six Ministers and seven national commissioners, with many acting national commissioners in between. It has had six different judges heading up the judicial inspectorate since its establishment in 1998. The challenges that were identified by Commissioner Sithole in 1998 remain substantially the challenges facing Acting Commissioner Modise in 2014. These include overcrowding, gangsterism, endemic corruption, labour disputes and dissatisfaction, dangerous working conditions, unfilled and underfunded posts, difficulty in filling and retaining scarce skills, and a misaligned budget that is geared towards warehousing offenders rather than rehabilitating them.
The test of any system of correctional services must be whether an inmate emerges a better person from prison than when he or she was admitted. The sad truth is that, given all these problems, South Africa's correctional services system fails that test. Our inmates emerge, by and large, more criminalised than when they were sentenced. The result is a depressingly high rate of reoffending which, depending on who you believe, is somewhere between 70% and 90%.
As early as 1910, Winston Churchill, the then British Home Secretary, said that the first principle of prison reform was "to prevent as many people as possible from getting there at all". So this problem is neither new nor unique to South Africa. Many other countries have similar situations. However, we need to aim higher and think differently. That is why, with a new Minister spanning both portfolios, I would like to make some concrete proposals to break this vicious cycle.
However, let me be very clear. South Africa is characterised by very high levels of crime, and violent crime. Just about every South African has been the victim of crime and too many have been the victims of violent crime. We cannot enjoy our constitutional rights and freedoms if we live in constant fear of crime.
The monsters who commit those crimes deserve to be imprisoned for a very long time. However, at the same time, not every offender belongs in prison. South Africa also needs a regime of unpleasant, corrective but noncustodial sentences that can be applied, in particular, to first-time nonviolent and young offenders. That requires a partnership with all spheres of government, with NGOs and with the private sector and with faith-based organisations for what it's worth - so that offenders can visibly and demonstrably ``pay back'' to society that which they have robbed from it. That involves community service orders: painting schools in underprivileged areas; building houses; working in morgues; attending to the sick in hospices; clearing alien vegetation, but then these sentences must be seen, especially by judicial officers, to be effective and enforced.
However, at the same time alternative sentencing needs to be encouraged. Without detracting from the independence of the judiciary, what about an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act that requires a judicial officer to provide compelling reasons why a prison sentence of less than say six months is appropriate in the case of a first-time nonviolent offender?
A prison sentence invariably leads to the loss of an offender's job if he or she has one. It leads to breakdowns in family relationships. It very often means that inmates are forced to join a prison gang simply to survive. A prison sentence also costs a lot. It costs the taxpayer about R300 per day to incarcerate someone. That is R9000 per month. So a six-month sentence costs an inmate his liberty, his job, his relationships and may force him into further criminality. There are no rehabilitative programmes for sentences under two years. So it costs the taxpayer R54 000 simply to warehouse a person for six months. Frankly, it makes no sense.
Secondly, we need to look at the issue of criminal records. Very few ex-inmates are able to find jobs when it is known that they have criminal records. Without jobs, many former inmates simply resort to more crime. Former Minister Sibusiso Ndebele talked approvingly of what is called "second chance legislation", whereby the criminal records of certain categories of first-time offenders are withheld, provided they participate in rehabilitative programmes, adhere to all aspects of their parole conditions, and do not reoffend.
The confidence of the judiciary in handing down noncustodial sentences will be hugely enhanced with the successful roll-out of electronic monitoring of probationers, parolees and those released pending trial. We have consistently supported electronic tagging and were therefore delighted when, at last, a pilot project was initiated.
However, a contract was awarded recently to a firm called Engineering Systems Solutions which are part of the TMM Holdings Limited Partnership for the roll out of electronic monitoring devices, for which R87 million is being budgeted over the next three years. This contract was awarded with blatant disregard for supply chain management procedures, apparently at the insistence of the then Acting National Commissioner, Ms Jolingana. The question we need to ask is: Why were those supply chain management procedures disregarded? Who benefited from this deal and what is the Minister going to do about it?
Likewise, Ms Jolingana recently commissioned the Department of Public Works to conduct a feasibility study into the possible sale of the Pollsmoor and Leeuwkop Correctional Centres. Both these properties are highly valuable, and would realise billions of rands if sold on the open market. It may very well be that these prisons are both old and badly situated, but if these transactions were to go ahead, it is essential that they be subject to the closest possible scrutiny.
The reason is that the problem that DCS faces is a history of corruption on a major scale. The Jali Commission first chronicled this. Five years ago, the SIU reported to the portfolio committee that the former CFO, Mr Patrick Gillingham, had received bribes to award a catering contract to Bosasa. Mr Gillingham has not yet been prosecuted. Yet a short while later, an extension of the catering contract was awarded to Bosasa again, despite the fact that its bid was not competitive.
The Minister talked approvingly about biometric controls; in fact, we have biometric controls in many correctional centres through a contract awarded to a company called Sondolo, but it does not work. When we went on an oversight visit previously, we found that access control systems were operated by handcuffs. So, Minister, you are facing a big challenge. You have a big mountain to climb.
It is clear that the DCS is in trouble. It is failing in its primary mission, despite the heroic efforts of very many thousands of dedicated officials. It is tainted with corruption. It requires radical transformation. However, is the Minister up to doing this? That's the question he needs to answer before we support this Budget Vote. [Applause.]
END OF TAKE
Ms K LITCHFIELD-TSHABALALA
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,25 Jul 2014,"[take 158 Old Assembly Main].doc"
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,16 Jul 2014,"[Take-158] [Old Assembly Main][90P-4-082A][nm].doc"
Mr J SELFE
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 158
Ms K LITCHFIELD-TSHABALALA: Hon Chair, hon Minister, hon members and esteemed visitors, a correctional facility, as the name indicates, is a place for the correction of behaviour, or as criminologists would have it, a place for rehabilitation. It is certainly not a place where you are incarcerated for years while awaiting trial, and in the process get raped or become infected with tuberculosis or even HIV. A correctional facility is a place where, with the taxpayer's tacit agreement, you are incarcerated - which is why we did away with the death penalty. In the process, you come to terms with your deviant or countercultural behaviour. Society hopes that, in the process, you will become remorseful and that you shall be reintegrated back into society. Rehabilitation is certainly not limited to how many young people passed matric or obtained a degree within that given financial year. It is a thorough and rigorous programme with measurable objectives and timelines.
Obviously, it is a multidisciplinary approach that involves many people, including psychologists, criminologists, social workers, psychiatrists and religious clerics. So because of its nature, it costs money. We might be told that money is not available. Well, it is available, if the government is willing to pressurise its multinational corporation friends just a little, and squeeze that money that they take out of this country to evade paying tax, from them.
The current situation in our correctional facilities is not really commendable, and much has been said about it. According to a 2013 statistic, in research conducted by a Professor Louw, who is a forensic psychologist and head of the Centre for Psychology and Law at the University of the Free State and who has worked with offenders for the last 40 years, 80% of offenders in our prisons were repeat offenders, with a sizeable number of them already having developed into what is termed ``hardcore'' prisoners.
In that same year, the then Minister of Correctional Services admitted that overcrowding was sitting at 133%. He admitted that we had 119 000 beds for 140 000 prisoners. Research done by the World Bank, UNAIDS and World Health Organisation in 2011 found that the HIV scourge amongst our prison population was sitting at 40% to 45%. That's pretty high.
It is against this background that it is extremely difficult for the EFF to support this budget, because we shall be agreeing to a twentieth year of what has been happening in Correctional Services since 1994. This is far from rehabilitation and the tacit agreement of taxpayers' money being used so that these prisoners shall be reintegrated back into society.
If the EFF is elected into government ... [Interjections.] ... we will ensure that we eradicate all forms of prison privatisation. Prisoners' lives are not commodities to be exchanged between those who have money and those who do not have it. Secondly, we will ensure ...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon member, will you hold on? Hon Motshekga, why are you rising?
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: Will the hon member take a question?
Ms K LITCHFIELD-TSHABALALA: No, I will not take a question because I have pretty much become aware of the fact that it's a time-delaying tactic.
We shall also ensure that the prisoner's right to work is guaranteed because it is a God-given right. Apart from that, work is rehabilitation in itself. It is therapeutic and psychosocially restoring. We will also ensure that prisoners have the right to vote. It is a right guaranteed to them in the Constitution.
We will also ensure that Correctional Services staff is adequately protected and that an investigation is opened to ensure that they are paid accordingly for the dangerous work that they are involved in on a daily basis.
We will also ensure that prisoners' rights, in terms of appeals, are guaranteed. The first thing that needs to happen is that the scourge of HIV has to be stopped right there. The infection rate cannot continue to increase to be more than what it is now.
We are grateful for the opportunity we have had. We take our hats off to the Correctional Services staff who, on a daily basis, are engaged in a battle to survive in conditions that are extremely unfavourable for the kind of work that they are involved in. I thank you.
Mr M A MNCWANGO
Ms K LITCHFIELD-TSHABALALA
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 158
Mr M A MNCWANGO: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and hon Deputy Minister, the failures of Correctional Services are consistently in the news, with many officials being arrested for their involvement in criminal activities. It can be disheartening for our people to see how incompetent some of the authorities are when it comes to keeping criminals in jail and ensuring public safety. A case in point is Westville Prison in KwaZulu-Natal, which has not only become notorious for these activities but has become the national headquarters for such criminal activities.
The level of overcrowding in prisons does not make the job of the under-resourced and underpaid staff any easier. Awaiting-trial prisoners add to the overcrowding, as police investigations are very slow. Even those first-time offenders who have fines of less than R1 000 find themselves in the midst of hardened criminals as the courts refuse to release them. The police, courts and the department need to look into this matter, as overcrowding also breeds many diseases.
One would find that hardened criminals are part of different prison gangs, which sometimes end up running the prison. Juvenile offenders are also mixed with these criminals, some of who rape these young people. One can go to prison having stolen a loaf of bread and come out not only molested, but also a more sophisticated criminal.
Government can create policies to ensure that, firstly, those who have been sentenced to three years or less are kept in separate prisons; secondly, those who are under 18 years of age are placed under the care of social welfare; and thirdly, those under 25 years of age receive their own facilities away from hardened criminals.
In order to ensure that staff are incentivised and encouraged to do their jobs honestly, career progression must be re-evaluated. Very often ...
IsiZulu:
... umuntu uhlala laphaya ...
English:
... as a warder for 1 000 years before he actually gets promoted, and that must be reviewed, Mr Minister. Most remain in one position for too long, making them susceptible to corruption, and if they want to advance through the ranks, they may end up paying many people to approve their appointment.
Our parole system is being horrendously abused. Individuals who are politically connected claim to be terminally ill and are then released on medical parole. Not only is Schabir Shaik still very much alive, but he continues to revel in his freedom by playing golf and very often frequenting pubs where he is seen enjoying a gulp of whisky. [Interjections.] Jackie Selebi is no longer on his deathbed, but is now even found in movie theatres, while those who deserve parole still languish in jail. There is no reason why Azanian People's Liberation Army, Apla, soldiers and self-defence unit, SDU, members are still in jail. These are the people who actually contributed immensely to the freedom and democracy that we enjoy now. We need this department to re-evaluate the way it functions and to take responsibility for its failures. Otherwise, the public is being lied to when it is told that criminals are truly behind bars.
The Bosasa company that has already been mentioned here is also responsible for the ... [Time expired.]
Dr P J GROENEWALD
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 158
Mr M A MNCWANGO
Afrikaans:
Dr P J GROENEWALD: Agb Voorsitter, ek wil begin om vir die agb Motshekga te sê dat ek baie bly is dat hy besef dat varke ook gevoer moet word. Ek stel dat hy met sy kollega, Thandi Modise, praat sodat sy ook besef dat varke gevoer moet word.
Die agb Motshekga was die Hoofsweep van die ANC ...
English:
... but he was fired because of his incompetence. He is an expert at incompetence. Every time he cannot solve a problem, he blames it on apartheid. So, hon Minister, please don't pay attention to what the hon Motshekga said.
Afrikaans:
Agb Minister, u beklee nou die nuwe pos. Daar is baie uitdagings. U het 'n goeie oorsig gegee. Ek wil aansluit by vorige sprekers dat die grootste uitdaging wat u sal moet hanteer is die korrupsie wat in die departement plaasvind. As ons dit sê, sê ons nie dat al die amptenare korrup is nie. Ons weet daar is goeie amptenare.
English:
The MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Chairperson, on a point of order: Is it parliamentary for an hon member to reflect on the competence of another hon member?
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): That ruling was also made yesterday. The issue of competence should not be brought up. It is part of Rule ...
Dr P J GROENEWALD: Wat sê u vir my, agb Voorsitter? Sê u vir my dat ek dit nie mag sê nie? As 'n agb lid onbevoeg is, dan is hy of sy onbevoeg. As dit die waarheid is, dan is dit die waarheid. Ek sal vir u nou sê dat ek my nie sal laat voorskryf dat ek nie vir 'n agb onbevoegde lid mag sê dat hy onbevoeg is nie. Hy is onbevoeg. Dit is so eenvoudig soos dit.
English:
Ms M C C PILANE-MAJAKE: Chairperson, on a point of order: I thought you had made a ruling on this matter. I don't understand why the hon member wants to continue with it. [Interjections.]
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Order, hon members! We need to maintain the decorum of the House and we need to respect hon members. I would request members to refrain from using inappropriate language so as to maintain the decorum of the House. Please continue, hon member.
Dr P J GROENEWALD: Maybe you misunderstood me, hon Chair. I never said he was incompetent. I said he is an expert at incompetence. [Laughter.]
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: Hon Chairperson, is it parliamentary to lie by explaining the actions of organisations of which you are not a member? [Interjections.]
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Hon Motshekga, please!
Afrikaans:
Dr P J GROENEWALD: Ek is beslis nie 'n lid van die ANC nie en ek sal ook nooit een word nie. Agb Minister, u moet daardie korrupsie aanspreek. Daar is nou baie van my tyd gemors.
Ek wil ernstig met u praat. U het 'n paroolraad. Die paroolraad ondersoek 'n bepaalde geval, hulle kyk na die meriete daarvan en dan beveel hulle aan of 'n persoon parool kan kry of nie.
Ek verwys spesifiek na die Eugene De Kock-geval. Agb Minister, u moes 'n besluit geneem het, maar u het 'n politieke besluit geneem. As daar een gevangene is wat 'n politieke gevangene is, dan is dit Eugene De Kock.
U moet my mooi verstaan. Ek ken hom nie. Ek ondersteun nie wat hy gedoen het nie en ek het nooit vir die regering van daardie dag gestem nie. Eugene De Kock is in die ruggesteek deur die voormalige President van Suid-Afrika, mnr F W De Klerk.
U moet onthou dat die ANC beter as die Nasionale Party was wat gesorg het dat hulle kamarade - meer as 20 000 van hulle - 'n blanko amnestie gekry het nog voor die Waarheids- en Versoeningskommissie. F W De Klerk en sy trawante, kan ek amper sê, het in hul arrogansie gedink dat dit nie nodig is nie en dit goedgedink om dit nie te doen nie. Nou is Eugene De Kock die slagoffer daarvoor.
Ek wil 'n beroep op u doen, as u die besluit neem, neem 'n meriete besluit, nie 'n politieke besluit nie. U het ook by die agb Mncwango gehoor, as dit gaan oor politieke besluite dan doen u dit 'n onreg aan en misken u 'n paroolraad. [Tyd verstreke.]
END OF TAKE
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 159
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,07 Aug 2014,"Take 159[Old Assembly Main].doc"
Dr P J GROENEWALD
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: House Chairperson;
hon Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Minister Mike Masutha; chairperson of the portfolio committee, Dr Mathole Motshekga; colleagues, members of the portfolio committee, and the House at large, allow me, this morning, at this budget debate to take the cue from my Minister and acknowledge our distinguished guests who are in the gallery, the eminent heads and members of the complementary bodies which constitute the correctional services dispensation regime, on whose behalf we are also accounting today. Your valuable labour and civic duty are sincerely appreciated.
Our budget debate today signals the commencement of yet another determined and spirited five years in government to programmatically bring to life the vision of a transformed correctional service in South Africa as articulated in the White Paper on Corrections in South Africa published in February 2005.
As we start this countdown by putting before Parliament the annual performance plans for Year 1, that is, the 2014-15 financial year, we do so, as the Minister emphasised, with commitment and the discipline to foreground the imperatives of Vision 2030 - South Africa's National Development Plan, NDP.
It is our intention to diligently implement our plans while we simultaneously continue to work on our plans with the view to achieve conditions where South Africans are safe and feel safe in their communities. We will strive to understand, and appreciate the lay of the land, so to speak, so that in time we can produce a framework which projects targets and milestones that delineate the main objectives of each of the three Medium-Term Strategic Framework time spans, leading up to the year 2030 - of a South Africa we envision.
In the recent general elections South Africans voted overwhelmingly for radical change. In canvassing his view about the radicalism of the change which the South African voters want to see in government, Joel Netshitenzhe, the executive director of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, argues that this radicalism with regard to the state has to include the totality of measures required to improve its capacity to implement its policies. Be it in relation to economic and social infrastructure or the industrial policy action plans, the intent of government should be felt in actual implementation - informed by clear high level objectives that are understood by public servants, the private sector and civil society alike. If we accept the probability of the correctness of this assertion, we will most likely agree that the same applies to the security sector cluster we belong to in government.
Joel further concurs with Minister Masutha`s sentiments that South Africans want a state that is legitimate, efficient and ethical. One of the pivotal goals of the Justice and Correctional Services Ministry is the fight against corruption, as the Minister unequivocally stated when he introduced the presentation of this budget and plans to the portfolio committee a few weeks ago.
This commitment finds resonance in the NDP, in its assertion that, in a developmental state, unions share responsibility for the quality of services delivered, for improving the performance of government, and for fighting corruption and inefficiency.
What then are the high-level objectives that we as public servants and our partners in the private sector and civil society must understand and be clear about? I wish to venture a view that the high-level objective which our correctional service is in pursuit of is best articulated in the revolutionary thought that was once articulated by one of the most accomplished social reformers the African continent has produced in the contemporary period. This was the first President of independent Angola, Dr Agostinho Neto, President of the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, MPLA. He argued that for the lumpenproletariat to remain progressive as part of the motive forces for popular change after victory over colonial oppression, irrespective of the heroism of its participation in that struggle, the lumpenproletariat must commit class suicide as a social strata. Failing which, it must be crushed by the popular masses that it was previously in alliance with in defence of social change.
Chairperson, excuse me for the gibberish. [Interjections.]
The long and short of what – because members on the opposition benches may not understand what I have just said - I wished to convey is that, in our newly established democratic order, the high-level objective of the Department of Correctional Services - its end game is the rehabilitation of offenders as part of the eradication of crime and the drastic reduction of our prison population. Crime is antipeople. It terrorises communities; undermines investor confidence; undermines development; is counterprogressive, and erodes the freedom that so many sacrificed their lives for in a quest to realise a better life for our people. Crime is counter-revolutionary.
Allow me to share with this House an instructive experience relevant to our debate this morning. A struggle friend of mine who I have always admired for his sharp insights into life in black communities of our country, in particular the urban townships, abruptly scuppered our plan to spend the weekend together in order to catch up on each other's private lives. Unfortunately, our cosy plan was rudely disrupted by an urgent call that his house had been burgled. He rushed back home to find his house cleaned out of everything electronic and easily movable items.
When I called him a day later to find out how he was coping, he was his normal calm and upbeat self. I had called to console him because I naturally expected him to still be angry and upset. In his typical way, he took this blow in his stride and with excitement explained to me that what happened is to be expected. His voice was of someone who did not bear any grudge against the perpetrators. Like a sage, he went on to explain that what happened is a natural outcome of the ``system'', that we the leaders have lost the perpetrators of the callous break-in into his house. They feel that we no longer belong together; they feel destitute and abandoned. What they have done is now a problem facing him and the state, that is, the police. They could not be bothered about his plight right now. He said that at the height of rudimentary organs of popular power in the black townships during the apartheid days, this would not have happened.
He quickly came with a rejoinder while I was still quietly internalising what he was telling me and said, ``Actually, I am ideally placed to do something about it. I have a golden opportunity to reach out to these people, to reconnect with them.'' He said, ``you can nurture a momentous prison reform movement that can drastically bring down criminal behaviour in our communities.'' He continued, ``Remember, these people are among the most entrepreneurial individuals in our communities, who think out of the box most of the time. They can be rehabilitated.''
Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations once said that no one is born a good citizen. No nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts off from its youth severs its lifeline.
This means that as a department mandated to rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders, we will have to be visible agents in the moral, social and economic reconstruction of our country. Our clients are not only inmates, but the society that produces offending behaviour. We must be at the forefront of the battle that discourages criminal behaviour, especially in the preventative campaigns targeted at young people. Our offenders and parolees will be valuable to educate the youth that crime does not pay. We should always bear in mind that effective crime fighting relies on community co-operation. I do not expect some of my colleagues to understand this.
Part of our work during this administration is to educate the public about the National Register for Sex Offenders. While the national register is not open to the public, employers in the public or private sectors, such as schools, crèches and hospitals, are accorded the right to check whether a job applicant is fit to work with children or mentally disabled people.
I am glad to report that in the first quarter of this financial year, Correctional Services obtained a 100% success rate in delivering a guilty verdict for a number of offences involving 26 individuals employed by the department. This is an 8% improvement from the 92% of the previous financial year.
Regarding the qualified opinion by the Auditor-General on movable tangible assets, the asset register is currently updated continuously with new additions and disposals. Asset balancing and reconciliation is now done on a monthly basis to identify and rectify the discrepancies. The policy regarding the handling of urgent and emergency cases has also been amended and all cases must now be presented before the relevant bid adjudication committees.
The transformation programme of our democratic government necessitates that prisons shift from centres of mortification to places of new beginnings. Education and vocational skills are therefore at the heart of our rehabilitation enterprise. From 2010 to 2013, 73,881 inmates participated in education programmes.
We should celebrate the fact that the number of full-time correctional centre schools registered with the Department of Education increased from one in 2009 to 14 in 2014. We take notice, too, that in the 2013 Grade 12 examinations, Umlatati Learning Centre, at Barberton Youth Centre in Mpumalanga, achieved a 100% pass rate.
It is heartening, too, to learn about the story of Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho from Makhado. He was imprisoned for 11 years and is on parole. He pursued a creative writing course with the University of South Africa, Unisa, and, on his release, published his short story collection. Today, Mukwevho is a poet and a community journalist, who topped the inaugural Polokwane Literary Festival.
It is not all gloom and doom in Correctional Services, as some of the speakers in this debate would want us to believe. This department has production workshops which operate as business units, including 10 wood workshops, 10 steel workshops, 19 textile workshops, a shoe factory and three sanitary towel units. There are 21 farms and 96 small vegetable sites. The agricultural enterprises include piggery; beef and dairy production; chicken and egg production; and fruit and vegetable production.
The department is aiming towards self-sufficiency through full utilisation of its 40,000 hectares of correctional centre farm land. Reaching our target at about 18% less cost than the open market is our intention. Over the past two years, almost 30 million kilograms of vegetables, fruit and meat were produced by inmates at correctional centre farms and abattoirs.
The department has adopted various orphanages, old age homes and schools, and continues to donate surplus products to disadvantaged communities. As per the National Framework on Offender Labour, the department is increasing the number of offenders who participate in offender labour and skills development programmes. On 12 February 2013, the department signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Basic Education to use offender labour to build schools and supply furniture. The obligations of the department
include: Manufacture and delivery of school furniture; rehabilitation of school furniture; construction of school infrastructure; maintenance and refurbishment of schools, and the establishment of school gardens.
As the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, we will continue to deliver justice to victims and ensure that offenders make restitution both to society for their crimes and leave correctional centres with better skills and prospects, which will result in a second chance towards becoming ideal citizens.
I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr L K B MPUMLWANA / END OF TAKE
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,16 Jul 2014,"[Take-160] [Old Assembly Main][90P-4-082A][nm].doc"
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 160
Mr L K B MPUMLWANA: Hon Chair, hon Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, hon members, hon Justice Tshabalala, hon guests ...
Mr M G P LEKOTA: Madam Chair, on a point of order.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): A point of order?
Mr M G P LEKOTA: Is it really correct that a member of this House can say that "abelungu bayeyisa" [whites are disrespectful] which is racial in nature. It is a racist comment.
Mr L K B MPUMLWANA: But I did not say that.
Mr M G P LEKOTA: I am not talking about ... [Interjections.] I heard that member there.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Hon Motshekga, can I hear the ...
Mr M G P LEKOTA: This is an official sitting of the Parliament of South Africa, a country committed to nonracialism.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Thank you, hon Lekota, I heard your point of order. Hon Motshekga?
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: Hon Chairperson, doesn't hon Lekota recognise all official languages in this country? Why is he prohibiting members of the ANC from using other official languages? [Interjections.]
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Okay. [Interjections.] Order, hon members! Before you continue, hon Mpumlwana. Hon member, can you withdraw that utterance?
Mr G S RADEBE: Hon Chairperson, I withdraw. [Applause.]
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Hon Mpumlwana, you may continue.
Mr L K B MPUMLWANA: Hon guests and respectable members of the Department of Correctional Services, ladies and gentlemen, I take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister and the Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services on their appointments and having been chosen to lead this department. I am humbled by the opportunity offered to me to participate in this debate.
Yesterday hon Motshekga strongly advocated for the reform of our legal and justice system and for the revival of our African methods of dispute resolution. Indeed, if that happens, it will go a long way to break the cycle of crime in our society.
In a traditional African society when a person commits a crime against a member of another family, the two families hold a meeting. The aim of this meeting is to discuss forgiveness, peace and compensation for the victim. I suggest that the hon Selfe approaches hon Motshekga for advice on this matter.
Currently, a person who is suspected of having committed a crime is removed from his family and from society, taken to court and is tried without the involvement of his community. If he is found guilty, he is sent to prison for a long time, say about 40 years. When he has served half of his sentence, he is paroled and his community is persuaded to accept him back. The department, therefore, has a duty to correct the offending behaviour of these people and prepare them for parole and for their reintegration into society. In this respect, hon Minister, your department is doing this very well.
Offenders are building homes that are accepted by society. [Applause.] Offenders are making furniture. I think we should look at the good side of it.
Parole allows for the conditional release of offenders from a correctional centre into the community prior to the expiration of their entire sentences of imprisonment, as imposed by a court of law. This means that the offender is released from prison prior to the expiry of his or her entire sentence. This allows the offender to return to normal community life, albeit under controlled conditions under the supervision of correctional officials.
Before 1994 the task of considering an offender for parole was done by prison officials. There was no consideration for the interest of the victim and communities. Prisoners were also just incarcerated without being rehabilitated. A wonderful ANC government has since changed that. [Applause.] It changed the prison into a correctional centre. [Interjections.] Mandela is a son of the ANC, shaped by the ANC. It believes that "awukho umgqomo wokulahla umuntu" [There is no dust bin where you can dispose of a person.] So, this department is doing a very good job and is taking hardened criminals and changes them into perfect gentlemen.
The ANC National Conference in Polokwane resolved that there has to be encouragement for community participation in parole boards and corrections. The emphasis is now on correcting the offending behaviour of the offender, to rehabilitate him and to break the cycle of crime. The interest of the victim is also considered. Before an offender is considered for parole ...
Ms Z S DLAMINI-DUBAZANA: Chairperson, may I address you? The noise within the House ...
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Hon member, you are standing on which point?
Ms Z S DLAMINI-DUBAZANA: The decorum of the House. The noise is too much.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Sit down, hon member. Hon Mpumlwana, please continue.
Mr L K B MPUMLWANA: I hope, hon Chair, that you will give me my minutes back. Thank you.
Although an offender has no right to be paroled, parole is an integrated part of the penal system; and where an offender has demonstrated during his or her incarceration that he has been rehabilitated - that he is unlikely to be a danger to society - the board may approve or recommended that an offender be released.
Parole therefore provides offenders with an incentive to demonstrate their commitment to rehabilitation and correcting offending behaviour, which are important elements of them becoming productive citizens. When consideration is given to releasing a person, these are the things that the parole board considers. Another thing that this very good government has done is to make sure that the people who are on the parole board are independent people, respectable citizens who take a decision objectively. They are a quasi-judicial tribunal and therefore their decision is not necessarily that of the department.
In the normal course of events sometimes there is also a parole board that considers medical parole. As from 1 March 2012 medical parole has been expanded to include cases where an offender is suffering from a terminal disease or condition or if an offender is rendered physically incapacitated as a result of injury, disease or illness.
In the normal course of events, a medical practitioner will identify offenders who might qualify for possible medical parole. An offender or family member may also apply for medical parole, but any such application must be recommended by a medical practitioner before it will be submitted for a decision. A medical practitioner will do a thorough assessment of an offender's medical condition and if, in his opinion, the physical or medical condition warrants consideration of medical parole, such an application will be submitted to the Medical Advisory Board, which was constituted by the Minister.
Should medical parole be approved, the offender will be placed into the system of ... [Interjections.]
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: Hon ...
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Yes, hon Motshekga?
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: Hon Chairperson, is it parliamentary in Parliament to address the head of state by just his first name and surname, not even saying President or honourable.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Can you please withdraw?
Mr C MACKENZIE: To respond to the point of order, Madam Chairperson, when the hon President Jacob Zuma freed Schabir Shaik from prison, he was not the President. Thank you.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Can you withdraw that, hon member?
Hon MEMBERS: "Uyeyisa wena" [You are disrespectful.].
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Hon Mpumlwana, please continue.
Mr L K B MPUMLWANA: I want to inform the hon members on the other side that, if there is an improvement in medical health, then that is not good ground for the cancellation of parole. Minister, I think that they should commend your department. The problem with the opposition is that they are opposing. They are here to oppose. You say good things - that you want to build schools - they oppose. You want to give people parole, they oppose. You do anything, they oppose, because their duty is to oppose. [Applause.] ``I-job yi-job'' [A man must do what a man must do.]. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Mr M G P LEKOTA / END OF TAKE
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,16 Jul 2014,"[Take-161] [Old Assembly Main][90P-4-082A][nm].doc"
Mr L K B MPUMLWANA
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 161
Mr M G P LEKOTA: Chairperson, I was particularly moved by the observation made by the Deputy Minister with regard to the position of the lumpenproletariat in the Angolan situation, having quoted Dr Agostinho Neto. The sad thing about it is that, in our country, the lumpenproletariat is not committing suicide.
On the contrary, society – we - has created conditions in which it is thriving and increasing. That's the tragedy facing our country and this, of course, we have done in many ways.
One of the first things we did has been to honour individuals who had committed crimes and had been proven in the court to have committed those crimes, and we treated them as national heroes who had done something great for us, all of us, without exception.
Your task, Minister, is unenviable, Sir, because when leaders of society treat those who act contrary to the values and laws of that society as heroes, as people to be respected and honoured, as examples to be emulated, that society is committing suicide. That is the situation that confronts us in this country today. I look across and I'm saying that the leaders of this society - the first leaders of this society - are the ruling party, the opposition, business leaders, church leaders, and leaders across the spectrum. South African society is amused when things that we should be ashamed of happen. We don't say this is not us. We talk of this and we protect this.
I do want to say therefore ... [Interjections.]
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Hon Lekota, can we hear her?
Ms M C C PILANE-MAJAKE: I rise on a point of order. Hon Lekota, are you ready to take a question?
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): You have not asked.
Mr M G P LEKOTA: I could have told you before she opened her mouth that she was going to say that! [Laughter.]
Ms M C C PILANE-MAJAKE: Are you ready, Sir?
Mr M G P LEKOTA: If I may proceed, Madam? I have no time to take any frivolous questions.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Please, sit down. Sit down. He is not taking questions.
Mr M G P LEKOTA: I simply have no time for it.
Let me say this, therefore: Minister, this is your first budget. I could attack you, but I would be attacking the work of the previous Minister. This is your first budget and your first statement. It is important for us to see what you are going to do over the next 12 months. At that point in time, we will be able to say whether you are doing something to reverse this.
The sadness of it all is that your department cannot change this society all by itself. Its efforts must be linked with other departments. Twelve months from now we will have a say in this matter. Thank you very much. [Time expired.]
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Hon Lekota, your time is long up.
Mr M G P LEKOTA: I'm sorry.
Mr S N SWART
Mr M G P LEKOTA
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 161
Mr S N SWART: Chairperson, hon Minister, the ACDP believes that one has to look at the recent parliamentary report of the previous Parliament to put the department in its proper perspective. If one does that, then one is in a position to understand the challenges that the department faces. Yes, there are areas of excellence and we, as the opposition, need to recognise those as well. We've got the workshops, agricultural gardens and so on.
Let's just remember what the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services said in October, and this was across political lines. It is important, it said, that at the outset the committee is concerned about the very limited progress the department has made over the past five years, not only in relation to financial management, but also in its overall service delivery to sentenced offenders.
Much of what was identified as areas of serious concern in 2011-12 have remained unchallenged in 2012-13. Stakeholders have also observed that practically all recommendations made by the committee - that is, Parliament - have been ignored, as little evidence can be found that they have been considered and, where possible, implemented. So, that historical report has to be considered, going forward.
There are serious challenges with the department and the previous committee called for a credible turnaround strategy. This committee must ensure that such a plan is presented and implemented. Of course, part of it must deal with corruption and with the qualified audit. The Minister or Deputy Minister mentioned the movable tangible assets issue. Part of it must address the whole core delivery issue of this department, which is rehabilitation and social integration programmes. How can it be that there is underspending in this aspect when it is a core function? Surely, that is something that must be addressed.
Given the high incidents of assault, abuse and smuggling, we also support the hon Vincent Smith's call - and the committee accepted that recommendation - for the department to look into utilising closed-circuit television and cell phone blocking technologies. This will enable ongoing monitoring. It is so obvious. Why wasn't this done a number of years ago, hon Smith, and it is something that we fully support.
Overcrowding remains a problem and it is the root cause but we also believe - from the ACDP's perspective - that we should look at sections 63(a) and 62(f) of the Criminal Procedure Act, which allows magistrates to review bail and also allows courts to place awaiting-trial prisoners under correctional supervision. Let's have a look at those two aspects, as there are areas that can be improved upon.
Chairperson, lastly, as a portfolio committee, it is going to be very difficult to deal with both Correctional Services and Justice issues. We, as the portfolio committee, don't understand why it was collapsed into one. This is a serious issue because we will not be able to do proper oversight and our legislative burden. This isn't an issue for the executive, but it is something that we need to consider. Thank you very much, Chairperson.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): I just want to bring to the attention of members that the Budget Vote debates are an opportunity for members to ask the Ministers relevant questions and so forth, and give all members an opportunity to participate fairly and freely, and not ask frivolous questions and waste the time of the House.
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: Chairperson, ...
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Hon Motshekga...
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: Can I just make a correction? It is not ...
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Hon Motshekga, on which point are you are rising?
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: To make a correction. [Interjections.]
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): No, hon Motshekga.
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: It is said ... [Interjections.] Chair, Chair, Chair,...
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Hon Motshekga, I have not given you an opportunity to speak. Thank you. And the member has already finished speaking.
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: No, it's a correction.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): No, hon Motshekga. No, I have not given you an opportunity. Thank you very much.
Mr B T BONGO: Chair, the member has finished, but he has misled the House.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): On which point are you rising, in terms of which Rule?
Mr B T BONGO: I want to correct what the member has said.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): No, hon members. Thank you.
Mr G S RADEBE: Chair, if you will allow me. I think hon Motshekga was rising in term of section 69(1), which provides part of the explanation.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Hon members, section 69(1) says an explanation during a debate is allowed only when a material part of a member's speech has been misquoted or misunderstood. But, such member shall not be permitted to introduce any new matter and no debate shall be allowed upon such explanation. Thank you, hon members.
Dr M S MOTSHEKGA: Chairperson, I rise on a point of order. There is no decision of the committee which rejects the merger between Justice and Correctional Services. That's the point I wanted to make. The ANC supports that merger and we think it is workable, and we are going to make it work.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Thank you very much, hon Motshekga.
Ms A STEYN: Chairperson, if I may ...
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Please, sit down. Hon members, the hon member, from his party's point of view and him as an individual, sees this department being too big, so he won't be able to cope. That doesn't mean that it is going to be disaggregated again. It is his point of view that it is too huge. It doesn't necessarily mean that it is not workable. Thank you very much for raising all the issues and corrections.
Mrs M R M MOTHAPO
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 162
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M MASEKO)
Mrs M R M MOTHAPO: Hon House Chairperson, hon Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, hon Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, chairperson and hon members of the portfolio committee, the executive management and personnel of the Department of Correctional Services, stakeholders of the Department of Correctional Services, ladies and gentlemen: Thobela, avuxeni, ndi matsheloni, lotjhani.
Let me remind the hon Litchfield-Tshabalala and other hon members who referred to a lot of things from 2011 in relation to the Department of Correctional Services that, in the same year, the department was rated the third best department in the fight against corruption by the Public Service Commission. [Applause.]
Section 35(2)(e) of our Constitution states that:
Everyone who is detained, including every sentenced prisoner, has the right to conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity; including at least exercise and the provision, at state expense, of adequate accommodation, nutrition, reading material and medical treatment.
This provision of the Constitution also includes female offenders who are incarcerated in our correctional facilities across the country.
The issue of female inmates in our correctional facilities is very close to my heart. Most women in prison are victims of severe and prolonged physical and/or sexual abuse. Female offenders constitute just less than 3% of the total inmate population in South Africa. According to the 2012-13 annual report of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, there were 1 904 sentenced adult females and 505 sentenced female juveniles in our correctional facilities in that financial year.
We are aware that there are few female correctional facilities in South Africa. As a result, many women are incarcerated far from their families. This is one of the disadvantages of the small number of female offenders in our correctional facilities, as acknowledged in the White Paper on Corrections of 2005.
In his state of the nation address in June this year, the hon President, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, indicated that Minister Susan Shabangu will work with other government departments, agencies, the private sector and nongovernment organisations to promote women empowerment, development and human rights. The Department of Correctional Services should also play a role in assisting Minister Shabangu to implement this priority of government.
Many female inmates come from disadvantaged backgrounds and, as such, it might be difficult and expensive for their families to visit them regularly. The White Paper on Corrections encourages the Department of Correctional Services to find creative ways in which contact between female inmates and their families remain intact. This will facilitate smooth reintegration back into society once they are released. This is very progressive, indeed.
Currently, there are 448 inmates who are on TB treatment in our correctional facilities. I am impressed that the Department of Correctional Services will increase expenditure on medicine from this financial year onwards to provide for improved access to treatment for inmates. This is indeed a good story to tell.
Another challenge facing Correctional Services is the scourge of HIV/Aids in correctional facilities. The Millennium Development Goals Report also mentions that HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria are the three major global public health problems that undermine development in most sub-Saharan African countries. Currently, in our correctional facilities, there are 15 417 HIV-positive inmates who are receiving antiretroviral therapy, ART. In its annual performance plan for 2014-15, the department states the intention to ensure that 95% of inmates who need ART are placed on it.
In order for the department to reach this target, there must be medical practitioners who administer such treatment in correctional services facilities. The shortage of medical practitioners in the Department of Correctional Services is cause for concern. According to the 2012-13 annual report of the Department of Correctional Services, the vacancy rate for health care professionals, especially professional nurses, was at 11,2%.
It is important that the department prioritises filling these vacancies in order to win the fight against HIV/Aids, TB and other diseases affecting inmates in correctional centres. This will be in line with the National Development Plan, NDP, which states that the allocation of resources and availability of health personnel in the public sector should be improved. The fight against HIV/Aids should be tackled on all fronts. In his state of the nation address, the President also said that we need to expand on our mass HIV prevention communication campaigns.
In order to win the fight against all these diseases in our correctional centres, emphasis must also be placed on providing inmates with good nutrition and encouraging them to lead a healthy lifestyle. The NDP also emphasises that South Africans need to be more physically active as part of their culture. According to the NDP, every month there should be a day dedicated to physical activity where everyone is encouraged to take part. This recommendation should also be considered for inmates in all correctional centres.
Section 11 of the Correctional Services Act, Act 111 of 1998 stipulates that:
Every inmate must be given the opportunity to exercise sufficiently to remain healthy and is entitled to at least one hour of exercise daily. If the weather permits, this exercise must take place in the open air.
Sepedi:
Modulasetulo, rena re le mokgahlo woo o bušago, re thekga Bouto ya Tekanyetšo ya Kgoro ya Ditirelo tša Tshokollo. Ke a leboga. [Legoswi.]
Mr M M TSHISHONGA / END OF TAKE
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,29 Jul 2014,"Take 163 [Old Assembly Main].doc"
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,16 Jul 2014,"[Take-163] [Old Assembly Main][90P-4-082A][nm].doc"
Mrs M R M MOTHAPO
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 163
Mr M M TSHISHONGA: Hon Chair, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon Members of Parliament, I have just come across – it's not by me – a statement by Shakespeare that says: All men are mad, they only differ in degrees. [Laughter.]
The correctional services parole board needs attention. There can be those who are awaiting trial, but we must look at the cost. Hon Adv Motshekga, I agree with you when it comes to the holistic approach in healing, which is the spiritual, mental, bodily and otherwise. I think that is what should take place in the correctional services in order for the word ``correction'' to have more meaning. That's where the emphasis should be.
However, I do not agree with you when you talk about the legacy – this is nothing personal – I just heard a philosophy of history in what you were telling us. Holistic healing is very important and prevention is better than cure.
I think that this is what the Department of Correctional Services should emphasise. We want to see people from correctional services having skills to help themselves. Before you instruct me to sit down, Chairperson, I want to thank you very much. We support this Vote, because if we don't support it, what is going to happen? [Applause.]
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Ms L M Maseko): Thank you, hon Tshishonga. I heard some whispers that you said all men are mad but not women! [Laughter.]
Mr M H REDELINGHUYS
Mr M M TSHISHONGA
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 163
Mr M H REDELINGHUYS: Chairperson, correctional centres across South Africa house roughly 157 000 people, that is 294 prisoners for every 100 000 of us. This is on par with the population of Engcobo or Stellenbosch Local Municipalities and, in most cases, the prison population is as diverse and complex. South African prisons are home to a crosssection of our population - men, women, children, and young people - who have fallen foul of the law.
Tragically, most prisoners are young black men and more than a third or 53 000 of them are youth. To the hon Motshekga, these are young people like me and not like you, whose entire lives lie ahead of them, lives that are more often broken or further destroyed in prison. According to former Minister Ndebele, for every 23 000 inmates released in a month, another 25 000 enter the system; one step forward, two steps back.
The acting commissioner estimates the rate of reoffending to be between 67% and 94%; one step forward, three steps back. So we write the prison waltz of hopelessness. Chairperson, for too long, prisons have been regarded as the breeding ground of criminality, places of punitive authoritarianism and backwaters of everything despised by society.
They also represent a microcosm of a divided country, racked by racial segregation and discrimination, as well as repressive measures such as solitary confinement and violent interrogation. Former Minister Ngconde Balfour's words from beyond the political grave ring as true today as they did when he put them at the foreword to the much celebrated 2005 White Paper on Corrections in South Africa.
The celebration accompanying this White Paper has not been matched with the political will to ensure its implementation. Perhaps this is because the ANC has spent the past five years hard at work to ensure that certain people stay out of prison instead of addressing what goes on in them.
This department has frequently been attached to a Ministry that was often a mere place holder for the ineffectual, the irrelevant or the incompetent. Today the department's orphan status has finally been entrenched as a mere afterthought attachment to justice.
Given the rate at which the President has been expanding his executive circle of friends, I am surprised that we do not have a Minister for Corrections and a Minister for Services.
Correctional services should not be the last step in the criminal justice system. It should be the first step on the journey towards rehabilitation, reintegration and, where possible, reconciliation and reparation. Instead, our prisons operate like a revolving door where people get stuck in a vicious cycle of criminality and despair, obliterating any real hope of an alternative future.
Gangsterism, violence, bribery, corruption, a raging TB epidemic, HIV/Aids, rape, sexual assault and unmanageable levels of overcrowding - with harrowing conditions like these, every prison sentence is a death sentence that kills careers and relationships. It often kills people and kills any hope of a better tomorrow. If this is a good story, then it is time to write the new story that the National Development Plan, NDP, champions.
When this plan speaks of its core focus on the capabilities of people, it speaks of all our people, not just the connected. Prisoners are people like us; they are the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters.
Moreover, some members of this House were once also imprisoned for their fight against apartheid. There is even talk that other more recent additions that are absent here today may still head that way, although for completely different reasons.
Most of us either know or are connected to a person who is serving or has served a prison sentence. In my case, a close family friend was convicted of murdering his wife and he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He came out of Zonderwater Prison a changed man, having seized the educational and other developmental opportunities presented to him. Today he is reintegrated into society as a full contributing member. Success stories like these should be the rule and not the exception.
Chair, this is not only possible, it is within our reach and the blueprint already exists for this government in the White Paper, the National Development Plan, NDP, and a range of the DA policy proposals that we, in our generosity, will give to the absent Minister. The DA believes that the correctional service system must balance the appropriate punishment of convicted criminals with the need to reduce the likelihood that offenders will reoffend.
Successful correctional services break the circle of reoffending and ensure that the prisoners stay out once they get out of prison. The conditions under which prisoners are kept impact on their behaviour after their release, and they can have consequences for the way in which prisoners and offenders are viewed by society.
We can change the way our prisons operate by matching the budget allocation with the changing way in which we think about correctional services, to ensure that this does what the name implies. Make no mistake, convicted criminals must be punished for their crimes, but the punishment must fit the crime.
It must be a core priority of the correctional system to keep offenders out of jail to avoid further criminalisation, and not just friends. More importantly, the correctional service system must be orientated towards rehabilitation and successful reintegration; it is time that the budget reflects this.
At 130% capacity, prison overcrowding limits opportunities for rehabilitation, maintaining prisons as the universities of crime that incubate a culture of violence and breed prisoners that come out better criminals than they were when they went in.
Overcrowding can be eased by building additional facilities, improving the management of remand prisoners and, crucially, by making better use of alternative sentences and introducing second-chance legislation. Rehabilitation must be improved through the structured management of the rehabilitation programmes, specifically of individual prisoners, through the consistent implementation of sentence plans.
Rehabilitation programmes must include purposeful work by all able-bodied inmates. My colleague likes to remark that prisons work where prisoners work and contribute to the society; playing golf is not work. The reintegration of prisoners into society must be facilitated through halfway houses and an active partnership with the nongovernmental and community-based organisations.
The NDP and White Paper's whole of society approach to correcting offending behaviour, rehabilitation and reintegration requires this government to reposition corrections as a societal responsibility. Instead of pursuing public-private partnerships, adequately funding, staffing and re-engineering correctional services towards rehabilitation and reintegration, government appears to be heading in exactly the opposite direction.
Attaching the department to the end of ``justice'' might lead to its effective integration into the criminal justice system, but it may also further entrench its orphan status and punitive nature, cementing correctional services at the dead-end on the road to justice.
The lack of commitment and political will to implement the 2005 White Paper effectively, and the lack of consensus on the National Development Plan within the governing party, makes the latter option - that of the dead-end road - more likely, confining the future of thousands of people in prisons to the rubbish bins that our prisons still are.
Chair, you don't need children in correctional services to know that something must change. Indeed, hon member Motshekga, if your children are in prison, I dare say that you've done something wrong and that you are part of the problem. Minister, good luck, you have been making the right noises, most of them last night when you were trying to do the presiding officer's job.
I think that it is apparent that the Minister may have let himself in for more than he hoped for, and is perhaps already looking for an alternative deployment. I will also echo my colleague in congratulating them on the hard work done by well meaning people in correctional services, and people that continue to try and ensure that their budget reflects the commitment of the 2005 White Paper on Corrections in South Africa. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr V G SMITH/ END OF TAKE
Mr M H REDELINGHUYS
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 164
Mr V G SMITH: Chairperson, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Deputy Minister, hon members and comrades, the harsh reality of the South African situation is that most of the current inmates, at some point, will be released from correctional centres and reintegrated into our society.
Upon release, these ex-offenders often find themselves in situations where they have limited educational opportunities. They usually do not have any money, and they struggle to secure meaningful employment. Under such circumstances, the temptation to reconnect with the criminal network formed whilst incarcerated is very strong, thus leading to reoffending, and the cycle of crime begins all over again.
This truth, Minister, is borne out by what members have spoken about in terms of recidivism, and we also think that the truth of the matter is that rehabilitation programmes in our centres are not working as well as they should, notwithstanding the fact that the strategic task of the department must be to focus on rehabilitation rather than incarceration. We must therefore ask the question whether the budget of the Department of Correctional Services is being employed optimally. We must answer the question: What is it that must be done?
Even as we debate this department's request for R19,7 billion, the Department of Correctional Services has been without a national commissioner for the last six months, as has been alluded to. In fact, Mr Minister, since 1994, this department has been without a national commissioner who has served a full term. The position of the chief financial officer has been vacant in excess of 12 months. For this department to realise its targets and to ensure that taxpayers' monies are directed to government targets and goals, the leadership of the Department of Correctional Services must be finalised as soon as possible to restore stability at the very top.
Other critical skills, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, educators, and artisan trainers must be acquired and such skills retained within the department, if the Department of Correctional Services is to respond to the National Development Plan of creating a capable state led by competent managers and employees who will heed the commitment of the President during his state of the nation address to root out the scourge of corruption and mismanagement of resources. Of the total budget of R19,7 billion, R13,3 billion is earmarked for compensation of employees, thus making our call for a stable leadership and a speedy filling of vacancies a top priority.
With regard to the breakdown per programme, the department needs to reprioritise and allocate much more of the R19,7 billion to programmes that relate directly to rehabilitation, reintegration, development, and care of inmates. Currently, these programmes that relate directly to the key deliverables of the Department of Correctional Services combined are allocated less than 20% of the budget, whilst the Programme: Administration alone is allocated 18% and the Programme: Incarceration is allocated 63%. Any budget must reflect the strategic goal of the organisation in its allocation of spending priority, and this and future budgets must do likewise, Mr Minister.
The committee, and, dare we suggest, most experts within the industry, believe that building of new correctional centres or the upgrading of current facilities, whilst important, must be balanced with the improvement of programmes aimed at rehabilitation and reintegration. We therefore argue that part of the budgeted amount of R206 million for repairs and maintenance and part of the budgeted amount of R605 million for upgrades should, apart from securing the services of the critical skills that we alluded to earlier, also be used to improve the information technology, IT, capacity within the Department of Correctional Services, and be invested in technology to improve management of the centres and, as a result, make our facilities conducive to rehabilitation, development, and care of inmates. [Applause.]
The enhanced capacity of IT capacity will reduce the need to rely on manual recordkeeping and will make management of inmates more efficient. The current management of inmates is such that the department is not able to verify whether, on acceptance or release, an inmate is not sought for other court cases. Minister, investment, as you alluded to, in a biometric system, we believe, would solve this problem.
An effective IT system has the added advantage of connecting the more than 240 facilities countrywide for information management and internal financial controls that continue to be a cause of great concern for the Auditor-General in as far as the reliability of information for audit purposes is concerned. With regard to technology, we continue to urge the department to invest in closed-circuit television, CCTV, and mobile phone jamming capabilities. It is common cause that correctional facilities are flooded with cell phones that are being used by inmates for all sorts of undesirable practices, including their criminal activities even whilst they are behind bars.
The very high prevalence of rape, murder, dangerous weapons and drug abuse in correctional facilities is well documented. These illegal activities tend to take place after lockup and when the number of officials on duty is reduced. Prison gangs take advantage of this situation, and, for all intents and purposes, gangs and not Department of Correctional Services officials are in charge of correctional facilities after lockup. We are very clear that CCTV will not eradicate these activities. However, we firmly believe that a closed-circuit camera system will act as a deterrent both to the prison gangs and those Department of Correctional Services officials who collude with inmates in smuggling contraband into our facilities. Some time ago, access-control rooms were established, as Mr Selfe spoke about, in certain centres. However, many control rooms have been discontinued, and we believe they must be revived.
The committee welcomes the budgeted amount of R28 million earmarked for the implementation of electronic monitoring, as this should further enhance the management of parolees. The committee is very pleased with the investment of R53 million for workshop and agricultural equipment. We believe that skilling of inmates, both as artisans and agriculturalists, will contribute greatly to making ex-offenders employable on their release and, thereby, reduce the risk of reoffending. [Applause.] The committee also welcomes the fact that, generally, the trend of negative audit findings is being reduced. We further welcome the fact that expenditure on consultants, entertainment and travel is being reduced. Long may this be the case.
One of the saddest legacies of the past was to rob South Africans of our humaneness, causing us to cease believing in the inherent goodness of our people. Our moral integrity as a society is measurable by how we treat vulnerable sectors amongst us. Offenders might have, and often have, committed the most heinous acts of criminality against society but, whilst incarcerated, many are exposed to terrible acts of abuse by fellow inmates and officials. Like all citizens of our country, inmates too must enjoy the protection guaranteed in our Constitution. To fail in the efforts to successfully rehabilitate every individual who enters and spends time in correctional facilities is to slow down the journey towards achieving a united, democratic, nonracial, nonsexist, and prosperous South Africa.
The Department of Correctional Services has a major role to play in the realisation of social cohesion and the restoration of human dignity to every South African. We believe that this budget must be a vehicle by which these noble ideals are achieved and sustained but also to correct this dominant narrative within society and within the opposition, generally, of defeatism and hopelessness in as far breaking the cycle of crime.
The hon Litchfield-Tshabalala from the EFF said to South Africans that when the EFF is in government, they will not allow private prisons. You are late, ma'am. We do not allow private prisons, as we speak. You said, ma'am, that you would allow inmates to vote. You are wrong: Inmates voted. [Laughter.] You said you would allow all offenders to work. You are again wrong.
Mr C MACKENZIE: On a point of order, Chairperson ...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): What is your point of order, sir?
Mr C MACKENZIE: Chairperson, would the hon member please refer to other hon members by their titles?
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): What is your point of order, hon member? Do not make a ruling. What is your point of order?
Mr C MACKENZIE: The hon member refers to the hon Litchfield-Tshabalala as "ma'am." He should be calling her "hon member." Thank you.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Refer to the ``hon member.''
Mr V G SMITH: Hon Tshabalala, you indicated that when you take over as government, offenders will be allowed to work. They are allowed to work as we speak, ma'am. [Interjections.] In fact, in the previous term, this committee said: no work, no school, no parole. We said it last term. So, you are wrong.
Ms M C C PILANE-MAJAKE: Chairperson, on a point of order: Is it parliamentary for hon Tshabalala to say that hon Smith is telling a lie? Could you rule on that, please?
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon Tshabalala, did you refer to the hon Smith with those words?
Ms K LITCHFIELD-TSHABALALA: I said, ``It's a lie.'' I did not say that he is a liar, Chairperson.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon member, you said it. Can you just repeat what you said?
Ms K LITCHFIELD-TSHABALALA: I said it is a lie. It is a lie.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): You may sit.
Hon members, let us maintain the decorum of the House and not refer to each other in a derogatory way. Hon Smith, will you refer to the hon Tshabalala as ``hon'' and not ``ma'am''?
Mr V G SMITH: I shall do so, Chairperson. Let me reiterate, hon Tshabalala, that it is true that will be no more private prisons. Let me indicate to hon Tshabalala that it is true that offenders are allowed to vote.
Through you, Chair, let me say to hon Tshabalala that it is true that offenders are allowed to work. It is also true that the previous committee had encouraged them to work or go to school or to be denied parole. These are the truths.
Hon Selfe indicated that he was not sure whether the chairperson gave a sermon or a history lesson. Mr Selfe ... [Interjections.] ... hon Selfe, it is fine to give a sermon. Go and ask your hon Maimane. He is a theologian. There is nothing wrong with giving a sermon. There is also nothing wrong with giving a history lesson. It is because history will teach us never to commit the crimes that we had committed in the past. [Applause.] So, there is nothing wrong with that.
I want to also answer ...
Afrikaans:
... die agb Groenewald. Ek sou dit in Afrikaans gesê het, agb Groenewald, maar ek wil dit sê sodat die hele Suid-Afrika my verstaan.
English:
You stood up, and you commented on the parole, or lack thereof, of Eugene de Kock and indicated that he is a political prisoner. In my view, sir, he was a defender of a crime against humanity. [Applause.] Therefore, to equate a defender of a crime against humanity, to equate that individual to people who fought for freedom and who continue to languish in our jails, hon Mncwango, is an injustice.
Dr P J GROENEWALD: What about McBride? [Interjections.]
Mr V G SMITH: Let me continue, sir. I welcome your suggestion of us having a discussion on this matter because it cannot be that when you are rich or resourced, people make a noise for you to be dismissed, as one man, and there are so many other political prisoners not there. It cannot be that the value of a white person is treated higher than the value of all other people. [Applause.] Otherwise, you would have stood up here and spoken about all political prisoners, not only about a select political prisoner. I ask you, Chairperson ...
Dr P J GROENEWALD: I referred to the hon ... [Interjections.]
Afrikaans:
Mnr V G SMITH: Agb Groenewald, toe u praat, het ek gesit en luister, want ek is gedissiplineerd. Dis hoekom ek gesit en luister het. Ek vra dieselfde van u. Al stem u nie saam nie, vra ek dat u sit en luister, sodat ek u die waarheid vertel. [Applous.]
Dr P J GROENEWALD: Voorsitter, is die agb lid bereid om 'n vraag te beantwoord?
Mnr V G SMITH: Ek is nie bereid om 'n vraag te beantwoord nie.
English:
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon Groenewald!
Afrikaans:
Dr P J GROENEWALD: Ek sal 'n gedissiplineerde vraag vra.
English:
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon Groenewald, the member is not prepared to take a question.
Afrikaans:
Mnr V G SMITH: Agb Groenewald, dit is verkeerd om op te staan en te pleit vir een oortreder terwyl daar so baie ander is. Dit is al wat ek sê. As u opstaan in hierdie Huis, praat van al die politieke gevangenes. Hoekom wil jy net van een praat?
English:
Mr V G SMITH: You are saying to us that we must ...
Dr P J GROENEWALD: You are wrong!
Mr V G SMITH: I might be wrong, but you are worse. You are worse! I am telling you that you are worse. [Applause.] I am telling you that you are worse because you stand up and you say that he is a political prisoner. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
"Old Assembly Main",Unrevised Hansard,16 Jul 2014,"[Take-165] [Old Assembly Main][90P-4-082A][nm].doc"
Mr V G SMITH
UNREVISED HANSARD
EPC – OLD ASSEMBLY CHAMBER
Wednesday, 16 July 2014 Take: 165
The MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Chairperson, I would like to thank the hon members, in particular those who were kind and generous enough, for their votes and for the contribution they made in this debate and for supporting this Budget Vote.
It is through resources that are allocated to us that we are able to continue our vision of ensuring that South Africans not only feel safe, but are indeed safe. This vision is articulated in the ruling party's policies, including the National Development Plan, NDP, which, incidentally, the opposition keeps on misleading us into believing they truly support and yet, with hindsight, criticise its very essence and elements.
Be that as it may, let me concur with my former Chief Whip, the hon chairperson, but also thank him and his team and the members of the ANC study group under the leadership of the Whip, not only for the positive contribution they have made to this debate, but also for the excellent, positive ideas that they shared with us. We will take those on board in taking the work of this department forward. In particular, I would also like to thank the veteran of the committee, my dear friend, hon Smith, who closed the debate very nicely by pulling together all the various strings that will provide what in our language we call umkhombandlela [guidelines for the way forward.] [Applause.]
There are a few things that I need to clarify. I am not sure whether hon Groenewald, by referring to Mr Eugene de Kock as a political prisoner and our decision relating to his parole as a political decision, is himself expressing political confusion. If he had perhaps paid attention to the reasons that we gave for our decision on that matter, he would have cleared his mind and would have understood that the decision we took was based purely on a point of law, informed by the principles in our own Constitution. Nothing more, nothing less. [Applause.]
I also want to assure hon Mncangwo that we made the decision in the De Kock matter on the same grounds. We have a situation in which a pending consideration by the President to release certain political prisoners on presidential pardon was abruptly halted through a successful court challenge in the Constitutional Court on the grounds that prisoners cannot be released without consulting members of the families of victims or victims themselves. That is exactly the basis on which we delayed a decision in regard to the de Kock matter.
Now you ask yourself, if these fellow South Africans are truly colour blind, why do they raise these matters when it is a black person whose release is at issue? Because, when a white person's release is at issue, suddenly the very same basis on which they objected becomes the basis that suddenly does not apply. Selective justice is not what our Constitution espouses. I must say that it certainly is typical of our opposition in this country. They will oppose along such lines. In case I get accused of being a racist myself I will not repeat the word "race". But the point is made. [Interjections.]
I would like to go back to the hon chairperson's point. I think his portrayal of this issue is that there is a history and a context to everything. Crime in this country has a historical context. The fact that our correctional facilities are filled with young black males has a history to it. The fact that the majority of black people live in squalid conditions... and there we will agree with you, hon Litchfield-Tshabalala, except that we don't think that your idea of economic freedom fighting takes us any further ... Thank you. [Time expired.][Applause.]
Debate concluded.
The Committee rose at 12:25.
Audio
No related
Documents
No related documents