Chairperson, in his state of the nation addresses in 2005 and again in 2006, the then President, Thabo Mbeki, announced that eight new-generation prisons would be constructed to alleviate overcrowding and to provide the Department of Correctional Services with a better opportunity to correct offending behaviour and to rehabilitate offenders. Four years and seven months after the first announcement only one new- generation prison is nearing completion and that one has been delayed by one and a half years.
The prison construction saga has been a chapter of mismanagement. Prison specifications and plans were drawn up and then withdrawn; money was appropriated for their construction and then returned to the Treasury; sites were identified and then abandoned; site works for the Nigel and Leeuwkop facilities were commenced and then discontinued.
In 2007, the then Minister of Correctional Services, Ngconde Balfour, announced that prisons would be constructed and run by the private sector by way of a public-private partnership. Shortly after taking office, the current Minister announced that she was reviewing this decision in order to establish whether we would get "value for money". This, after the Treasury had already established that public-private partnerships were the most cost- effective option and after a number of consortia had already submitted tenders for the business at considerable cost.
We, in the committee, heard yesterday that 19 correctional centres accommodate in excess of double the number of inmates they were designed for. We need to get on with the construction of these prisons as a matter of urgency. To delay or, worse still, to abandon this process will irreparably damage the credibility of government. We have wasted enough time and money already. A decision to go ahead must be made and made fast. [Applause.]
Mr Chairman, I rise on a point of order. This is a problem that is going to develop. Unless we stop it immediately, it is going to get worse. We are here to make statements to the House, to which Ministers are supposed to respond. Yet when I look across to the benches where the Ministers are supposed to be sitting, I see a swathe of blank spaces. If we are going to have meaningful debate in this House, then these benches need to be filled. I would think, Mr Chairman, that you would take this back to the presiding officers so that they enforce the authority of this House and make sure that Ministers are in this House at the appropriate time. [Applause.]
Thank you, member. Order! I have already made the observation that statements are made and quite a number of executive members are not in the House. We'll indeed take up the matter with the Speaker and follow it up with the Leader of Government Business.