Chairperson, hon members, hon members of the select committee, National Commissioner of Correctional Services and senior managers, distinguished guests in the gallery, our officials and offenders, I am grateful to the NCOP for granting our request to present our Budget Vote today, as we only just had the opportunity to hold a Budget Vote debate in the NA yesterday.
Addressing the NA I indicated that we wanted to use the occasion of the debate to provide a midterm report of the progress made in the implementation of our plans since our appointment in 2009.
From the time of our first Budget Vote debate in 2009, we have committed ourselves to transforming the department, with a view to positioning it as an integral part of the integrated criminal justice system and the value chain in the fight against crime and criminality.
We also gave an undertaking to both Houses that the work in our term of office would be premised on the implementation of the programmes aimed at advancing the department's capability to deliver on the objectives of the 2005 White Paper on Corrections. It remains our position that the most critical indicator of progress in this regard should be the extent to which we succeed in delivering effective rehabilitation for offenders.
In order to do this, we committed ourselves to a plan to address both policy and operational challenges inhibiting the department's ability to implement the White Paper and the Correctional Services Act, Act 111 of 1998.
At the micro level, though, the mandate of the department, in terms of the incarceration and accommodation of offenders, needs to be seen in the context of government's efforts to ensure public safety. In order to deliver on the outcomes and objectives of the cluster - those of ensuring that our people feel and are safe - an integrated approach is required, not only in government but in society broadly. It is for this reason that we also committed ourselves to fostering more partnerships in the delivery of the outcomes of the cluster.
Our report to you is that the department is undergoing a process of fundamental change. Previously we committed ourselves to implementing various "quick-win" interventions, aimed at addressing the key challenges and the creation of an environment conducive to the effective delivery of rehabilitation programmes in our centres. As our report card will indicate, these "quick wins" are kick-starters of our programme of transformation.
We are finally succeeding in ensuring that the department operates differently in pursuance of the objectives of the White Paper. Underpinning our ability to implement the White Paper effectively is the need for the department to mitigate a range of operational risks, including overcrowding, the state of our facilities, our staff needs and ensuring appropriate resourcing of the core business of the department.
Overcrowding, our number one operational risk, impacts on the ability of the department to provide effective rehabilitation. It is for this reason that we committed ourselves last year to dealing with the problem of overcrowding in a sustained and integrated manner. We are here to report to you that we are succeeding in this regard.
The department is currently implementing a pilot project for the electronic monitoring of certain categories of inmates placed on parole. This project started only on 14 February and reached a milestone the day before yesterday, when the 106th participant was tagged here in Cape Town. It is our view that the pilot project has been a resounding success and that it is time to extend electronic monitoring to other categories of offenders, including offenders who are still serving custodial sentences in our centres. It is our plan that this roll-out should be finalised in this financial year. It is also our intention to bring before the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster proposals on the use of electronic monitoring as part of alternative sentencing for minor offences. This will ensure that only those who have committed serious offences serve a custodial sentence.
The granting of a special remission of sentence was done as part of our celebration of 18 years of freedom and 16 years of constitutional democracy. The special remission of sentence was in line with the provisions of our Constitution and international practice, where remission of sentence may be granted as part of the recognition of key events in the life of a country. In deciding to grant the current remission - the first under this administration - the cluster took care to ensure that offenders who posed a serious risk to society, particularly those declared to be dangerous criminals, were completely excluded from remission. The department put in place a dedicated operational plan and capacity to manage the impact of the remission process.
Regarding the effective management of remand detention, after the promulgation of the Correctional Matters Amendment Act, the department moved with speed to put in place the plan to operationalise the implementation of the new Act. Since then the department has established a fully fledged branch for remand detention. A total of 23 distinct centres for remand detainees have now been approved and established. We have since appointed a chief deputy commissioner, Ms Roodman, to head that unit. This is at the level of a deputy director-general in other government departments.
As per our undertaking in the previous Budget, we opened the first state- funded halfway house in February this year. We had identified the real need to prepare offenders to function normally in society after their release, by creating a bridge that could help them adjust to the move from incarceration to reintegration. We need to ensure that the confusion caused by this transition is not so detrimental as to drive them to wish to return to a correctional facility or force them to reoffend.
As we indicated last year, this halfway house is currently housing juveniles who could initially not be released because of the lack of a support system. The next category of offenders who will benefit from the establishment of halfway houses will be women. The halfway houses, although funded by the department, are run in partnership with nongovernmental organisations and other community-based organisations. This important partnership demonstrates what can be achieved when we all share the view that rehabilitation is a societal responsibility. When we opened the halfway house, we stressed the point that as South Africans we needed to deal with the question of what role society should play in supporting those who have committed crimes but are now deemed ready for social reintegration.
Yesterday during our Budget Vote debate in the NA, we reported on the protection of vulnerable groups and said that we had succeeded in piloting key projects aimed at enhancing rehabilitation work, particularly in relation to vulnerable groups within our offender population. We have opened the first new-generation mother-and-baby units for women with young babies under the age of 2 years who are serving sentences. The purpose of these units is to allow the child as close to normal an existence as possible, even if this is under the conditions of the incarceration of the mother. These centres are currently operational in Pollsmoor, Durban- Westville and Johannesburg.
We have once again increased the number of youth centres that are participating in youth dialogues, wherein parents are encouraged, firstly, to visit their children and, secondly, to interact and engage with them in the centres through a facilitated dialogue. During the last year we held these dialogues in 10 youth centres across the country.
Regarding medical parole and the new medical parole policy, we have appointed the Medical Parole Advisory Board in accordance with the provisions of the Correctional Matters Amendment Act. This is an independent panel of medical doctors that considers and decides on all medical aspects in applications for placement on parole based on medical grounds. Only after their input may a parole board consider such an application and make a decision in terms of the broader criteria for placement.
After we took a decision to cancel the procurement process for four correctional facilities according to the public-private partnership model, we have now put in place a plan for acquiring additional bed-space capacity with the construction of new centres. This plan is the outcome of our consideration of the department's long-term facility needs, in relation to the optimal size for inmate type and location of our centres. It is our view that the issue of size for our centres should be based on these requirements, as opposed to the initial proposal that the new facilities should have a bed-space capacity of 3 000 across the board.
In terms of this plan, the department will begin the construction of the following facilities in this financial year: two facilities with a bed- space capacity of 500 in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West, two facilities with a bed-space capacity of 500 in the Eastern Cape, one facility with a bed-space capacity of 500 in the Western Cape, and a centre in KwaZulu- Natal with a bed-space capacity of 1 000. An additional 12 centres with bed- space capacities of between 500 and 1 500 will be constructed throughout the rest of the regions over the next few financial years. In this regard, consultation is under way with both National Treasury and the Department of Public Works.
I am pleased to report that we are succeeding in placing rehabilitation work and case management at the centre of our work at centre level. The interim case management committee structures have now been established in all centres, in accordance with section 42 of the Correctional Services Act. On 26 March 2012 we had a national work session for parole boards and case management committees with a view to improving the effective functioning of both these structures. The department aims to improve the development of a needs-based assessment of offenders to improve the quality of sentence plans for offenders. The law requires that correctional sentence plans are implemented for all offenders who have a sentence of 24 months or more. Approximately 80% of offenders in this category currently have sentence plans. The biggest concern still remains the quality of these sentence plans. We are, however, encouraged by the fact that most new admissions with a sentence of 24 months or more are profiled within 21 days, as required by the law.
The issue of the rehabilitation of short-term offenders is a complex one that requires the attention of the cluster. We have already identified appropriate centres for the accommodation of short-term offenders, separate from long-term offenders. We are concerned about the proverbial revolving door among short-term offenders and hence I have issued a directive that the department should review the rehabilitation path of such offenders.
Since last year a National Framework on Offender Labour has been developed, consulted on, approved and disseminated to regions for implementation. It is our plan that this new framework will help increase the number of offenders who participate in offender labour and skills development programmes.
The department is in the process of evaluating the current security technology systems, which include access control systems, surveillance systems, alarm systems, and fencing systems, to ensure alignment with the security challenges and technology strategy of the department. This process will direct the management, maintenance and upgrading of existing systems, as well as the implementation of new ones.
A contract has been awarded for the installation of security fences with closed-circuit television cameras and detection systems at 27 correctional facilities. We are also in the process of the procurement of a service provider for the upgrading, maintenance and management of the existing access control system for the Department of Correctional Services. The access control and fencing virtual private network that was run and controlled by external service providers has since been taken over by the department. Body scanners will be installed in 20 priority facilities, whereafter further roll-out will be considered.
A skills development framework for security personnel, inclusive of emergency support teams, ESTs, was approved and a Safety and Security Seta- accredited training curriculum for ESTs is under development.
The current security policy procedures of the department have been revised and aligned to the approved minimum security standards of government. The revised policy procedures are in their final consultation process and will be approved and implemented in the 2012-13 financial year.
We have also identified a number of facilities with a high risk of gang activities. Although we experienced some escapes in the last year, we are encouraged by the report that we are succeeding in the down management of escapes, from a total of 106 in 2010-2011 to 41 in the last financial year.
I am glad to announce that Judge Desai has once again agreed to serve as chairperson of the National Council for Correctional Services, NCCS, for this term. The NCCS has, in recent months, participated in the training of parole board members, where they shared weaknesses and best practices that they picked in considering lifer profiles. They were also instrumental in the development of a new policy framework for the consideration of medical parole and in the provision of feedback on the then draft Correctional Matters Amendment Bill. The capacity of the National Council for Correctional Services has been strengthened in the past financial year by the appointment of a full-time secretariat. I have also appointed Judge Vuka Tshabalala as the new inspecting judge, with effect from 1 November 2011.
The gallows restoration project, based in the Pretoria management area, is aimed at contributing to nation-building and recording the impact of the violent and inhumane policy of capital punishment, a part of our history that shall never be repeated in our beloved country. The restored gallows were officially opened by President Jacob Zuma on 15 December 2011. We believe that through this museum many of our people, including younger generations, will come to terms with this aspect of our history and dedicate themselves to ensuring that we never return to such an era.
In order to address the issue of adequate skills for women, we have launched a pilot project for the production of sanitary towels, called the Sanitary Dignity Campaign. The project is currently being piloted in the East London, Durban-Westville and Thohoyandou Female Correctional Facilities. While the project will make a significant contribution to the skilling of offenders, it will also assist with the provision of sanitary towels to young women in rural schools in the proximity of the centres.
The department has entered into partnerships with the private sector and NGOs to educate and skill our offenders in preparation for their reintegration into society. We are particularly thrilled with our partnership with the Department of Communications to offer the e-Literacy Programme for Youth Offenders to young offenders between the ages of 14 years and 35 years. The department has also embarked on a project to establish computer-based training centres at youth and other centres. Offender involvement in skills development programmes and in vocational and skills training programmes in production workshops and on agricultural farms is an area of work that needs some refining.
I have now approved the high-level structure of the Department of Correctional Services, which will fundamentally transform the manner in which the Department of Correctional Services provides delivery of service. The span of command of the national commissioner has been rationalised to eight direct reports, as opposed to the unmanageable 17 direct reports that he had before. We have established a chief operating officer who will report directly to the national commissioner, and to whom the six regional commissioners will report. The following managers will be reporting directly to the chief operating officer: chief security officer, the head of facilities, a deputy commissioner for operations support, and the head of litigation. Also reporting directly to the national commissioner are the head of strategic management, the chief financial officer, the head of human resources, and the Department of Public Works government IT officer.
Finally, in line with the logic of the mandate of Correctional Services, we have established three core business branches, namely remand detention, correctional incarceration and community corrections. The restructuring of the core business branches is in line with the Cabinet decision in relation to remand detention, which combines the functions currently carried out in personal corrections and development and care. No, not remand detention ...
I suppose the hon Minister is wrapping up?
How much time do I have left? There is no stopwatch here.
It is gone now.
One minute? Thank you very much. I cannot see it. I just heard something.
No, no. That is something else. There is your time.
Following various discussions on matters relating to employment equity raised in the Western Cape region, I have decided to appoint a team led by Adv Ntsebeza to investigate and report back to me on this matter. Once I have received these findings and recommendations, I will be able to announce the position of the department going forward.
I am also glad to report that the department has significantly reduced the number of consultants working in information technology, IT, from 156 at the end of the 2010-11 financial year to about 45 consultants at the end of 2011-12. The consultants are being replaced through the filling of permanent IT technical posts. In conclusion, the following is an analysis of the funds we are being allocated in the Budget Vote. The budget allocations over the MTEF period will increase the baseline to R17,732 billion, which is a 7% increase, in 2012-13; to R18,763 billion, which is a 6% increase, in 2013-14; and to R19 billion, which will be a 6% increase, in 2014-15. I must also indicate that there are budget cuts of R257,1 million in 2012-13, R268,8 million in 2013-14 and R285 million in 2014-15 on capital works projects as a result of underspending over the previous financial years. This is a matter that will be addressed through the infrastructure roll-out that we will announce during the Adjustments Estimates in September.
It is my belief that the process of embedding change in the department is being firmly established and that, for the first time since 2005, the path to the realisation of the White Paper objectives appears more realistic. We are confident of our ability to build on this strong foundation and we thank Parliament, the NCOP and its committees for the support they have been giving us. We believe that through your vigilant oversight, further weaknesses can be identified in our system and that, together, we can address them.
Once more, I would like to thank the management of the Department of Correctional Services for the sterling work they continue to do in support of our policy objectives. I also want to thank the offenders who, with each passing day, are recognising the need to change their lives and to embark on our skills development programmes. Both the offenders and our officials have rewarded my faith and belief that it can be done and we shall succeed. [Applause.]
Hon Chair, hon Minister, hon MECs present, hon members and our national commissioner and his entourage, imprisonment has a purpose. Its sole purpose is to rehabilitate offenders. Rehabilitation is correctly placed at the center of the department's mission by the White Paper.
There are people who do not want to live with other people and those who behave like wild animals even though they do not live in the jungle. Jean- Jacques Rousseau once said, and I quote:
Man was born in society. Therefore, the need of the society is in him.
Hardened criminals use the law of the jungle - that is, "Eat, or be eaten!" Those animals that are lazy to eat meat are always on the run. Criminals are always on the wrong side of the law. The objective of section 9 of the Constitution is to ensure that all people are equal regardless of their conscience, religion, thoughts, beliefs and political opinion.
Does the department in actual fact rehabilitate offenders? The answer is simple - we are not sure. The evidence suggests that an overwhelming number of inmates in our prisons reoffend within a very short space of time after their release. This suggests that rehabilitation is not really working.
It is true that most prisons are overcrowded. While the ultimate objective of the Department of Correctional Services is to rehabilitate offenders, prisons have become universities of real crime and hardened criminals graduate timeously. But the level of overcrowding remains unchanged and has to be dealt with by granting special remission of sentences!
If we believe that so much must change, we must be willing to change ourselves. There are many dedicated and courageous officials in the Department of Correctional Services. There are also officials who work with gangs and allow dangerous offenders to escape. Unless officials change their approach, it will not be possible to rehabilitate inmates and break the circle of reoffending.
Crime begins with families and in families. It begins when children drop out of school. It begins with a breakdown in the structure of communities. Mass participation centres must be created in our communities. These centres keep the youth busy all the time. Busy youth do not have time to think about crime. The youth must be supervised and taught the do's and don'ts. They must have access to social workers.
Does the government of the day have a political will? Why is the Chrysalis Academy in the Western Cape, which provides intervention programmes to youth at risk, not duplicated in other provinces? This strategy seeks to prevent crime at its source.
There are thousands of people in our correctional centres who do not belong there. They are convicted of petty offences. They have no fixed addresses or they cannot afford bail or fines, and have to serve prison time. But they are happy in prison as they eat and sleep free!
To win this war, the R2D2 strategy - which is redress, reconciliation, delivery and diversity - must work. We have to acknowledge the injustices and truths of the past. As the DA, we have to look at all South Africans moving forward. Moreover, every South African in this august House must be a stakeholder in building our new South Africa. We must build a strong, diverse society.
There are better and more imaginative ways to reduce prison overcrowding and enhance the rehabilitation of offenders. We must divert many young, nonviolent, first-time offenders out of the criminal justice system. We must also develop a system of noncustodial sentences of community service.
Nkul Mutshamaxitulu, vakulukumba lava nga laha namuntlha, vakhomixinara, maphorisankulu na vanhu lava nga eka Yindlu leyi, ndzi rhandza ku vula leswaku hi khuthaza vanhu va hina lava nga emakhotsweni. Hi nga va balekeli; i vanhu va hina. A hi va dyondziseni ku landzelela milawu leyi vakulukumba va nga hi siyela yona. Milawu leyi i ndzhaka ya hina. Loko vo endla sweswo va ta hanya hi laha ku nga heriki.
Namuntlha va hundzuke swiharhi leswi tshamaka swi pfaleriwile. A va na ripfalo; va dlaya, va pfinya, va endla hinkwaswo leswi. Kambe hi ku tshemba swikhongelo na ku tiyisela ka n'wina hi ta hlula eka nyimpi leyi. Khanimamba. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[Hon Chairperson, officials who are here today, commissioners, senior police officers and people who are in this House, I would like to say that we must encourage our people who are in prisons. We must not run away from them; they are our people. Let us teach them to follow the laws which our forefathers have left for us. These laws are our legacy. If they do that they will live forever.
Today they have become animals which live in captivity. They have no conscience; they kill, they rape, and they do all of this. But it is through trust in your prayers and perseverance that we shall overcome in this fight. Thank you.]
Ke a leboha Modulasetulo, Letona le kgabane, mokomishenara le moifo wa hae, Ditho tse kgabane tsa Palamente.
Tsamaiso ya Ditshebeletso tsa Tshokollo ya Batshwaruwa ya Afrika Borwa e tswa hole ka sebele hore e be mothating ona oo e leng ho ona. Ho bile le nako e ka bang ngwahakgolo moo ho neng ho tsepamisitswe maikutlo polokehong le tshireletsong, ha tlhabollo le ditokelo tsa botho tsona di ne di sa nkelwe hloohong.
Ka dilemolemo tlwaelo ya dikgoka e ne e jele setsi mekgatlong le tlwaelo ya bosiyo ba ponaletso ditsing tsa tshokollo e ne e kgothaletswa ka mehato e jwaloka thibelo e matla ho tlalehweng ha ditaba tse amanang le diphatlalatso tsa ditshwantsho tse bontshang ditsi tsa tshokollo kapa batshwaruwa. Haesale ho tloha mathwasong a mongwahakgolo batsamaisi ba dubana le tshubuhlellano e bakwang ke mabaka a fapaneng.
Ntlheng ena Tokomane ya Tokoloho e re:
Ho hlahlelwa ho tla etswa feela ditlolong tse mpe-mpe kgahlanong le batho, ka sepheo sa ho ruta botjha eseng boiphethetso.
Tshokollo e batsi ho feta thibelo ya ditlolo tsa molao, ebile e akaretsa diphephetso tse ding tsa setjhaba jwaloka tlhokeho ya botsitso malapeng a Afrika Borwa; tsoseletso ya boitshwaro bo botle; phokotso ya bofuma; le ntshetsopele tsa moshwelella jwalokaha tokomane ya Lewa le Mano ya ANC e hlalosa serapeng sa 217:
Ntwa kgahlanong le ditlolo tsa molao e keke ya arohanngwa le ntwa ya ho hloka.
Tshokollo ke sephetho sa tshebetso e kopanyang tshokollo ya boitshwaro bo bobe; tlhabollo ya batho; le kgothaletso ya boikarabelo le boitshwaro bo botle setjhabeng. Ke sephetho se labalabelwang sa tshebetso e kenyeletsang boikarabelo ba mafapha a mmuso le ba setjhaba.
Tlhabollo ha e a tshwanela ho nkuwa e le lewa la thibelo ya botlokotsebe feela, empa e le ketsahalo e phethahetseng e akgang le ho kgothaletsa boikarabelo; toka setjhabeng; seabo mesebetsing ya demokrasi; matlafatso ka boitsebelo ba bophelo le ba dintho tse ding; le ho kenya letsoho hore Afrika Borwa e be naha e ntle ho dula ho yona.
Tlhabollo ka hara lefapha e lokela ho kenyeletsa thero e phethahetseng ya dikahlolo e shebanang le batshwaruwa maemong ohle - a phedisano; boitshwaro; moyeng; mmeleng; mosebetsing; ntshetsopele thutong ya bona. E itshetlehile tumelong ya hore motho e mong le e mong a ka fetoha ha a fuwa disebediswa le monyetla. A mang a maikemisetso a Lefapha la Ditshebeletso tsa Tshokollo ya Batshwaruwa ke hore motshwaruwa ka mong a ntlafatse tsebo ya hae ya ho bala, ho ngola, thuto le bokgoni.
Le hoja ba bang ba ka ingamangama ka hore palo ena e dula e fokola, seo ha se hanane le ntlha ya hore ho ella mafelong a Lwetse selemong se fetileng, 2011, batshwaruwa ba 4 301 ba tshwanetseng ba ne ba le sehlopheng sa mananeo a bokgoni mme kahoo re re lefapheng, re a tseba le ka etsa haholwanyane. Re dumela hore ho sebetsa ha batshwaruwa ho hlokolotsi tlhabollong kahoo re ipiletsa lefapheng ho tsetela haholwanyane dikopanong tsa dipuisano-boithuto tsa tlhahiso le temo.
Ho ya ka karolo ya 35(2)(e) ya Molaotheo:
E mong le e mong ya ditlamong, ho akga le batshwaruwa bohle ba seng ba ahlotswe, o na le tokelo maemong a tshwaro a nyalanang le seriti sa botho, ho kenyeleditswe le boithapollo le phano ya bodulo bo phethahetseng, phepo, disebediswa tsa ho balwa le kalafo tse lefellwang ke mmuso.
Lefapha le tlameha ho fana ka bophelo bo botle le tshireletso batshwaruweng ka hore, ho tse ding, ho be le tikoloho e bolokehileng ebile e sireletsehile. Batshwaruwa ba itshetlehile Lefapheng la Ditshebeletso tsa Tshokollo ya Batshwaruwa bakeng sa polokeho ya bona kaha ba kotelwa tokolohong ya boikgethelo, tokoloho ya boikamahanyo le ya motsamao.
Polokeho ya batshwaruwa e tlamella lefapha ho sebetsana le taba ya dihlopha tsa dinokwane ka botlalo ditsing tsa tshokollo. Dihlopha tsa dinokwane ebile phephetso tsamaisong ya tshokollo ya batshwaruwa Afrika Borwa nakong ya ngwahakgolo e fetileng. Boteng ba dihlopha tsa dinokwane bo na le sefutho sa dikgoka tse thunthetsang polokeho ya batshwaruwa ba bang ditsing tsa tshokollo. Di iponahatsa ka mekgwa e fapaneng, jwaloka dintwa tse tshehetswang ke dihlopha tsa dinokwane, tlatlapo le phenetho, thobalano ka sheshe kapa peto; ditshoso le melemo e leeme, le ho iphapanya ha bahlanka ba tshokollo ya batshwaruwa malebana le diketsahalo tsena. Jwaloka mohlala wa sena Bohlahlobi ba Boahlodi ba Ditsi tsa Tshokollo bo tlaleha hore Fauresmith kwana mohla la 25 Pherekgong 2012, motshwaruwa o ile a betwa ka pela batshwaruwa ba bang.
Se ngongorehisang le ho feta ke hore bao ba nang le boikarabelo ba motshwaruwa ba thunthetsa ditokelo tsa batshwaruwa tsa sephiri sa mebele ya bona jwalokaha ho etsahetse ho ya ka tlaleho ya Bohlahlobi ba Boahlodi ba Ditsi tsa Tshokollo ya Johannesburg Medium-A ka la 15 Hlakola 2012 moo motshwaruwa a ileng a laelwa ho hlobola hore balebedi ba kgone ho mo phopholetsa.
Ho kwallwa ka bo ona ho ka ba le tshenyo e kgolo mmeleng le kelellong ya motshwaruwa. Kahoo, bao ba fanang ka tlhokomelo ya bophelo bo botle ba batshwaruwa ba tshwanela ho rupellwa ditlhokong tse totobetseng le mathata a bophelo bo botle tikolohong ya tjhankaneng. Boikarabelo ba lefapha ha se ho fana ka tlhokomelo ya bophelo bo botle feela, empa le ho etsa maemo a kgothaletsang bophelo bo botle ba batshwaruwa le bahlanka ba tshokollo. Ho beha bophelo bo botle ba batshwaruwa ka sehloohong ho hloka kutlwisiso ya hore Afrika Borwa ke naha eo maemo a phedisano-thuo a tswalang mafu a mangata a tshwaetsang. HIV le AIDS, mafu a mang a tshwaetsang a kang Lefuba, le ditshwaetso tsa motabo a tshwanela ho ba karolo ya phano ya ditshebeletso tse phethahetseng tsa bophelo bo botle le thuto ya bophelo bo botle batshwaruweng. Lefapha le tshwanela ho shebana le mananeo a ho fokotsa kgahlamelo ya HIV/AIDS le mafu a mang a tshwaetsang hore batshwaruwa ba tswe ditjhankaneng ba phetse hantle. Lefapha selemong sa 2011-12 le abile di-ARV ho batshwaruwa ba 6 095 hodima ba 8 819 ba nang le CD4 Count e katlase ho 350. Pehelo ena ha e a fihlellwa ka mabaka a akgang hore ba bang ba batshwaruwa ba hanne ho sebedisa di-ARV.
Tshubuhlellano e ntse e le qholotso ditjhankaneng mme e tswela pele ho thibela tshokollo ya batshwaruwa le ho ikamahanya le tlameho ya ho netefatsa maemo a botho ditjhankaneng. Leha ho le jwalo re tshwanela ho ananela hore lefapha le fihletse pehelo ya lona ya 36% tshubuhlellanong ka ho e boloka e le ho 35,95%.
Lefapha le ne le ipehetse hore bonyane ho be le diphonyoho tse nne ho batshwaruwa ba 10 000, e leng pehelo eo Lefapha le hlolehileng ho e fihlella hobane ho phonyohile batshwaruwa ba supileng ho ba 10 000. Lebaka la phonyoho ho ya ka tlaleho ya selemo ke hore phonyoho ya batshwaruwa ba bangata e bakilwe ke bohlaswa le ho se ikamahanye le mekgwa ya tshireletso ke basebetsi. Leha ho le jwalo ho a kgothatsa hore lefapha le motjheng wa ho ntlafatsa mehato ya tshireletso le taolo ya baokamedi.
Ho ya ka lefapha, pehelo ya lona e ne e le ho tlatsa dikgeo tse 1 476 tse ne se di abetswe tjhelete selemong sa ditjhelete sa 2011-2012. Ho a kgothatsa ho hlokomela hore Lefapha le a tseba hore ha re a shebana feela le bosiyo bo totileng ba mesebetsi empa ho thewa ha mesebetsi e metle le maphelo a tsitsitseng ke tse ding tsa dintho tsa rona tse ka sehloohong. Lefapha le fihlelletse sepheo sena mme le hirile batho ba 2 057 dikgeong tse fapaneng tsa mesebetsi selemong se fetileng sa ditjhelete.
Ho ya ka tokomane ya ketsamolao, White Paper, ka tshokoloho:
Sepheo, mesebetsi le ditshebeletso tsa lefapha di bua ka tshireletso hammoho le boikarabelo setjhabeng ... Mosebetsi wa lefapha wa sehlooho ke tlhabollo ka tshokoloho le kaho ya boitshwaro tlasa moralo o sireletsehileng, o bolokehileng o bileng o na le botho.
Ha ke phethela, re lebohisa Lefapha ka Tokollo ya Batshwaruwa ba neng ba itshwere hantle ba bileng lenaneng la phatlalatso eo e ileng ya etsuwa ke Mopresidente wa naha. Re tshepa hore ba keke ba phoqa Mopresidente ka hore ba iphumane ba kgutletse tjhankaneng hape ka mora nakonyana. Komiti ya Tshebetso ya Polokeho le Tshireletso e tshehetsa ditekanyetso tsena. Ke a leboha! [Mahofi.] (Translation of Sesotho speech follows.)
[Mr T M H MOFOKENG: Thank you, Chairperson, hon Minister, the national commissioner and his entourage, and hon Members of Parliament.
The system of Correctional Services in South Africa has come a long way indeed, to where it is currently. There was almost a century in which the focus was on safety and security, while rehabilitation and human rights were ignored.
For years the culture of violence was prevalent in institutions and the culture of a lack of transparency at correctional centres was promoted through measures such as stringent restrictions on reporting matters relating to the publication of photographs showing correctional centres or inmates. Since the beginning of the century administrators have been struggling to deal with overcrowding that is caused by various factors.
In this context the Freedom Charter says: Imprisonment shall be only for serious crimes against the people, and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance.
Corrective measures transcend the prevention of criminal offences; they also include other social challenges such as lack of stability in South African families, moral regeneration, poverty alleviation, and sustainable growth, as the ANC document on Strategy and Tactics explains in paragraph 217:
... the battle against crime cannot be separated from the war on want.
Rehabilitation is the result of collaborative initiative, which brings together improvement of human behaviour, rehabilitation of human beings, and the promotion of social responsibility and good behaviour. It is the desired effect which includes responsibility in government departments and the nation.
Rehabilitation should not be regarded as a strategy only to prevent crime, but as a total act which includes and promotes responsibility, social justice, participation in democratic activities, empowerment in regard to life skills and other issues, and playing a part in making South Africa a better place to live in.
Rehabilitation within the department should include proper planning in regard to sentences, which considers offenders at all levels - social, moral, spiritual, physical, at work, and in educational development. It is based on the belief that everyone can transform if given the resources and opportunity. One of the intentions of the Department of Correctional Services is that each prisoner should improve his or her knowledge and skills in literacy.
While some would argue that the numbers remain low, that does not exclude the fact that towards the end of September last year, 2011, 4 301 eligible prisoners were involved in skills development programmes and we therefore say to the department that we know they can do more. We believe that for prisoners to work is critical for rehabilitation, and we therefore appeal to the department to invest more in production workshops and agriculture.
According to section 35(2)(e) of the Constitution:
Everyone who is detained, including every sentenced prisoner, has the right -
(e) 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 ...
The department is obliged to provide health care and security for prisoners through, amongst others, creating a safe and secure environment. Prisoners depend on the Department of Correctional Services for their safety because they have been deprived of the freedom of choice, and freedom of association and movement.
The safety of prisoners compels the department to fully address the issue of gangs in correctional centres. Gangs have been a great challenge in the administration of correctional services in the past century in South Africa. The presence of gangs has the violent power to endanger the safety of other prisoners in correctional centres. It manifests in different ways, like gang fights, assault and brutal killings, forced sexual activity or rape, and intimidation and unfair favours, as well as the turning of a blind eye by officials of Correctional Services towards these actions. For example, the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services reports that at Fauresmith, on 25 January 2011, an inmate was raped in front of other inmates.
The main concern is that those who are charged with the responsibility of taking care of prisoners are the ones who violate their rights to bodily integrity, as happened, according to a report of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, at the Johannesburg Medium A Prison on 15 February 2012, where a prisoner was instructed to take off his clothes so that the prison warders could search him.
Imprisonment in itself can cause serious physical and mental harm to the prisoners. Therefore, those who offer health care for the prisoners should be trained in specific health needs and problems in the prison environment. The responsibility of the department is not only to provide health care, but also to create a conducive environment for healthy living for prisoners and correctional officials.
In order to prioritise prisoners' health, there needs to be an understanding that South Africa is a country whose socioeconomic environment gives rise to a high prevalence of infectious diseases. HIV and Aids, other infectious diseases like tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted infections should be part of the provision of comprehensive health care services and health education for prisoners. The department should look into programmes that seek to reduce infection with HIV/Aids and other infectious diseases so that prisoners leave the system as healthy as possible. During 2011-12 the department distributed ARVs to 6 095 prisoners out of 8 819 with a CD4 count of less than 350. The target could not be met due to reasons including the refusal to use ARVs by some prisoners.
Overcrowding is still a challenge in our prisons and it continues to hamper rehabilitation of offenders, as well as adhering to the obligation to ensure humane conditions in prisons. However, we should acknowledge the fact that the department has met its 36% target in regard to overcrowding by keeping it at 35,95%. The department had set a target of at most four escapes per 10 000 prisoners, which it failed to meet because there were seven escapes per 10 000 prisoners. According to the Annual Report, the cause of escapes is negligence and staff members not adhering to security procedures. However, it is encouraging that the department is on the right track in improving security measures and control by managers.
According to the department, its target was to fill 1 476 funded vacancies during the 2011-12 financial year. It is encouraging to note that the department is conscious of the fact that we are not only concerned about the high unemployment rate but we also prioritise creating decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods. The department reached this target and employed 2 057 people to fill different vacant posts in the past financial year.
According to the legislative document, the White Paper on Corrections:
... the objective, functions and services of the department speak to both a security as well as a social responsibility ... the department's core business as rehabilitation through correction and humane development within a secure, safe and humane framework ...
In conclusion, we commend the department for releasing prisoners who showed good behaviour and who appeared on the list that was issued by the President of the country. We trust that they will not disappoint the President by returning to prison within a short space of time. The Select Committee on Safety and Security supports this budget. Thank you! [Applause.]]
Thank you very much, Chairperson. Gosh, it is late! Good evening, Minister and officials. I am going to take two minutes of my time because it is late. I do not want to have ... [Interjections.] No, you are talking for 10 minutes! [Laughter.]
Minister, let me first commend you on the bold and wise decision to cancel the building of the additional public-private partnership prisons. It was not four prisons that were supposed to be built initially but seven of them. You were brave enough to cancel those and I am very happy. I told you the other day that I would say publicly that I was delighted about it. The late Mr Vernie Petersen, former national commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services, and I were campaigners against this immoral and corrupt system, where companies were milking taxpayers of millions of rands. We know that two PPPs, one in Limpopo and the other in the Free State, are taking a big chunk of the budget of this department. I know that because that is where I am from.
Let me talk about the release of prisoners on 27 April 2012. That is not a solution to the overcrowding in prisons. Every year, on 27 April, you - or the President - are going to release prisoners. The solution is to address the senseless incarceration of offenders by the courts. This is not you - your department only receives them. There are people who go to prison and are not supposed to be there. So, come 27 April, you are going to release those people who are not supposed to be there.
Why would you put a person in prison for committing a minor offence? Sentencing is for people who have committed dangerous crimes. Yes, we must arrest a person and bring them to court to pay for their offence. But why do we not have alternative sentences, like community service? There is a lot to do and we will save a lot of money if we do that.
Rehabilitation will never be implemented when you have a person sitting in prison because they stole a loaf of bread or a pair of shoes. You will sentence this person to three months. In fact, he will spend 15 days in prison. So, it is a senseless process. We must tell the courts that that is taxpayers' money going down the drain!
Prison is there for ... [Interjections.] I am coming to that! Prison was never built for petty criminals. It was built for murderers, rapists and white collar criminals. It was built for the heartless, cruel and corrupt criminals who are looting this government, stealing money that is supposed to go to the poor, like those who have left the Limpopo provincial government bankrupt. They must go to prison! HON MEMBERS: Yes! Yes!
Another thing that needs urgent attention is the amount of money that the department is wasting on suspended officials. It is very disturbing. I would like to know why it takes so long to finalise disciplinary cases. There are senior officials who sit at home for years, eating very well because they still get paid their full salaries. I am not talking about one, but many, who are sitting at home. We cannot afford that.
Another issue that I must raise is the fact that we must get clarity on the distribution of ARVs in prisons.
I thought the hon member said he would talk for two minutes!
I am wrapping up. Are only state-owned prisons eligible to get ARVs free of charge or does that include the two PPP prisons?
I hope that this department will go from strength to strength and address all the challenges that it is facing. I know that this is one of the most difficult departments in government, because it deals with people who have done society wrong.
Minister, thank you very much for the work you are doing. I thank you too, Chairperson. You wanted to cut my time short, but I thank you. [Laughter.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and entourage, and hon members, I am indeed humbled by this opportunity to participate on behalf of the ANC in the debate on this policy statement and the debate on Budget Vote 21 for Correctional Services. I guess I must declare up front that we, as the ANC, support this budget. This is motivated by our conviction that the department and the Ministry are indeed on a good path of transformation and service delivery to citizens in this sector, which deals with the correction of offending conduct and the rehabilitation of those who are incarcerated and in remand detention. We are doing so because we understand the long history of prisons in this country and elsewhere.
We also understand the history of how people were treated in prisons and how they were used to build an economy that they did not benefit from. When I was growing up in KwaZulu-Natal, I never went to Bethal, but I always knew that if you went to prison you would work on the potato fields in Bethal. So, we know the abuse of the prison system in this country has a long-standing history.
In 1994, when democracy was ushered in, we took a new look at how we treat each other, as we ushered in a human rights culture and a constitutional democracy in our country.
Therefore our conviction as the ANC is that corrections and rehabilitation are the way to go. This is attested to by a number of regulatory frameworks and the legislation that we have been introducing in Parliament. This legislation and the regulatory frameworks help us to deal with issues of how people who have displayed serious offending behaviour should be treated and taken care of and how they need to be assisted to rebuild their lives. We don't say this because we are any less convinced of their criminality, but because we believe that if we manage to create social cohesion and make it successful for all our people, it will take us as a country to the heights we want to achieve.
Therefore, we as the ANC argue that the constitutional imperatives that proclaim human dignity, equality and nondiscrimination apply across the board to all citizens and consequently to the work done by this department.
Given the increase in the budget, we are convinced that the work the department has set itself will be achievable. The budget will grow to R19 billion by 2015. In regard to this budget the Minister mentioned that in terms of the integrated approach to the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster, the whole cluster is now receiving above 24% of the national Budget. This is an indication of how we as the ANC are committed to fighting crime and correcting those among us who have displayed deviant and unacceptable behaviour.
Therefore we also welcome the work that the officials presented to the select committee when they briefed us on their renewed energy and commitment to better performance. We know this department has had problems and needed a turnaround. As a committee, we are now convinced that this turnaround is achievable.
In the presentation of their Annual Performance Plan, the department indicated its concerns. Thanks to the energised chief financial officer, the funds and plans in regard to stabilising the finance are now intact and everyone has been taken on board in dealing with this matter.
As the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development, we do have concerns and the Department of Correctional Services itself has raised issues with us. Issues include the ability to spend, which is affected by the slow co-operation of client departments, like Public Works. In fact, this has caused them not to deliver or complete certain facilities in time. These are facilities which they presented to us in the annual report of 2010-11 as projects that would have been completed.
Hon Bloem and hon Manzini, we as the ANC support the announcement of the President on the remission of sentences. We are not doing so because it deals with overcrowding. We are part of an international community and of the conventions of a legal system. We have learnt from best practices on this issue.
Just to remind all of us, especially those who are opposing this and speaking out against the remission of sentences, this is a constitutional democracy, a constitutional state. We - the chairperson, the Minister, and I - have highlighted the fact that the Constitution says we are all equal. Whether your behaviour has been unacceptable or you have committed a crime, you still have rights. We have a responsibility to dispense justice accordingly and to assist with rehabilitation. We want to be able to rely on the fact that we will turn these people into good citizens and let them take part in society.
We therefore urge society itself to accept and understand that keeping people in prison or in correctional centres is a cost. It is estimated to be almost R3 000. So, if you release 10 000 prisoners, it gives you a saving. It is a saving and good use of public money to release people who pose a lower risk.
Through you, Minister, we urge the department to make sure that they do consult with people and take cognisance of the feelings and the situations of the victims when they release prisoners. They must also consult with the victims to give counselling and support, as we were promised by the department. We also ... [Interjections.]
Hon member, please wrap up.
I am wrapping up, Chairperson. We also take cognisance of the promise by the department to demonstrate a commitment to better performance. From now on, they will report their progress to the select committee on a quarterly basis. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, Minister and officials of the Department of Correctional Services, today I indeed need to differ from a lot of my colleagues, but I need to say it like it is.
It is very important in this country never to look down on another person, whether a prisoner or not. [Interjections.] It is very important. The way you look at people determines how you are going to treat them. We are not allowed to discriminate against anybody. The Constitution says everybody is equal. Even the Word of God says we are equal. [Interjections.]
Part of the core business of the department is to rehabilitate offenders. The White Paper on Corrections correctly places rehabilitation at the centre of the department's work. Many people will be amazed by what I am going to say here today.
Hon Minister, I would like to congratulate you on what you have achieved in decreasing the number of consultants in this department from 156 to 45. That is excellent! I hope other departments will learn from that. Stop using consultants. Identify the skill and then employ your own people.
Congratulations also on the reconfiguration of the structures. You had so many people who reported to the national commissioner, but now you have fewer people. This is a sign that you have a vision and a plan, and that you are going to implement your plan.
(Mr S S Mazosiwe): Order, hon member. Yes, hon Bloem?
Chair, will the hon member take a question? It is a very brief question.
Will you, hon Gunda?
No, I cannot.
Thank you. Please continue.
However, hon Minister, one challenge that the department is still facing is of great concern. We believe that the ratio of warders to offenders needs to be looked into. You cannot expect a warder to be effective and efficient if one person has to look after 12 to 15 offenders. In some centres you will find five to six warders in a section where there are 230 inmates! It is then impossible to be effective and efficient. [Interjections.] This department has a duty to rehabilitate people and put them back into the community. In order to assist them, we as members need to give advice where we can. Thank you. [Interjections.]
We believe some facilities need to be upgraded. I agree with you that to have your unit management system work in smaller prisons, it needs to be upgraded. This will allow any warder or official to see that they can work in a particular environment and go to work feeling motivated.
Let me close. Hon Minister, I know this is not the right platform but I will always plead for this. I am going to do my pleading here so that you can motivate for this. We need to look at the remuneration of ordinary warders so that they are motivated to do their work.
Chair, unfortunately I do not have stones to show, but there is one thing I want to clarify from an earlier debate. The problem with people like the hon Van Lingen is that they forget ... [Interjections.]
Hon member, please move on with the current debate.
I am, Chair! You see, they want to create what we call Europe in Africa. [Interjections.]
Hon member, move on with the current debate, please!
I am busy with the debate, Chair. I am saying they want to create Europe in Africa.
Hon member Matila, please debate the present issues.
Yes, Chair. That is what I am doing. Can you please let me proceed for two minutes? You see, the problem that causes me to raise this is that ... [Interjections.]
No, hon Matila, please deal with the topic at hand!
Hon Minister, members, ladies and gentlemen, and colleagues, I rise on this occasion on behalf of the 100-year-old liberation movement, the ANC, in support of the Budget Vote for the Department of Correctional Services.
It is with great sadness that we are gathered here today, following the departure of our comrade, the Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Roy Padayachie. There is no doubt that the comrade contributed significantly to our struggle for liberation and continued to serve our state and citizens in the numerous roles he played as a Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament. May his soul rest in peace.
The strategic focus of the department's Budget Vote this year identifies one of government's pressing issues as the management of remand detainees. Over the MTEF period, the department intends to decrease the number of remand detainees to 46 000. It will do so by promoting the bail protocol provisions of the Criminal Procedure Second Amendment Act of 1997 for minor offences and establishing at least one dedicated facility for remand detainees.
I must state that the credibility of parole boards, parole in general and medical parole in particular has been questioned on all sides. In the recent past the issue of medical parole has been the subject of heated debate among academics, civil society and others. I must commend the Minister for her courage and outstanding leadership in handling this issue. She has requested the Correctional Supervision and Parole Review Board to review the application of section 79 and to make proposals to the Minister with regard to medical parole in a much broader sense. I am aware that this review was presented to the Minister and other important stakeholders.
Overcrowding is not a new phenomenon in our country. It has existed for a number of years; hence the call for the urgent establishment of a transformed, integrated, modernised, adequately resourced and well-managed criminal justice system. It should be pointed out that overcrowding affects offenders negatively and gives rise to poor staff morale. Offenders must be kept busy with activities and programmes during the day and prisons should be used for sleeping purposes only.
The disjuncture in the budget towards spending on infrastructure and security rather than on programmes that are focused on rehabilitation, as envisaged by the White Paper on Corrections, must be addressed.
Excessively lengthy and pre-trial incarcerations are major causes of overcrowding in our facilities. Most of the awaiting-trial detainees are in custody as a result of delays in the justice system, missing files, absent witnesses and unaffordable bail amounts.
Overcrowding has turned many of our prisons into crime-promoting institutions instead of centres of rehabilitation. However, as the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development, we will enhance our oversight responsibility in this area, especially over the implementation of the electronic monitoring of parolees and probationers, as well as the effective implementation of the bail protocol to alleviate overcrowding.
In his address on performance outcomes and measurable outputs, Minister Chabane mentioned that managing crime perceptions is one of the key outputs to ensure that South Africans are safe and feel safe. Therefore it becomes obvious that the way victims of crime are treated in the criminal justice system will have an impact on how they perceive crime and crime control in South Africa. Victims of crime should feel that they are important in the administration of justice in the country.
The Victims' Charter is an important document and it ensures that victims remain central to the criminal justice process in South Africa. I would request the department and the parole boards to consult this important document when they make decisions. [Interjections.]
Regarding the rehabilitation of offenders, the department must do everything possible to initiate processes to honour this obligation. This rehabilitation path is a journey to be undertaken by each offender from the moment of admission to the time of release. The correctional sentence plan should include all interventions aimed at rehabilitating offenders.
Correctional centres, not only in South Africa but across the board, are faced with the same challenge. This is, of course, not a problem of the Department of Correctional Services alone but of the entire justice system. It is therefore important for the justice system to join hands with society, in accordance with the White Paper on Corrections in South Africa. The ANC feels that correcting offending behaviour is the responsibility of society as a whole. Hence, in Polokwane we resolved that in deserving cases alternative mechanisms for dealing with offenders, other than sending them to prison, should be introduced and that we need to encourage community participation in the parole boards, as well as in correction, rehabilitation and reintegration initiatives.
Hon Chair and hon members, I must start by thanking all who participated in this debate and express a word of gratitude to the participants for preparing for the debate. It was clear to me that the hon members had read the annual report and identified the issues requiring attention. I want to thank them for that. [Applause.] When you engage in a debate, it is rare to find that people address issues emanating from an annual report.
I think I should respond to hon Manzini, who said there was no political will to rehabilitate, and then made a reference to animals vis--vis the inmates we look after, who happen to be fathers, sons, daughters and mothers in our society. That language was very unfortunate. It is language that was used during the days when we referred to correctional facilities as prisons, as you referred to them; when we used to talk about punishment rather than rehabilitation; and when we used to condemn people to a life of death in a correctional facility, rather than rehabilitating them for the purpose of reintegrating them into the communities they came from.
Correctional Services is not a dumping ground. It is a department that runs facilities meant to correct the behaviour patterns of people who come from our own families and our own communities. Correctional Services can also never be held responsible for the crimes committed by people - even people who come from our centres.
Unfortunately, when people are released from these centres, we ourselves in our communities stigmatise them. We do not allow them to access jobs. We do not embrace them. We refer to them as criminals - until a person dies or even takes the decision to go back to a life of crime. I think that it is proper that as hon members we should be the ones who first and foremost drive the campaign to change the language used by our communities. The language that you used here, hon members, is language that was used before 1994.
Now we have a White Paper, which was adopted by this Parliament. That White Paper deals with some of the programmes that we are implementing, and these programmes are meant to interpret the spirit and the letter of the White Paper.
So, I do not understand it when you say there is no political will. My sense is that you did not listen to all the things I reported here this afternoon and the programmes I outlined. In fact, what I did this afternoon was a midterm review of the programmes that we have initiated and implemented to make sure that rehabilitation indeed takes place.
I agree with all hon members that there can never be effective rehabilitation in conditions of overcrowding. What it means is if we continue to have high levels of overcrowding, we will not create an atmosphere that is conducive to effective rehabilitation. So, we are trying to do everything we can to reduce the high rate of overcrowding.
I also want to say, hon Manzini, that it is incorrect to suggest that the special remission, which was announced by the President and is currently being implemented, was meant to reduce the high levels of overcrowding. Special remission is a provision that is in the Constitution. When we drew up the Constitution we ourselves decided that it should be there to allow the President to exercise his prerogative. My view is that if people are unhappy about or in opposition to the granting of amnesty or pardons - even though this is not a pardon - or remission, they should actually embark on an exercise to pilot an amendment to the Constitution here so that we do away with this provision. Now that we are implementing this provision, it has become a problem! Yet all of us drafted the Constitution - we consulted broadly and South African communities and civil society agreed that we should have this provision in our Constitution. I therefore do not understand what the issue is, unless we are suggesting that we should have a provision that the President must never use. That would be unfortunate.
I also think you simply missed the point of the debate. You missed the point because, if I had been you, I would have addressed matters contained in the annual report in the same way as other members - including opposition members from the ID and others, by the way - which showed that people were prepared for the debate. Not only that, but they also addressed matters that I had raised at this podium. I think there should have been an effort from your side to do that. [Interjections.]
I fully agree on the matter of the Victims' Charter, which was raised by the hon Matila. However, I think that one of the responsibilities and obligations we have as public representatives is that of going out and conducting public awareness programmes in our communities to teach people about the importance of the restorative justice process, in the first instance, and of victim empowerment. After all, as Correctional Services, we could trace victims of crime and "sensitise" them before we have parole board hearings.
Sometimes victims of crime are not convinced that there is a need to appear before a parole board to express their views on how they feel about the process. A number of rape victims would rather walk away from that process and try to forget what happened. When it is time for them to appear before the parole board as part of the process of victim empowerment, people might decide that they do not want to know. They might not want to meet or see the perpetrator. They say that they were traumatised enough 10 or 15 years before and they do not want to go back to that. Therefore it is important for us to be the ones who go out to talk to victims of crime and persuade them to come forward. They and we should have a view on these matters.
Lastly, on the cancellation of public-private partnership prisons, PPPs, I welcome the hon Bloem's comments on the matter. I think our intention was completely misunderstood in some circles, where people believed that we decided to cancel the PPPs purely out of mischief. I don't think people are aware of the amount of money that we have poured into the two private correctional facilities that we have. It was much more money than was budgeted for in our expenditure for a correctional facility, even for facilities housing bigger numbers than the private correctional facilities. Financially, it was a good decision.
Secondly, if truth be told, the PPPs are not necessarily in line with government priorities. Let us look at the four PPP projects that we are going to build now, with a bed space of 3 000 each. We are going to build massive centres. We have identified the male maximums to be the beneficiaries of this build, yet there is a steady rise in the numbers of women who are incarcerated in our facilities for aggressive crimes. So, we are not addressing the specific needs and requirements of our women.
Also, the majority of the people in our correctional facilities are juveniles. So, we are not addressing the specific needs of those juveniles. After all, it is important for them to go through a tuition programme while in a correctional facility. The design of our current facilities does not allow for that. In South Africa you need institutions where you can place these young people in a college-type arrangement, where there is compulsory education - not as a form of punishment but to equip them and give them the necessary tools for the future.
I agree with the hon members who mentioned alternative sentences and diversion to community correction. I am sure you are aware that one of the things in the restructuring process I announced yesterday, and in the speech today, is that we have established Community Corrections as a branch. To be honest, in the past and all along, Community Corrections has been the stepchild of the Department of Correctional Services. However, if you do not instil confidence in our judges and magistrates, if you do not earn their respect and if they are not convinced that our Community Corrections system is efficient, well run and does the proper monitoring of parolees and probationers, you will certainly have a situation where people will be locked up for stealing chicken, bread or milk for babies.
If you have an effective system that is properly organised, well structured and efficiently run, judges and magistrates will have the confidence to divert people to Community Corrections. Then alternative sentences will be passed and imposed on offenders. I fully agree with the idea that we need to take this route in South Africa. I believe that things might improve with the current structure of the branch that we have established and that we will have fewer people serving custodial sentences in correctional facilities.
I also welcome the fact that the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services should receive reports on a regular basis from the office of the Inspecting Judge, as somebody mentioned. Our responsibility is to task the national commissioner and his management with investigating all allegations contained in the report of the Inspecting Judge. I want to appeal to the select committee that if or when they have identified specific cases, which are in the report of the Inspecting Judge, the national commissioner and his team should appear before the select committee to report on how those allegations have been handled and what has been done about the culprits. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.