Minister, in 2017 after gang violence erupted at the very same St Albans Maximum Centre, the previous Deputy Minister, Mr Thabang Makwetla went on record to say that ultimately while the anti-gangsterism strategy is a very good one, two factors working in combination, namely, overcrowding and understaffing, effectively prevent real implementation of the anti-gangsterism strategy. Given this, shouldn't your first priority be to address overcrowding and understaffing?
I
thought that hon Makwetla was sitting behind me, but it
looks like he realised that hon Horn will catch him, hence he went to the bathroom. It is indeed true that we have got challenges of understaffing with a high vacancy rate, and we will report to the portfolio committee in terms of how we are dealing with that.
We have made a commitment to the portfolio committee where hon Horn is a member. Therefore, we will be able to report to indicate the strategy we are dealing with, to ensure that we deal with the issue of understaffing and vacancy rate. With regard to overcrowding, unfortunately, we are at the receiving end, where we are expected in terms of the Correctional Services Act to receive, it doesn't matter how many people we have in our centres.
When a person is sentenced in a custodial sentence, we have to house that person because that person becomes our guest until the end, parole or whatever. The key issue now in which we are engaging as the department, is to look into the second chance legislation that must enable us to ascertain the offences. We do this in order for the magistrates and judges to give noncustodial sentences where it is practically possible and where it is possible
that rehabilitation can happen without the person being put into our centre.
With clear measures of correction, even the person might not be directly inside our centres. But inside our centres we are dealing with the issue of overcrowding through various strategies, those that are having bails, in order for them to be able to get out, because some of them are there, and various programmes that we have to manage overcrowdings which are well- known to hon Horn through the portfolio committee.
Minister, prisons have become breeding grounds for hardened criminals, because there are little correctional activities there and more crimes are committed with the help of prison warders. Has your department done any study of the amount of crime committed in society, ordered and directed from inside the prisons?
IsiZulu:
Usho uma ungazi.