Hon House
Chairperson, Deputy Ministers for Justice and Correctional Services iNkosi Phathekile Holomisa and John Jeffery, Hon Members of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services, the National Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services,
the Inspecting Judge, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, we ascend to this august Assembly with great humility to table the budget and policy statement of the Department of Correctional Services.
It is extremely humbling experience that we table this budget and policy statement a day before the International Nelson Mandela Day in honour of the prisoner who turned to be our first democratically elected President. As we celebrate the International Nelson Mandela day, we do so aware of the decision by the United Nations to name the United Nations, UN, Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, after President Nelson Mandela as the Mandela Rules, which are the single most important set of international standards that set out what is generally accepted as being good principles and practice in the treatment of prisoners and prison management.
The Nelson Mandela Rules set out standards that correctly provide an antithesis to these regressive views of Mumia and Davis. Our work on the Mandela Rules is a reflector of what Nelson Mandela said in his Long walk to freedom that "No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizen but its lowest ones" So we must collectively work towards parading who we are by the manner in which
we treat our offenders. To further advance the realisation of the Nelson Mandela Rules we will on 22 July 2019 launch the training manual for the Nelson Mandela Rules.
Hon Chairperson our flag of honour is lowered to give singular honour to Comrade Ike Maphotho who passed on over the weekend. The distinguished former commander of the Luthuli detachment of the UMkhonto WeSizwe fought for our liberation alongside the Zimbabwe African People's Union, ZAPU, aligned Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army, ZIPRA, forces during the Wankie Campaign in the former Rhodesia, today known as Zimbabwe. We also mourn with deep sadness the passing on of one the leading artists, who exemplified the Constitutional values for a nonracial society when it was dangerous and costly to do so, Mr Jonathan, well known as Johnny Juluka Clegg. His songs will endure in our memories and society for a long time to come.
Chairperson After 25 years into our democracy, we can boldly proclaim that we have done away with jails and have correctly placed our facilities as correctional facilities able to realise our triple task of incarceration, rehabilitation and reintegrating. As we celebrate the Nelson Mandela month, correctional officials and offenders intensify their giving back to communities as part of our
rehabilitation programmes which includes; establishing community food gardens for old age homes and poverty stricken communities, the cleaning and maintenance of community infrastructure such as community halls, schools, cemeteries, churches, state hospitals, day care centres, orphanages and institutions for abused women and children, contributing to building homes and providing furniture for victims of crime and destitute families in partnership with various stakeholders.
At the beginning of each year during schools reopening for the first semester and as part of the Safer Schools Programme, parolees contribute towards the cleaning, refurbishing, painting and maintenance of more than 600 schools across the country. In partnership with the Hillsong Foundation, we also utilised inmates to donate more than 2 000 wheelchairs to people living with disabilities.
Chairperson, we table this budget and policy statement mindful of the realities confronting our correctional facilities, particularly of overcrowding. The extent of this challenge is that on 31 March 2019, the number of inmates stood at 162 875, against an accommodation capacity of 118 972 bed spaces, which in 37% overcrowding. This is a disturbing picture, which compels all of us
to think deeper. Even more pressing is that our overcrowding challenges could become a norm in some of our centres if not managed properly, particularly the big centres across the country. We continue to employ different mechanisms and strategies in order to make a difference. Our infrastructure projects are progressing well in terms of upgrading and building new centres that are rehabilitation oriented.
The upgraded C-Max Correctional Centre in Pretoria was completed in December 2018, and will be officially opened by August 2019. This facility has 284 beds. Standerton and Estcourt Correctional Centres were officially opened in April and May 2019 respectively. The two centres combined provide 1 998 bed spaces additional. We are now awaiting the official handover of the Tzaneen Correctional Centre from the contractor and when combined with the refurbished Glencoe Correctional Centre, these will provide 1 101 beds by September 2019. Over the medium-term, the Department will prioritise providing appropriate services for safe, secure and humane detention in correctional centres. The total expenditure increases are at an average annual rate of 6,7%, from R23,8 billion in 2018-19 to R28,9 billion in the 2021-22 financial year. However, it must be noted that there are budget reductions of R79,9 million in 2019-20 and R74,3 million in 2020-21 on the department's budget for compensation
of employees which will exert pressure on service delivery requirements. It is positive to note that we endeavour to maintain stability by, among other things, to fill strategic and critical vacancies to realise the objective of running an efficient correctional services.
Chairperson, as part of the Integrated Justice System, we will modernize our information and communication technology infrastructure and business application systems which Deputy Minister Holomisa will elaborate on. In the spirit of Batho Pele, the Department of Correctional Services, DCS, will soon be launching a call centre to enable members of the public to call a single dedicated number for efficient service delivery. Further details will be announced in due course. The Department has in sourced inmate catering services at 26 kitchens, previously contracted to African Global Operations, formerly known as Bosasa. The transition has been materially seamless given that DCS staff and offenders were involved in the catering function during the tenure of African Global Operations, AGO. The contract for outsourced nutrition was structured in such a manner that the department paid for services based on the number of meals served to inmates, as well as overhead costs relating to salaries for African Global Operations employees deployed at various kitchens, training of inmates as well as other
services pest control and maintenance, etc. Due to the termination of the contract, the element of overhead costs has been eliminated since all services are now rendered by inmates and correctional officials.
In the short term, efficiencies and resultant savings will be realised from elimination of overhead costs. We are currently establishing the level of savings which will enable us to reprioritise accordingly. Approximately 65% of the inmates in our correctional centres are youth. It is for this reason that on 27 June 2019, as part of Youth Month, we visited Brandvlei Correctional Centre where we re-launched the Western Cape Basic Radio and TV station. This R 1,6 million project was undertaken with support from the Media Development and Diversity Agency, well known as the MDDA. We are encouraged and propelled that 20 offenders have since enrolled for a course on Radio Production, NQF level 5 and the New Venture Creation course, which will provide them with entrepreneurship skills. Both these programmes are provided to offenders in partnership with one of the largest Community adio Stations in the Western Cape, Radio Zibonele. These programmes will enable offenders upon their release to find employment at various community radio stations. The Department will be engaging further
with the MDDA to support the opening of five more such radio and TV stations across the country.
This will enhance offender training, using radio and television as a platform to provide rehabilitation programmes on a mass scale thereby contributing to employability and reintegration of offenders upon their release. The department commenced with learnership programmes at our DCS training colleges at Zonderwater and Kroonstad respectively. Both these colleges cater for a total of 1 032 students, comprising of 540 at Kroonstad and 492 at Zonderwater. The next intake of 1 032 learners will take place in two months, during September this year. Over the next two years 2019-2021, this programme will result in the employment of 2 064 entry level correctional officials which will bolster the smooth running of the department as DCS is continuously losing experienced officials on a monthly-basis which has resulted in a serious shortage of staff.
We will not tire to foster a culture of human development in our correctional centres and will continue to reskilling our offenders to be better persons who are economically active upon release. It is therefore befitting that on 21 September 2018, the department officially opened a new high school, named Tari Liswa(New Leaf), for grade 10 to 12 learners. The school was built using offender labour
and skills under the supervision of correctional officials from the Boksburg management area. The Cradock Correctional Centre School was officially opened on 22 February 2019, bringing the department's accredited schools to 14. The full-time school offers Adult Basic Education and Training, ABET, levels 1 to 4, Further Education and Training, FET, and grades 10 to 12. The school has seven classes for ABET and FET, a library, a computer lab, staff room and a principal's office. The school has achieved a 100% pass rate since 2016. [Applause.]
The department's grade 12 class of 2018 inmate learners achieved a 77,3% pass rate. A total of 185 inmate learners sat for the 2018 grade 12 examinations, of which 67,36 qualified for admission to Bachelor degree studies, 46% learners were eligible to obtain a national diploma and 30% candidates eligible to enrol for higher certificate courses. The learners achieved a total of 56 distinctions in various subjects, with Usuthubeni Youth Centre recording a commendable 28 distinctions. Our training programme of offenders continues to align itself with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes road map for the development of prison-based rehabilitation programmes. The report affirms our efforts to intensify the roll-out of education opportunities in prison to align itself to the United Nations Special Rapporteur aimed at the
development of the full potential of each prisoner. These should aim to minimize the negative impact of incarceration, and improve prospects of reintegration, self-esteem and morale.
However, it is important that our well intentioned rehabilitative programmes do not create the impression that incarceration provides for an alternative society if not even better than life outside correctional facilities. Whilst as a department we do our part as we have outlined through the many interventions here, it is imperative that society at large also plays its role in discouraging breaking the law as part of the moral regeneration of our nation. The Constitutional dispensation can only thrive when we all rise to be counted as the co-architects of our collective future. Over the short to medium-term, we will review legislation applicable to corrections in order to ensure that we are more responsive in terms of service delivery and also to give a second chance to offenders.
We will continue to play a pivotal role in the national strategy on poverty eradication through our management of 21 farms and 96 small gardens that are being used for self-sufficiency and to provide work opportunities. Our production workshops, which specialise in cabinet making, wood machining, upholstery, furniture polishing, etc, will continue to provide work opportunities for offenders, with the
objective of skills utilisation and development in order to enhance offenders' employability and self-sustenance upon their release. On average, 1 500 offenders work in production workshops per day, while on average 3 000 offenders are working in agriculture farms per day.
During 2018-2019, a bakery was opened at St. Albans Management Area which is the ninth bakery we are operating. As at the end of 2018- 2019, the St. Albans Bakery produced 280 062 loaves of bread for offender ration, at an average cost of R5,18 per loaf of bread. The national bread production for 2018-2019 is 3 661 940 loaves. Despite the impact of drought and fiscal constraints, the performance of agriculture production has improved steadily thus contributing towards self-sufficiency.
Our programme will continue to increase the offenders, parolees and probationers participating in Restorative Justice, the Deputy Minister will speak more on this programme. We remain grounded on our commitment to humane custody and rehabilitation of offenders before placing them back into society. Seated in the gallery is a number of offenders who have been rehabilitated through our programmes and they today run successful projects in their various communities assisted also by our correctional officials.
The final revised allocations for 2019-20 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, are as follows: 2019-20 R25,408 billion, 2020-21 R27,177 billion and 2021-22 R28,963 billion. These allocations afford us an opportunity to realise the instruction of Haile Selassie who said, "We must act to shape and mould the future, and leave our imprint on events as they slip into history" Join us as we strive to make South Africa a crime-free society. Let me extend my humble gratitude to the Deputy Minister, Inkosi Phathekile Holomisa and Deputy Minister John Jeffrey for their unwavering support as we discharge our responsibility. I also want to thank the national commissioner and the entire staff in the department who continues to endure difficult conditions to ensure that we discharge our departmental responsibilities as outlined in the Annual Performance Plan. Thank you very much, hon House Chairperson.