Chairperson, Minister, congratulations to you Deputy Minister on your appointment.
Correctional services should not be a one sided affair focusing only on the individual but it must be holistically process where the person is rehabilitated. The community in which they have wronged must be brought along in the process and most importantly, the inmates should earn their way back into the communities through acts that benefit the communities.
The following are the issues that are facing the correctional service system: Firstly, we have a system that does not segment criminals based on offenses whether minor or major. We cannot have a situation as the Deputy Minister said earlier on where female prison warders are working in unsafe conditions that lead to either being raped or stabbed to death just like what happened in March this year.
The tax payers are paying a hefty bill for the livelihood of prisoners inside the confinement whereas law abiding citizens live from hand to mouth. There is a severe shortage of skilled personnel to facilitate the rehabilitation process. As the ATM we are proposing the following: Firstly, we want to commend the department for making use of the inmates for community projects but we want to advocate for all of the 160 000 inmates to work for the state for free because law abiding citizens are working on a daily basis and
their taxes are contributing towards the food, shelter as well as the education of the inmates. This will ensure that all inmates are skilled when reintegrated back to society after serving their time.
IsiXhosa:
Isandla sihlamba esinye.
English:
As the community is contributing towards the livelihood of the inmates, the inmates must contribute towards the livelihoods of the communities as well. Criminals have to be segmented and categorised according to the offences they have committed. Common assault convicts should not be mixed with hardened criminals.
Crime has taken a rise. Immoral humans are going around killing law abiding citizens for fun, as a means of countering this as the ATM, we are still advocating for the introduction of the justice based capital punishment system. If a person is not willing to co-exist amongst other people, that person must be punished ...
IsiXhosa:
... ngokwale ndlela.
English:
You cannot rape an eight-month baby. You cannot kill defenceless harmless people and think that just by being taken to jail you will be rehabilitated.
We want the elevation of the African law to be on par with the Roman-Dutch law as this will result in the desirable balance between curative and punitive aspects of these laws respectively.
Lastly, dealing with the fundamentals societal problems, particularly the values, morality and ethics, eradication of poverty through enabling sustainable livelihoods will go a long way to diminish prison population. As the ATM, ...
IsiXhosa:
... siyaluxhasa olu hlahlo lwabiwo-mali.