Hon Chairperson, hon members of the select committee, members of the NCOP, the National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Correctional Services management, Judge Van Zyl, Office of the Inspecting Judge - and allow me to acknowledge our juveniles from Drakenstein Prison, accompanied by their parents, in the gallery - distinguished guests, correctional officials, comrades, friends and compatriots, last year we made a commitment to heighten the delivery of Correctional Services so that we can be one of the best in the world. It is critical to report back on how far we have moved towards the realisation of those goals. We have made a number of strides at policy, organisational and operational levels. These make the department better able to deal with the numerous challenges inherent in running a correctional system, challenges such as overcrowding, parole administration, security, rehabilitation and the social reintegration of offenders.
With regard to policy, the Minister has successfully led a policy review in respect of the management of remand detainees, medical parole, the rehabilitation and development of offenders and the strengthening of partnerships with stakeholders. We wish to express our deeply felt gratitude to this House for its sterling work in supporting the development and approval of the Correctional Matters Amendment Bill. That is now awaiting the President's signing it into law.
The Correctional Matters Amendment Bill provides a legislative framework for, inter alia, effective implementation of the new White Paper on Remand Detention in South Africa that was approved by Cabinet in 2010. This introduces a new model for the management of remand detainees. The White Paper and the Bill provide for a maximum period of remand detention, a different uniform and the provision of access to medical parole placement for remand detainees. These are some of the new approaches we will be implementing in the future.
There is also a new model for the management of medical parole, with built- in checks and balances. It includes the establishment of an advisory panel of medical doctors as well as the broadening of scope beyond the definition "final stages of terminal illness". In this way, the current high levels of inmate deaths from natural causes could effectively be reduced without increasing risks to public safety.
We acknowledge that the department has institutional capacity challenges that have hamstrung its ability to effectively implement the White Paper on Corrections approved by Cabinet in 2005. We have also done a diagnostic analysis of the department through, inter alia, the ministerial task team. As a result, we have developed a "blueprint for a high-level transformation agenda", which we will implement during this financial year.
As one of the highlights in the progress made to reposition Correctional Services to better deliver on its mandate, the national commissioner, Tom Moyane, was appointed just 11 months and four days ago. The new chief financial officer was also appointed and together with senior executive management they have begun to make a difference in a number of areas. The Ministry wishes to reaffirm its belief that the White Paper policy framework remains a pivotal pointer of a new direction for correctional services in our country.
In this regard, the leadership is concerned about ad hoc and, in some areas, disintegrated efforts to drive the implementation of the White Paper. We must say that this has resulted in less than desirable progress being made after six years of implementation. In order to remedy this situation, the department has established an enterprise project management office in the office of the national commissioner. This will strengthen the centre and co-ordination of all priority intervention programmes.
We have also begun to address security gaps, with the establishment of a chief directorate to take responsibility for: improving capacity for vetting with an allocation of R12 million for building the vetting field unit; establishing an intelligence unit to deal with gangs; and strengthening the command structure for the repositioning of emergency support teams as elite security units.
We have upgraded the information technology unit to the level of a branch, led by a deputy director-general, in order to improve service delivery and to ensure the effective integration of information and security technologies with our partners in the criminal justice system. The internal audit and health care services units have also been upgraded to chief directorates. That will strengthen internal controls and the delivery of health care services in an integrated manner.
We have also lifted the recruitment moratorium. As a result, we have employed over 2 200 people since July 2010. These include 1 014 Correctional Services learners currently undergoing training at Kroonstad and Zonderwater Colleges, and 496 interns to assist with asset verification in all management areas. We shall ensure that the 14% vacancy rate in the department is reduced to zero during this financial year in line with the presidential directive to contribute towards fighting unemployment.
With regard to addressing the perennial problem of overcrowding, we have begun to reduce overcrowding, registering a 5,7% decline from 40,62% to 35,85%. This leaves the 241 correctional centres to accommodate an average of 160 000 inmates against just over 118 000 bed spaces in the 2010-11 financial year. It remains a drop in the ocean, and much more work must be done to reduce overcrowding in our facilities, some of which are overcrowded by 200%. We are exploring the possible conversion of old military barracks into correctional centres and the conversion of underutilised buildings in cities and towns for use as halfway houses for, among others, over 1 000 potential parolees per year who cannot be released due to the absence of traceable addresses, family and community support.
We have begun in earnest to close serious gaps in the education and training of young offenders, with the Minister announcing a policy to extend access to education and launching a special operation, code-named Operation Funda. I am delighted that we have now increased full-time schooling from one centre in Durban Westville to five centres which provide the full National Curriculum Statement, NCS, syllabus accredited by the Department of Basic Education. We are on course to make all 13 youth centres full-time NCS schools.
A R5,4 million e-literacy campaign, driven in partnership with the Department of Communications and private partners, targets 1 500 offenders and some officials. Over three years, it has already delivered 296 graduates in the International Computer Driving Licence, ICDL. Similar partnerships are being pursued with the department of Education and the Presidency.
In fighting corruption, we have also registered progress in our zero tolerance for the scourge of fraud, corruption and serious maladministration. In this regard, we have sustained the improvement in our conviction rates during the year, with an increase from 89% to 91% in respect of officials charged with corruption and dishonesty. Nine officials, including senior executive managers, were either dismissed or resigned. As a sanction, 28 officials were given suspensions without pay for months. The rest of the convicted in the 103 cases received lighter sanctions, from final written warnings to corrective counselling.
We are playing a pivotal role in integrating the anticorruption efforts of government within the criminal justice system. We are building greater capacity to address backlogs in disciplinary cases. We are encouraged by the Special Investigating Unit's acknowledgement that Correctional Services has acted on its recommendations. We are also encouraged by the audit findings of the Department of Public Service and Administration. They rated the department among the top three performing government institutions in the fight against fraud and corruption. Going forward, we intend to build on this solid base.
With regard to mainstreaming victim participation, the role of victims is increasingly taking centre stage. The Minister pledged in her agreement with the President to increase multifold victim participation in the administration of parole. This has been the case in the ministerial campaign to rename 11 correctional centres, and in the determination of parole for 395 lifers sentenced before 1 March 1994 who are eligible for consideration, as part of the implementation of the Constitutional Court ruling in this matter. We will step up the execution of the restorative justice framework.
Matters concerning vulnerable sectors of inmates, like women, children, people with disabilities, inmates with mental illness and the youth, are receiving the requisite attention. The ministerial task team has flagged a number of serious weaknesses in the management of these sectors and made pointed recommendations to turn the tide. These are the sectors that would also benefit greatly from the introduction of tagging technology, which will be one of the focal areas of the newly formed branch called the government information technology office. More innovative solutions will continue to be generated and explored so that incarceration is indeed reserved only for those who have committed serious and heinous crimes against society.
We welcome the allocation of R16,5 billion for the current financial year, and the projected average annual increase of 6,8% over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, which will take our allocation to R18,8 billion by the year 2013-14.
We have demonstrated that, as a department, we can improve expenditure patterns without fiscal dumping. During the previous financial year, we registered a preliminary 4,7% in underexpenditure, essentially due to the recruitment moratorium and some infrastructure development allocations totalling R726 million from the allocated R15,4 billion for the 2010-11 financial year.
We wish to acknowledge that the improved allocation to the development and social reintegration functions is still not ideal over the MTEF period. This will continue to receive our attention as we grow the institutional capacity to spend - so too the strengthening of partnerships that make more resources available to enhance rehabilitation, development and social reintegration of offenders. We can reassure this House that we have adopted an approach of dealing with these challenges as if it were the last opportunity in our lives to do so, because we are alive to the impatience of our people for good service delivery. They want to be safe - yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Armed with a strong belief that correction is a societal responsibility, the Minister convened a two-day stakeholders' conference in Midrand. Here we considered the report of the ministerial task team that did a diagnostic audit of our facilities. The conference affirmed our belief in shared responsibilities across all sectors and agreed on the establishment of a broader co-ordinating forum that would facilitate the alignment of planning, resourcing, execution, reporting, monitoring and evaluation of all work undertaken in the corrections industry. The conference also agreed to convene on an annual basis in order to ensure that existing and new relations are built up to improve the footprint and to impact on all corrections, rehabilitation and social reintegration interventions.
We are on course in our efforts to improve the functioning of the office of the Inspecting Judge. We will also ensure that the recommendations made by the Inspecting Judge are acted upon. We strongly believe that the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services has an important role to play. It is there to safeguard the human rights of our offenders, in line with our constitutional democracy.
In conclusion, we believe and we share the view that all people in South Africa deserve to be safe and to feel safe. We owe it to the heroes and heroines of the anti-apartheid struggle that brought about our own liberation. We also owe it to our children and grandchildren to bequeath to them a safe and happy South Africa. Together, we can contribute to the peace and stability of this, our great country. I thank you. [Applause.]