Oo, ndithethe nje? [Kwahlekwa.] [Oh, should I talk freely? [Laughter.]]
Chairperson, first of all, I must thank you for being so strict. At some stage I was a little bit worried that you are going to throw us out of the Chamber, if we don't behave. [Laughter.] I was a little scared but now we have reached this stage.
Ek moet ook van Korrektiewe Dienste se kant ons steun gee vir kameraad Nosipho. Ons ondersteun die aanstelling. [From Correctional Services' side we want to give our support to Comrade Nosipho. We support the appointment.]
Comrade Nosipho knows that we speak a lot of Afrikaans in Correctional Services.
En ons s: Dankie, hek. Dankie. [Gelag.][Applous.] [And we say: Thank you, gate. Thank you. [Laughter.] [Applause.]]
We congratulate you on the appointment, Sisi, and your words of wisdom of working in a collective will always ring true. The ANC is the kind of organisation that works as a collective.
Hon Chairperson and members of this important House, the Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, who is with us; the National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Mr Vernie Petersen and his management team ... Some of them are right up there or down here. You cannot miss that uniform when you see it. It is one lovely uniform.
It will always be an honour for me to address this august gathering of the NCOP for it represents spheres of government where real work takes place. No matter how ambitious and bold a policy and strategy developed by a national government department, its greatest test lies in what happens closer to the coalface or to service delivery, both provincially and at local level. Our Constitution enjoins us to continuously enhance co-operative governance in words and in deeds. At the forefront of the implementation of government's programme of action are these two spheres of government who must actually receive, nourish and perfect, monitor and evaluate the implementation of any government programme. The ANC is very clear in this regard. It has declared that any conceptualisation, planning and executing of programmes of government must start and end with a local area of operation in mind if we are to develop policies and programmes that really make a difference in people's lives where it matters most.
I therefore believe coming to this House for the presentation and adoption of the Correctional Services Amendment Bill just affirms that strong belief and that strong commitment to the centrality of provincial and local governance in all of government's programmes of action. I recall addressing this House last year when presenting our Budget Vote speech. I placed a high premium on our national obligation to carry through a major social transformation that we introduced in 1994 and particularly in 1996 with the adoption of the new Constitution that was heralded the world over as pioneering and progressive. I further drew your attention to the long- standing tradition of visionaries in our society, who made a profound statement of policy as far back as 1955, when the Freedom Charter was adopted saying: "Imprisonment... shall aim at re-education, not vengeance." It called upon our nation to limit incarceration of those who pose little or no danger to society. We are indeed on the same path, as we implement a multipronged approach to deal with issues of crime in our country. We have thousands of serious criminals who commit terrible crimes against society, like those who killed that baby on her mother's back. They have now been sentenced to two life imprisonments each. They are going straight to Kokstad and that is where they will stay for a very long time. Some of those that have killed children, like the one who is now being sentenced today, Engelbrecht, if he gets two life sentences or less, he will still go to Kokstad.
Kokstad Correctional Centre is where there are zero chances of any escape; zero chances of maiming any of my officials. I have stated my wishes of having similar facilities in each region to deal effectively with this growing number of violent and aggressive offenders. An overwhelming number of our offenders right now are those with the potential for positively responding to our interventions aimed at correcting the offending behaviour, rehabilitation and integration back into society.
This amending Bill is particularly focused on these categories, some of whom are incarcerated through the sheer ravages of poverty as they are struggling to pay a small bail or fine. To give you an overview of what these amendments are all about, I would like to start with the language use, which we believe is an extremely powerful tool at the disposal of our nation. Through words we can create or destroy; hence we chose to create through the different labelling of "prisoner" as either "inmate" or "offender". It is a change that we have constantly effected across the Correctional Services Act.
We have also reduced the age limit for children allowed to grow up with their incarcerated mothers. Those children have not done any wrong but it is the mothers who have been sentenced and they have nobody who can look after those children. We have reduced that from five years to two years because extensive research on human development raises questions of endemic damages that can be done by the incarceration of children for the greater part of their critical formative years from 0-7 years. This idea can only be realised if all players in the criminal justice system, the social sector and civil society, particularly families, put all their hands on deck to save this generation through appropriate placement. I would therefore like support on this: No child should grow up in a prison, not even if the mother is part of that. [Applause.] After two years that child must go and grow up in a normal environment. I am saying this as a father of four wonderful children.
For that reason, the Bill that we are dealing with today provides that community organisations, NGOs and religious denominations may be allowed by the National Commissioner of Correctional Services to interact with sentenced offenders in order to facilitate their rehabilitation and their integration into society.
During the discussion with the portfolio committee it was agreed that a further clause be inserted to provide for the screening of such organisations for security reasons and that the organisations must also be registered with the department. Given the centrality of effective communication in making these ideals as outlined in the White Paper on Correctional Services, we are giving policy effect to the unit management system in running correctional centres in section 37 of this Act. In essence, we seek to advance humane treatment of inmates. And when I say "humane" treatment, it just means that they need to be treated humanely but it does not mean that they have to live luxuriously. There is a difference there.
Restorative justice basts so that victims as well as the offenders can meet time and again so that they can be remorseful for what they have done to other people. Human development and a human rights approach to the treatment of offenders is needed. This I say, as well, to the offenders: When you deal with my officials, there must be humane treatment on both sides. Neither one of the sides is allowed to be inhuman to the other. This is not just in line with our Constitution but also with the various international protocols. As part of this transformation, we have made sentence planning for particularly sentenced offenders serving more than 24 months compulsory, replaced solitary confinement - and a number of you do know what it is like to be in solitary confinement - with segregation of ill-disciplined inmates. About those who are ill-disciplined and cannot look after themselves, we need to do something about them. We put them in correction programmes and we instil correct behaviour in them. This will be coupled with a loss of gratuity - again, those of you who were detained will know that they take some of your gratuities and rights away. We have coupled that with the loss of gratuity and restrictions of amenities for those who are ill-disciplined, who don't acknowledge that they have done wrong. This corrective sanction, together with any use of mechanical restraint, must be reported to the National Commissioner and to the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services immediately to ensure full accountability and no abuse of these measures.
We also seek to advance noncustodial sanctions for those posing little or no danger to society, as this helps in reducing reoffending chances. After extensive and fruitful engagements, both the portfolio committee and Kgoshi and his select committee have endorsed the granting of parole to lifers, subject to the recommendations of the National Council for Correctional Services and in alignment with the incarceration framework being developed by the NCCS for ratification by the Minister and approval by the relevant parliamentary committees. In these documents we are saying that we are not soft on criminals. When you do something wrong, we will send you away for a long time. If there is a chance that you can be rehabilitated, please participate in the programmes. In Kokstad we don't have programmes. In Kokstad you are just put there to rot until you realise the folly of your ways. You are alone in a cell. We don't play games there. We don't send you there for rehabilitation. We are sending you there because you need to be put away. It is as simple as that.
The incarceration framework will be published as regulations in the Government Gazette to inform the general public. The select committee amended this clause for better understanding and to reflect the correct intention thereof, thereby avoiding any misrepresentation.
We have also agreed on the streamlining of the Office of the Inspecting Judge, with the appointment of a CEO by the National Commissioner, on recommendation from the Inspecting Judge. The addition of a clause on consultation of the Director-General of the Department of Public Service and Administration suggested by the portfolio committee has been changed by the select committee. The amendments by the select committee are to the effect that the Inspecting Judge would identify a suitable person to be appointed by the National Commissioner. A recommendation we made on relieving the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services of having to deal with reports of corrupt and dishonest practices, we withdrew, after the portfolio committee's concerns about the changes. The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services will continue to facilitate the inspecting of prisons for reporting on treatment and conditions in all correctional centres as their core business while also handling reports of fraud, corruption and unethical behaviour. We strongly believe that these amendments are positioning Correctional Services better in order to enhance co-operation with the various players in the criminal justice system and in civil society in general. They are creating an enabling legislative framework for effective implementation of our strategic priority projects that include: Firstly, the phased implementation of the offender rehabilitation path and integrated intervention programme aimed at making impact at various stages of the offender life cycle; and secondly, the social reintegration programme that seeks to enhance interfacing correctional centres with society while creating a receptive environment for sustainable reintegration of these offenders.
These are but one of the programmes where various spheres of government can enhance their participation in corrections. We are steadily but surely advancing in mainstreaming corrections with campaigns like Operation Masibambisane, restorative justice and offender plough back into society. We are starting to see positive results with the Eastern Cape region's partnership with the provincial legislature in the Eastern Cape and collaboration of the Western Cape region with various community and NGO structures carrying the flag of the ideal we seek to make a norm in correctional services delivery.
I believe together we have the will, the power, capacity and determination to build a safer and a more secure South Africa. Business as usual cannot help us accelerate the impact of these interventions, hence our call for ``business unusual''.
I trust that the deliberations of this House will help reaffirm our determined march on this new development path, aimed at implementing the White Paper on Corrections successfully. I must, in the same breath, also thank the members, particularly of the select committee and other members of the House who actually take time out to visit some of these correctional centres and do spot-checks on what is going on. I really take my hat off for you for doing that. Thank you very much.