Thank you very much, Deputy Speaker. Hon Fritz, I don't know where you get the figures from. The ratio of 1:300 I am not aware of. Nonetheless, you are a member of the portfolio committee, I expect that at any time on any day you may want to invite the department, led by me, to come and present the exact figures and the exact state of affairs in the regions.
One of the issues you raised was the 12 x 2-by-two shift system. You and I understand very clearly the reasons behind the decision to go the route of the 12 x 2 shift system. It was at a time when we were introducing the seven-day establishment. However, we later received reports that this system was not working. We issued a directive that, in fact, all heads of centres should use their discretion as to what kind of shift system they would want to embark upon. We are all aware of this.
Now, what is a problem for me is that this directive was issued in March 2010 to try to rectify the situation. After a lot of lobbying by officials, Members of Parliament, the South African public and civil society and so on, we then went back and issued a directive. To my surprise, to date, 80% of the centres continue to use the 12 x 2 shift system. When you talk to officials, they will tell you that they were satisfied with the 12 x 2 system. Yes, there are challenges of human resource capacity here and there, but, in fact, this is the ideal shift system. It is the only shift system you may want to have in a centre in order for you to meet the requirements which have been created by the seven-day establishment.
Therefore, with regard to the written question you gave us, I actually tabulated in the response all the regions and all the centres to try to prove that, in fact, it is a very strange development that people complain about the 12 x 2 shift system. We issued a directive, but people still retained the 12 x 2 shift system. Therefore, we are now at 80% at all the centres, and we are using the 12 x 2 shift system. Maybe you and I need to sit down and engage on what best we can do to turn the situation around. Thank you very much.