Chairperson, hon Deputy Ministers, first and foremost I would like to sincerely thank the Council for wishing me a speedy recovery whilst I was in hospital. I am now fully recovered. [Applause.]
I want to mention one or two things to my two friends, the general and my friend Gunda, before I get to the business of the day. [Laughter.] I would like to remind them that these individuals they are concerned about are professionals and they have their own merit. We do not feel sorry about appointing them to positions because they do qualify on merit. [Applause.]
Chairperson, I am rising on behalf of ANC to make an input in this policy debate on Budget Vote No 20 - Correctional Services. We are doing so not because we have counted rands and cents and concluded that the allocation is adequate, but because of our conviction that this budget demands specific conduct from the officials responsible for the operations and implementation of programmes for the department.
For us, this allocation of R15 billion is an efficiency- and competency- oriented budget that requires financial discipline, diligence and effective decision-making on the part of the department and the Ministry as they hunker down to implement service delivery to our people.
We are supporting this budget fully aware of the challenges that the department has been facing for many years now, which include, amongst other things, qualified audits, high vacancy rates, a lack of internal systems and structures, escaping of prisoners, overcrowding, irregularities in procurement and corruption of staff members, as indicated in the input of the Minister.
Despite these problems that have plagued the department for so long, we are, however, encouraged by these allocations, which show that the greater portion is going to facilities, which in turn will reduce overcrowding, create more bed space and provide for other programmes, like the developmental and care programmes for the inmates.
With regards to current facilities that are either upgraded or newly built, we would like to emphasise to the department that it should act with speed in commissioning these facilities, particularly the Kimberley Correctional Centre and those in the Western Cape; there were indications during our oversight visit that they would have been finished by the end of last year. However, the R2 billion allocation for rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders into families and society is placing a big challenge before the department to implement the programmes effectively and ensure that there is value for money, because as the President of the country instructed in the state of the nation address, this year is the year of action.
Therefore, the departments must work faster, harder, and smarter to ensure that this R2 billion is effective because the critics are arguing that we are allocating a small amount of money for the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.
Therefore, the demand is that the department must ensure that they effectively implement these programmes in partnership with civil society and the public-private partnership, PPP, entities to enhance the implementation of the programmes.
Indeed, we must emphasis the need to pay serious attention to programmes that are aimed at correcting offending behaviour and ensuring that the majority of our offenders are prepared for reintegration through the active involvement of the victims and communities.
We are, however, fully conscious of the fact that the conditions and the legacy under which crimes are committed include, amongst other things, poverty; hunger; unemployment; illiteracy; dysfunctional families; the absence of care and authority figures in communities; and greed, particularly amongst affluent families, which causes them to look for a quick-fix solution, namely to commit a crime.
It is, therefore, important for the department to now revisit the objectives of the White Paper and come up with implementation strategies for Correctional Services. These strategies should emphasise the need for courts, sentenced people and the correctional officials to understand rehabilitation as key when sentences are handed down. The purpose of the correctional system in South Africa is not ... Thank you, Chairperson. [Time expired.] [Applause.]