Chairperson, friends and guests, hon members, comrades, the stated mission of the Department of Correctional Services is to protect and maintain a just, peaceful and safe society by enforcing court-imposed sentences and detaining inmates in safe custody whilst maintaining their human dignity and developing a sense of social responsibility. It is also the department's goal to reform the system to rehabilitation rather than retribution.
Towards these ends the department's budget has increased from approximately R1 billion in the 1991-92 financial year to R13,2 billion in the current financial year. Included in the government's nine priority areas that informed the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement are the creation of jobs; investment in human capacity, especially skills development; combating crime; and investment in the productive capacity of the state.
In light of the current economic meltdown it becomes even more important for government to ensure that there is maximum value for money in all its programmes.
At the end of March 2008 South African prisons had a capacity to accommodate 114 800 offenders, an increase of approximately 20 000 over the past 14 years. Clearly, the slow pace of improving the state's capacity to accommodate offenders, further pressurised by the call to improve the strategy to combat crime, will have a direct bearing on the already inhumane situation of high overcrowding.
At the same time that accommodation capacity grew by 20 000, the offender population grew by 54 957 inmates. This scenario means an inmate population that exceeds the accommodation capacity by more than 50 000.
The hard truth, Chairperson, is that whilst we welcome the building of modern facilities to better address the challenges of improving service delivery, the strategy of government building more facilities alone cannot work, and it could be argued that there might be other, more effective ways of dealing with overcrowding.
Even taking into consideration that there will be an additional facility available in Kimberley, as the Minister has just said, that will house an additional 30 000 inmates, the reality is that the battle to eradicate the chronic overcrowding must be multifaceted. Overcrowding of this nature flies in the face of the department's stated goal of maintaining human dignity and a sense of social responsibility.
We believe that in order to address this unsatisfactory situation, the government departments in the justice and protection services cluster specifically, and government as a collective must, amongst other things, deal decisively and urgently with the fact that we are sitting with 52 662 awaiting-trial detainees being held together with sentenced offenders.
Furthermore, it cannot be correct, Minister, that almost 8 000 detainees are being incarcerated purely because they cannot afford bail of less than R1 000, and yet we are faced with a problem of overcrowding. Those offenders that have been found guilty of minor offences should seriously be considered for an alternative sentence rather than being locked away in an already overcrowded environment.
At this point, Chair, we want to reiterate that those offenders guilty of serious crimes such as murder, violence and rape must be detained. We are not here arguing for a situation of being soft on criminals. I am arguing that as a nation there is more value for money in focusing on rehabilitation and social reintegration than there is in the continued detention of offenders guilty of petty crimes.
It is therefore my conviction that the bigger portion of the department's budget should be prioritised in areas of development and care rather than on more facilities that are very costly to build, to maintain and to staff.
Chairperson, of the more than 110 000 sentenced offenders approximately 9 000 have been sentenced to life imprisonment. This means that of the current inmate population more than 100 000 will be released from detention at some point. It therefore becomes very important that, in anticipation of this eventuality, emphasis must be placed on preparing the offender to adjust to life outside of prison, as well as preparing society at large to accommodate and assist in ensuring that the reoccurrence of offenders finding themselves in conflict with the law is reduced.
The current rate of inmates actively engaged in skills development and educational programmes whilst detained has to be improved drastically. Current projections of corrections sentence plans for inmates sentenced for periods longer than two years stand at 2 800 and only a further 2 800 are planned for the 2009-10 financial year.
At this rate it is hard to imagine a time when the majority of sentenced offenders will have a structured plan to inform the needs required for effective rehabilitation. The department must do more in this regard, and not just more, but more at a much quicker pace.
Similarly, society has a responsibility to do more. It does not help that once an offender has been released, the stigma of being an ex-offender impedes the search of finding meaningful employment regardless of the skills and education acquired whilst detained. Employers, including business, government departments, parastatals and government agencies, have a responsibility to assist in this regard. Communities, family members and even the victims of crime must be engaged and educated on the necessity of accepting ex-offenders back within society.
To effectively break the cycle of crime and repeat offending, all South Africans have to take a more active and constructive stance in the successful reintegration of ex-offenders. It is only when we succeed in this initiative that we can truly dream of a better South Africa for all.
We want to make a strong call to government that time spent in prison should not be a holiday paid for with taxpayers' money. [Applause.] Inmates must, as far as is possible, be engaged in contributing towards subsidising their stay in prison. The current cost per inmate is almost R200 per day - per year it will amount to about R7,3 billion, if we take 100 000 inmates.
The projected revenue from sales of goods and services produced by the department can be greatly improved by the operating of factories using inmate labour. Offenders should be used in agricultural and community service programmes where feasible. Not only will this assist in cost saving, but offenders who are productive during the day instead of being locked up in cells will also alleviate the overcrowding problem, as space will only be needed for sleeping rather than being utilised by offenders just sitting around.
Inmates sitting around watching television programmes the whole day instead of being actively engaged in furthering their education or learning skills, or being productively engaged in generating revenue for the department, does a disservice to both the department and the individual inmate.
This proposal talks directly to government's priority area of investment in the productive capacity of the state, as well as the department's mission of ensuring the restoration of human dignity and responsibility of offenders.
However, at the centre of achieving all the noble objectives as presented are a sound administrative and financial control policy framework, dedicated employees from the director-general level to the lowest, and firm and decisive political leadership.
The Department of Correctional Services has received unflattering audit reports for the past five years. We welcome, however, the drastic improvements in respect of the recent Auditor-General's report. We want to state that we are still concerned that there are far too many incidents of employees implicated in aiding and abetting wrongdoing within the department.
It is our view that the disciplinary processes must be improved, thereby avoiding the situation of long suspensions with pay. Vacant posts, especially in critical and specialised areas, must be filled as soon as possible. The filling of vacancies should result in the reduced need to contract consultants, estimated at about R178 million for the 2009-10 financial year, and the practice of outsourcing, to the tune of R365 million for the 2009-10 financial year.
The lack of capacity and/or ill-trained members of staff contributes greatly to the Auditor-General expressing qualifications in his audit opinion with regard to the department's ability to manage its finances.
In the spirit of a consultative Parliament and as a Parliament that is true to the declaration that the people shall govern, we have consulted widely with many of the department's stakeholders in our consideration of this budget. The committee will continue to engage all stakeholders on a regular basis to share experiences and draw on their wisdom in an effort to ensure effective oversight.
Chairperson, the message from the President was very clear. Parliament can no longer afford to turn a blind eye when Cabinet Ministers and high- ranking government officials fail to deliver. The practice of some within Parliament of shying away from constructive criticism of the executive is inconsistent with our determination to improve service delivery and the quality of life of all South Africans.
No one will disagree that the department undoubtedly faces many challenges and hurdles. Together, government, Parliament and the broader civil society formations can do more towards the achievement of the department's vision and mission. We, as the committee, will contribute our fair share; we humbly request all stakeholders to do likewise. Failure to deliver is not an option available to any of us.
Notwithstanding the observations and suggestions that we have just spoken to, the ANC supports the adoption of the department's budget. Enkosi. [Thank you.]