Sihlalo, Mhlonishwa, neSekela lakhe kanye neNdlu yonke. [Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, and the House at large.]
The IFP welcomes the new Minister and the Deputy to this portfolio, where they will serve every South African, because the department has the responsibility, not only for the incarceration of 165 000 people, but also for protecting every one of us from the rehabilitated offenders, who will at some point re-enter society.
The IFP accepts that the prison population profile is changing, with more offenders serving long sentences, and bail being either unaffordable or denied to most awaiting-trial inmates. The prison population is growing, but the persistent problem of overcrowding is not addressed through this budget.
A key point has been made by the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services. There would be no overcrowding if inmates didn't spend 23 hours a day unproductively locked up in cells. Cells should be used for sleeping only, while daylight hours are spent in meaningful work, literacy training and rehabilitation programmes.
The White Paper emphasises rehabilitation; the department emphasises rehabilitation; the joint cluster emphasises rehabilitation; civil society emphasises rehabilitation. In fact, the only document out of sync with this call is the budget.
The department has set its expenditure low for the year, intending to add a negligible number of offenders to already poorly populated skills development, production and literacy programmes. The National Commissioner has pointed out that legislation offers offenders an easy way out if they choose not to participate in such programmes. Legislation can be changed far more easily than on-the-ground realities.
How many inmates would volunteer to sit on the floor in the corridor and try to learn to read and write, if there was somebody available to teach them? How many can learn to bake bread, when there are just five bakeries across South Africa? How many can work in the one and only shoe factory, which is next to my house?
The President has warned that in this time of economic recession, every cent must be spent wisely and fruitfully. The department does not have an inspiring track record in this regard, with six successive qualified audit reports. However, the point is that the department must become more self- sufficient and less reliant on taxpayers' money.
It has been pointed out that inmates themselves could be staffing the kitchen, cutting the grass and cleaning up. Not only would this save in terms of contractors and the outsourcing of services, but it would also begin to impart a work ethic and a sense of usefulness.
USIHLALO WENDLU (Mnu K O Bapela): Mhlonishwa Ndlovu, zama ukuphetha inkulumo yakho. MNU V B NDLOVU: Siyabonga kakhulu, kuMhlonishwa, ukuthi aveze ukuthi konke okwenziwayo kwenziwa njengoba kufanele. Kusemqoka ukuthi lolu hlelo lokukhishwa kweziboshwa okuthiwa yi-parole. Mina angilwazi ngoba angikaze ngaboshwa, alufane kubo bonke abantu lungakhethi abantu, lungakhethi osibanibani luyeke kosibanibani. Siyabona ukuthi iziboshwa nazo zinawo amalungelo kodwa akufuneki zibenawo ngaphezu kwalowo ohlukumezekile. Ngakho- ke kufuneka kubhekisiswe umuntu ohlukumezekile kunaloyo oboshiwe. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr K O Bapela): Hon Ndlovu, please try to conclude your speech.