Programme Director: Mr. Mandla Mvelase
Speaker of eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality: Councillor Logie Naidoo
National Commissioner: Mr. Tom Moyane
KZN Regional Commissioner: Mr. M.Nxele
Chief Deputy Commissioners and Regional Commissioners
CEO of the National Youth Development Agency: Mr. Steven Ngobeni
Mr. Simphiwe Mngoma: National Application Centre
Ms. Betsy Fraser: Liberty Life
Our 2012 National Senior Certificate Exam Top Learner: Chris Phumulani Mazibuko
Representatives of other government departments
Representatives of civil society
Our Inmates
All other Members of the Correctional Services Family
Members of the Media
Distinguished Guests
A very good morning to you all. Firstly, let me take this opportunity to wish all of you, as well as your families, all the best for 2013. We hope that the New Year will bring progress and fulfilment.
We are extremely proud, and want to congratulate our inmates on achieving a 79,25°/o pass rate in the 2012 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, compared to 68,06°/o in 2011. Chris Phumulani Mazibuko, our best performing inmate from Usethubeni Youth School here at Durban Westville Youth Centre, achieved five distinctions in IsiZulu Home Language, English first Additional language, Life Orientation, Business Studies and Economics. We wish all offenders every success in their efforts to empower, and improve, their lives. We also want to convey our appreciation to all role-players, including the educators, tutors and correctional officials.
The best performing Correctional Centre School was Johannesburg Correctional Centre School which achieved a 94,11°/o pass rate, followed by Usethubeni Youth School which achieved a 81,48°/o pass rate and Emthonjeni Combined School (Gauteng Region) which achieved a 66,66°/o pass rate. One thousand four hundred and twenty eight (1,428) offenders are registered to write the Report 550 Examinations (previous Grade 12 curriculum) in May/June this year.
Congratulations also to those inmates studying towards other qualifications who passed their exams. One thousand and forty nine (1,049) offenders are studying towards post-matric/higher education and training qualifications, 4,042 towards further education and training (FET) college programmes (including electrical engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering and marketing) and 3,853 towards skills development programmes (including basic business skills training and entrepreneurship).
On lOth January 2012, Riku Nortje (37 years of age), Correctional Services 2011 top university student who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996, was released on parole after serving 16 years of his life sentence at the Leeuwkop Correctional Centre. Riku started serving his sentence at the age of 21, and only had Grade 10.
Today, he holds a Master's degree in computer science from UNISA. He graduated with distinction in 2011. Between 2001 and 2005, he studied towards a Bachelor's degree in computer sciences and mathematics and graduated with distinction. In 2006, he moved on to study for a BSc Honours in computer sciences and graduated with a distinction in 2008.
We are extremely proud to be here today at the official opening of new premises for the Usethubeni Youth School. Usethubeni Youth School is a comprehensive combined school established in 1996. Since the launch of our Reading for Redemption campaign last year, the Regional Commissioner for KwaZulu-Natal, Mr. Nxele, identified a new building, which was previously used as offices by the Parole Board, which was renovated for the current school premises.
The objective is to ensure that the environment is conducive for teaching, and learning, towards assisting the Department in achieving its objective of offender rehabilitation. The school has been offering courses in Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) Level 1 to 4, National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, Technical Education including welding, carpentry, bricklaying and computer science as well as Sport and Recreation and Arts and Culture. Since 2004, this school has achieved a 91,79°/o average pass rate in the matric/grade 12 exams.
Since its inception, the school has been utilising four cells that were divided into eight classrooms. Various organisations have since contributed towards the success of Usethubeni Youth School. We want to express our gratitude to the National Application Centre (NAC) that donated 500 books for the library and secured a bursary for the 2012 top learner; the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) that donated 350 T-shirts for learners, 50 golf shirts for educators, six plasma screens for life orientation, 10 computers (five for the library and five for administration), library books as well as a floating trophy for the top performing school; the KZN Department of Education which donated 30 computers for the computer centre, will train two educators on how to manage a library and assigned a librarian to set up a library and processing; and the Liberty Foundation that donated Maths and Science Learning and Teaching Support Material for Grades 10 to 12.
The University of South Africa (UNISA) has, over the years,come on board to assist inmates with career guidance and facilitated the securing of loans. One of the inmates who benefited from this partnership was Thulani Mchunu, who completed his post-graduate diploma in marketing and has since been employed by an engineering company in Sandton. Another UNISA graduate from Usethubeni is Scelo Nyathi, who is now employed by UNISA.
The University of KwaZulu-Natal has also been working with the Department of Correctional Services, Durban Management Area, on a drama project for several years. Thulani Cele from Usethubeni, who participated in the drama project, secured a bursary to study towards a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Drama. However, Thulani later changed his courses and successfully achieved a Public Relations and Marketing degree, and was employed by UKZN in their Creative Arts Department. He later moved to Gauteng, where he was employed as Marketing Manager for a UK-based NGO. This drama project also produced a drama group that has toured the UK, and is based at Ekhaya Theatre in KwaMashu.
In 2006, inmate Mboso Zulu achieved all A-symbols in his matric exams. Mr. Luwando Bantam contacted the school and assisted Mboso in realizing his dream of becoming a chartered accountant, by securing funds from the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and registering him with the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU). Since then, Mr. Bantam set himself a target to recruit at least 40 inmates from Usethubeni to study at NMMU.
In addition to Usethubeni Youth Centre, eight new centres are operating as full-time schools in Correctional Services. These include Emthonjeni Youth, Barberton Youth, Barberton Maximum, St. Albans, Craddock, Leeuwkop, Johannesburg Medium C and Brandvlei.
On 12 January 2012, President Jacob Zuma said: "We will take urgent and practical steps to place education and skills development at the centre of our transformation and development agenda. We will continue expanding access to education." Unquote.
In order to improve the levels of illiteracy amongst offenders in South Africa, and in particular the youth, the Department places significant emphasis on the provision of literacy classes and basic schooling for offenders.
The constitutional imperative for schooling is not a right that is curtailed by incarceration, and between the Departments of Education and Correctional Services, literacy, schooling and basic adult education are priorities. International instruments indicate that education in a correctional environment must be in line with the educational system of the general society, and provision must be made for the continuity of the educational activity of people incarcerated in prison, and for those who are released on parole.
To this end, from the new financial year (which commences 1 April 2013), it will be compulsory for every inmate who does not have a qualification equivalent to Grade 9 to complete Adult Education and Training (ABET) level 1 to 4. We are working towards turning our prisons into learning centres, and we want offenders to read, study and work. We want to impact the hearts, heads and hands of offenders so that, upon their release, they are in possession of at least a certificate in one hand and a skill in the other. Key to rehabilitation is empowering offenders to have skills to function effectively in society on their release but, equally important, is to ensure that offenders are actively involved in productive activity while they serve their sentences. We want to see offenders proudly contributing to their self-care. As government, we remain fully committed to our shared vision of a caring and just society enjoining us to afford even those who err against society the opportunity to correct and mend their ways under humane conditions. We must go all out to rehabilitate and create conditions for those seriously seeking opportunities for change in their lives to access them.
Correctional Services has 19 textile workshops, 10 steel workshops, 10 wood workshops, six bakeries, one shoe factory, 21 farms and 94 vegetable gardens which provide development opportunities for offenders.
From April 2011 to March 2012, inmates at correctional centre farms and abattoirs produced more than 6,3 million litres of milk (6,347,395 litres),
583,000 kilograms of red meat (583,723kg), 1,7 million kilograms of pork (1,740,243kg), 1,1 million kilograms of chicken (1,181,760kg), 1,5 million dozen of eggs (1,547,534 dozen), 9 million kilograms of vegetables (9,091,151kg) and 652,000 kilograms of fruit (652,131kg).
The establishment of a trading entity is being prioritised, which will impact positively on utilisation of offender labour. Through this trading entity, we may offer our customer base consisting of government, NGO's and the private sector a wide variety of products and services, ranging from furniture, clothing, steel works, food products, agriculture and many others. In addition, we will continue to donate these products to disadvantaged communities from time to time to help alleviate poverty. We are also currently in discussions with the Department of Basic Education to use offender labour to build schools, and also supply furniture to schools. This is in addition to what is already being produced in correctional facilities. This will enhance the ability of offenders to find employment once back in the community, and, perhaps, decrease some of the stigma attached to having been an offender.
We have declared 2013 as "The Year of the Correctional Official". As stated in the White Paper on Corrections, corrections is a multi-faceted profession which requires knowledge of social work, psychology, nursing, pharmacology, health and theology. The ideal Correctional Official should embody the values that DCS hopes to instil in the offender, as it is this official who is to assist and facilitate the rehabilitation processes of the offender. An attitude of serving with excellence, a principled way of relating to others and, above all, a just and caring attitude are essential ingredients of the behaviour of a Correctional Official. A caring attitude requires a principled display of qualities such as integrity, honesty and sound work practices; adherence to the departmental code of conduct; and general disassociation with all forms of corruption and unethical conduct.
There are more risks for a Correctional Official than most jobs. The population that they work with in the prison system is much more dangerous than the general public. Although education and training are required to work in this environment, just one little mistake can be very risky for a Correctional Official. A Correctional Official prepares inmates for successful rehabilitation, re-entry and reintegration.
On Friday (18 January), a gang-related fight at St. Albans Correctional Centre in the Eastern Cape resulted in the death of three awaiting-trial detainees and injuries to 64 detainees. Approximately 2,083 awaiting-trial detainees are currently detained at St. Albans, with some of them detained for longer than five years. On 16 January, a Correctional Official was attacked and stabbed by three inmates at the Groenpunt Correctional Centre. One of the offenders grabbed the official and held him by his hands. Another offender started stabbing him, while the third was busy hitting him with a padlock. Other officials intervened, and used necessary force, which resulted in the three offenders sustaining injuries. One offender later died in hospital. On 17 January, inmates at Groenpunt instigated a riot where approximately 1,900 maximum offenders (the majority serving life and long sentences) are incarcerated and who, in the courts opinion, pose a significant risk to the public of serious harm by the commission of further specified offences. Investigations are continuing.
The Department of Correctional Services is a client Department; and incarcerates offenders as per order of the court. South Africa is currently ranked 9th in the world in terms of prison population, with approximately 160, 000 inmates. Of this, about 30°/o constitute awaiting-trial detainees. Overcrowding in correctional centres is one of our key priorities. To this end, the Department hosted a colloquium on overcrowding, alternative sentencing and the white paper on demand detention on 19 and 20 November 2012, which was attended by all relevant stakeholders including representatives from the judiciary. The recommendations of the colloquium are currently being considered for implementation.
Incarceration should not signify civic death. Inmates are also people who have constitutional rights, though curtailed. We should be able to re¬ socialise offenders by restoring their self-respect, which will enhance their respect for other people and, therefore, create a new human being. It is accepted worldwide that 95°/o of all inmates will ultimately return to their communities at some point. Society must, therefore, become part of the offender rehabilitation process.
Society determines the rules of behaviour for all who live in it. Society sanctions deviant behaviour. Society tends, however, to give, and focus on, the status around the personality of offenders, maintaining the offender status even after they have changed their offender behaviour. It could strengthen our social institutions if, in addition to the offender status label, we could remember that offenders have other forms of status. They are fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives and neighbours to someone. Let us all work together to help the offender return to these positive types of social status.
Through the Victim-Offender Dialogues, we aim to strengthen the current rehabilitation, and re-integration, programmes of the Department of Correctional services. The philosophy of the Victim-Offender Dialogues is informed by a constitutional obligation that the offender is a citizen, a human being who has strayed from his or her path. This citizen must be assisted by the corrections system to be rehabilitated, and return to the path of good citizenship. The philosophy further shows that the offender cannot be the only one who must be helped to become a good citizen. Even society, in general, must be steered in the direction of good citizenship.
Let us all do our utmost best to keep our people, young and old, from imprisonment. Crime prevention is the cure for safe, and secure, living environments.
Thank you.
