Madam Chairperson of the NCOP,
Honourable Minister of Justice & Correctional Services,
Members of Parliament of the NCOP and Council Delegates,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Introduction
In his characteristic insight to the ills colonial subjugation revisited on our society and consequently, the tasks which the transformation our liberation struggle must achieve, the acclaimed father of South Africa’s liberation struggle, Reginald Oliver Tambo expressed the sentiment that, to quote, “We will create a South Africa in which the doors of learning and culture shall be open to all. We shall have a South Africa in which the young of our country shall have access to the best that mankind has produced, in which they shall be taught to love their people of all races, to defend the equality of the people, to honour creative labour, to uphold the oneness of mankind and to hate untruth, obscurantism, immorality and avarice.” Unquote.
The absence of these virtues in the community of young people in South Africa today , which O.R Tambo sought to bring into bold relieve for South Africa’s social reformers to appreciate, accounts for the national question which the Department of Correctional Services is grappling with today. They underpin the wave after wave of young black males who are thirty -nine years, and below, that are entering our Correctional Centres ceaselessly, year after year.
To pay homage to the lofty sacrifices of the 1976 student generation, whose legacy we celebrate by observing, “South Africa’s Youth month,” we must heed the visionary injunction that Oliver Tambo pointed us to. We cannot fail, lest we blemish the convictions of Oliver Tambo and many of his generation.
Over the past 21 years of freedom, the majority of our people have witnessed remarkable improvement in the quality of their lives. The affirmation of dignity, promotion of basic human rights, economic participation and social progress are some of the key milestones we have traversed.
Notwithstanding this fundamental improvement in many people’s material lives, the ANC government believes that much more still remains to be done. The plans of the Department of Correctional Services as we begin a new year in the allocation of resources in government, are intended to ensure greater levels of success through reasonable and diligent utilization of the limited means at our disposal. Needless to say, the Department of Correctional Services is tasked to infuse new ethos by promoting the incarceration of offenders under humane conditions while promoting corrections and human development on the other hand.
Honourable Members,
One of the decisive prerequisites for the attainment of the above obligations is infrastructure development. Overcrowding is the source of many ills in the corrections business. We intend to build internal capacity to manage our capital expenditure programmes efficiently. Both head office and the regions will receive additional human capital to better manage existing partnerships, build new ones while also planning better to address our immediate, medium and long term infrastructure development. Following our joint meeting with Department of Public Works, the Service Level Agreement signed with the Department of Public Works about three years ago is being reviewed. Using our experience and lessons learnt, we shall close numerous gaps in the current framework.
Arts and Culture for rehabilitation and social reintegration
Chairperson,
Offender education and training is the cornerstone of rehabilitation. There is a notable increase in the enrolment for Adult Education and Training. The pilot Art and Craft Gallery established in Goodwood – Western Cape, has helped in selling offender art and craft to the public, thus generating some revenue for supporting their own families.
This model, will be implemented in Klerksdorp this year in partnership with the local municipality. The training of 900 elderly female offenders in beadwork will continue, utilising the trainers that graduated last year at the Witbank Correctional Centre. We have also partnered with reputable agencies such as ESP Africa in the Western Cape, to organize workshops to impart musical, arts and cultural skills to inmates.
Honourable members, The Department will convene a conference of ex-offenders in July to help understand the challenges faced by this community and to mobilize them to play a more positive role in crime prevention and crime combating. We have numerous cases of successful rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders. Some ex-offenders who gained critical positive life skills while in custody, have established business enterprises and in turn help other parolees with jobs and other opportunities for personal growth and development. We need everyone’s hands on deck.
Honourable Members, I am the first to concede that it is successful reintegration of ex-offenders to enable them to get on with their lives, equipped with new portable skills and at best with better formal education qualifications. However, Honourable members , we surely all agree that the rehabilitation Oliver Tambo spoke about is far reaching, and radical rehabilitation, because its paradigm is founded on the very national project of remaking our society.It is rehabilitation which finds better expression in the thoughts of the young black American who was killed in prison ten years after he was sentenced to, ‘One to life’ prison term at the age of eighteen. A member of the Black Panther Movement and a prison reform activist, Goerge Jackson in his emotional and profound prison letters published in his book, the “SOLE- DAD BROTHER” sought to realise “The transformation of the black criminal mentality into a black revolutionary mentality” among his inmates behind bars.
South Africa’s youth in our correctional centres symbolizes part of our unsuccessful effort in building a new society, based on the values of Ubuntu which Oliver Tambo spoke about. The question I’m tempted to ask is , is this dream impossible? But, lest we forget, we are here today ,because we dared to dream.
The optimism which buoyed us in the struggle for freedom tells me it can be done. To whine and whinge is not what defines our legacy as a people. The struggle continues...and must continue.
Strengthening Judicial Oversight
Chairperson,
We will commission a review of the current capacity of JICS to ensure that their capacity is enhanced in all respects in order to provide judicial oversight and accelerate the transformation of correctional services. A preliminary assessment has shown a number of gaps, which include institutional and administrative capacity, as well as the legal framework. JICS must ideally mirror the Department of Correctional Services national footprint, particularly with respect to its regional offices. For greater impact, the Independent Correctional Center Visitors (ICCVs) should be augmented and be employed on a permanent basis. The review will also help engage all key players including this august house on the appropriate legislative and policy amendments required to enhance the professional independence of JICS.
Conclusion
Colleagues,
In conclusion, South Africa’s lumpen proletariat will not wither away. The DCS will continue to step up the provision of opportunities for offender rehabilitation and successful re-integration into society. The department will ensure that offenders leave correctional centres with a more positive outlook on life and with better skills. This will reduce repeat offending and increase their chances of successful and sustainable reintegration into society as law-abiding citizens.
Madam Chairperson, allow me to conclude my remarks, by acknowledging the steady leadership provided by Minister Masutha to our work, and to express appreciation of DCS employees who continue to serve the community and our country with courage, humility, dedication and respect.
Lastly, let’s remember the legendary injunction which Tata Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela left us with, and I quote, “It is in your hands,”
Madam Chair, indeed South Africa’s dream of all times, the Land of the Freedom Charter, is in our hands.
I thank you.
