The Minister of Correctional Services, Honourable NN Mapisa-Nqakula - MP, approached the Constitutional Court at the beginning of the year to ask the court to clarify the order it handed down on 30 September 2010.
The clarification was sought as to whether the National Council on Correctional Services (NCCS) still had a role to fulfil in the processing of lifers sentenced before 1 March 1994.
The NCCS had raised the matter of its role as an advisory body to the Minister in processing the parole applications of offenders serving life sentences affected by the Con Court's decision, after having studied the 30 September 2010 judgement of Van Vuren v the Minister of Correctional Services and Others.
The NCCS had interpreted the judgement to mean that the Minister should decide on the parole applications of this group of offenders without the advisory body's assistance, since the court's instruction did not mention the NCCS directly.
On 31 March 2011, the Constitutional Court handed down judgment and indicated that its main judgment of 30 September 2010 was clear in as far as there can be no doubt that it applies only to those inmates sentenced to life before the introduction of the 20 year minimum detention period on 1 March 1994.
Therefore, the court held that the NCCS is excluded from the process of parole consideration of inmates sentenced before 1 March 1994.
This means that the Minister of Correctional Services will consider the placement of lifers falling within this category without the involvement of the NCCS.
Minister Mapisa-Nqakula has welcomed the clarity provided by the Constitutional Court and will immediately start with the consideration for placement on parole of the 385 lifers falling within this time period.
In addition the Minister will also be processing all the lifers that have been referred back by the NCCS over the last couple of years where further profiles have been requested.
The NCCS will therefore not deal with the consideration of lifers for placement on parole until at least 2014.
Minister Mapisa-Nqakula has taken the following steps in actioning the Constitutional Court's Decision:
- Additional administrative capacity in the office of the Minister has been created to process these parole applications quickly.
- From Monday, 4 April, Minister Mapisa-Nqakula will start her decision making process on 95 parole applications already processed and ready to be ajudicated on.
- The Minister has instructed that all efforts be made by the department to contact all victims of crime perpetrated by the remaining applicants in line with the spirit of the White Paper on Corrections.
- On Friday, 8 April, the Minister will announce her decision on the first 95 parole applications.
- It is the intention of the Minister to conclude the consideration of parole applications of the 385 lifers by the 15th of May 2011.
- Where necessary lifers falling within the group that will be considered may be temporarily moved to one facility so as to allow for the easy completion of this work by Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards (CSPB) as opposed to parole boards spending valuable time on travel.
The Ministry of Correctional Services wishes to emphasise to both applicants and the South African public that being considered for parole does not automatically mean parole will be granted, as parole is a privilege dependent on specific and certain qualifying criteria and not a right.
The Ministry of Correctional Services therefore would like to caution against any person pre-empting the outcome of this process as not all of the 385 lifers being considered will get parole.
Further updates during this process will be made available as when it is necessary.
Enquiries:
Sonwabo Mbananga
Cell: 082 045 3963
