Programme Director: Skhumbuza Mbatha
His Majesty Kgosi Sekwati Mampuru III
His Majesty Thovhele MPK Tshivhase
All Traditional Leaders Members of the various Royal Families
Deputy Minister: Adv Ramathlodi
Members of the Correctional Services Portfolio Committee
Executive Mayor of Polokwane: Your Worship, Councillor Freddy Greaver
Inspecting Judge for the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services: Judge V E M Tshabalala
Chairperson of the National Council on Correctional Services: Judge Siraj Desai
Other Members of the National Council on Correctional Services
Director-General of Limpopo: Ms Madikolo Rachel Molepo-Modipa
National Commissioner: Mr Tom Moyane
Chief Operations Officer: Ms Nontsikilelo Jolingana
Chief Deputy Commissioners and Regional Commissioners
POPCRU President: Mr Zizamele Cebekhulu
General Manager of the Public Servants Association: Mr Danny Adonis
Other representatives from Organised Labour
Capitec Business Manager for Sales: Mr Vusi Mahayi
Representatives from GEMS and other businesses
Representatives from civil society
Our most important guests: the 2011/12 Excellence Awards Nominees
Excellence Awards Winners from previous years
Other Members of the Correctional Services Family
Members of the media
Distinguished guests.
Today is the 1st of March. During the month of March, we celebrate Human Rights to remember the sacrifices that accompanied the struggle for the attainment of democracy in South Africa. The Constitution obliges us to “honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land”. This year, we will be renaming various correctional centres. Pretoria Management Area will be renamed King Mampuru the Second Management Area.
King Mampuru was executed on 22 November 1883 in Pretoria Central prison, for his steadfastness in the fight against colonial subjugation. When Paul Kruger sent him an instruction to report to Pretoria, he wrote back stating that he was the King and not a subject to be ordered around by Paul Kruger. For that he was hunted down until he was imprisoned. He was executed naked on 22 November 1883.
This was a public execution, and about 500 colonialists were invited to witness King Mampuru being executed naked. His execution was widely reported internationally. The renaming is the reaffirmation of our commitment to a human rights culture. These sacrifices were not in vain, and we have a responsibility to demonstrate, and celebrate, that fact. Through their deeds, we are able today to enjoy freedom and dignity. It is against this backdrop that we honour these heroes, and heroines, of our country. Next year (2014), we will commemorate 20 years of democracy.
The war against poor service delivery must be intensified. It cannot be business as usual. We will not accept sub-standard service delivery by obsequious, indolent and blatantly rude public servants. We meet here today, at the 5th annual National Corrections Excellence Awards 2011/12, to recognise individuals, and teams, in the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) who have displayed commitment, and zeal, in the execution of their duties. We are here to pay tribute to humble public servants, who continuously strive to improve the lives of our citizens day and night, far from the gaze of the spotlight. Today is not merely a day where we only bestow awards and party.
It is a day where all of us, gathered here, need to reflect on what service excellence is all about, and what DCS is doing to encourage, and monitor, a culture of continuous improvement in service delivery, and greater accountability, to public sector customers and stakeholders. Booker T Washington, the African-American author and educator, once said and I quote: "Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.” In a similar vein, Ancient Greek Philosopher Aristotle wrote: "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." It is a universal human rights principle that all people are subject to the same laws of justice. Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.” This principle is also enshrined in the Constitution.
However, the reality of this principle stares you in the face when you are admitted into prison. In prison, all citizens are equal and there may be no discrimination in political, economic, social, or cultural life on account of sex, religion, or social status. Whether you are a professor, doctor, lawyer or street sweeper, that amounts to nothing the moment you enter the reception area of a correctional facility. You take off your clothes, and put on prison uniform just like all other inmates. You abandon everything, and leave your past life at reception. Everyone is equal in prison, no matter what job you do or what car or house you own.
However, prison is not civic death and your rights as a human being can never be taken away from you. As per the World Prison Brief, South Africa is currently ranked number one in Africa, and ninth in the world, in terms of prison population with approximately 160, 000 inmates. Of this, about 30% constitute awaiting-trial detainees. Every month about 23,000 inmates exit correctional centres, and 25,000 new inmates are admitted. It costs the taxpayer approximately R8,000 per month for each inmate.
In addition to the 160,000 inmates serving sentences inside a correctional centre, there are presently 64,959 offenders, serving sentences outside correctional centres, who live in their respective communities. Of the 64,959 offenders, 48,323 are on parole, 14,917 are probationers (convicted offenders serving non-custodial sentences) and 1,719 are awaiting-trial detainees. DCS, together with the SAPS and the Department of Justice, form the main pillars of the criminal justice system.
DCS is at the end of the value chain of the criminal justice system. It has the responsibility to ensure the safe custody of the country’s offender population, and also try and correct their offending behavior so that they can live normal, and meaningful, lives after their release back into communities. The core functions of DCS is to enhance public safety, and effective criminal justice, through effective management of remand detention; reduce re-offending through offender management and rehabilitation; and social reintegration through management of non-custodial sentences and parole.
The Vision, Mission and Core Values of DCS have been refined, and aligned to the core outcomes of the Department. Our new vision is: Providing the best Correctional Services for a safer South Africa. Our mission is: Contributing to a just, peaceful and safer South Africa through effective and humane incarceration of inmates, rehabilitation and social reintegration of offenders. Our values include: Security, Development, Integrity, Effectiveness, Accountability, Equity and Justice and Ubuntu.
The vast bulk of our inmates are young Black men. We have approximately 53,000 youth in our remand detention facilities and correctional centres, and a large number of inmates who, while not under 25, are still in the prime of their life. Children, as young as 17 years of age, have committed serious crimes. Our average inmate comes to us as a young substance abuser who has dropped out of school before high school, is functionally illiterate and, more often than not, homeless.
We have witnessed an increase in the number of women serving life sentences, as a result of killing their partners. What is even more disturbing is that some of these women are serving time together with their daughters, who assisted them in committing these murders after they themselves were direct, or indirect, victims of abuse by their fathers.
In order for rehabilitation to work, these women must be assisted to deal with the trauma caused by years of physical and emotional abuse. Another category we are dealing with is that of women in incarceration, after being caught in violent conflict with other women, due to competition for affection from their male partners. Again, in these instances, women need support to gain their own self-esteem as part of the process to correct their offending behaviour.
One of our greatest concerns has been the issue of women who are pregnant at the time of their incarceration, and those mothers with babies younger than two years who do not have any family member to whose care the child can be entrusted. DCS is mandated by law to manage, and maintain, a system of parole applicable to sentenced offenders.
The progressive parole system in South Africa today allows for independent decision-making through the participation of various role-players, including victims, communities, the South African Police and the Department of Justice. In respect of inmates sentenced to imprisonment for two years and less, recommendations for parole placement are submitted by the Case Management Committee (CMC) to the Head of a Correctional Centre for decision.
With regards to inmates serving a determinate sentence exceeding 24 months imprisonment, the Correctional Services and Parole Board (CSPB), after having considered a profile report, is responsible for the approval of parole placement. The parole policy provides for credible members of communities to chair the CSPBs, which have been allocated decision-making authority. In the case of lifers, the National Council on Correctional Services (NCCS), chaired by Judge Siraj Desai, deputy chairs Judge Lacock and Judge Ledwaba, and comprising other professionals including magistrates, attorneys, clinical psychologists, social workers, medical doctors, professors and officials, reviews parole applications, considers recommendations from the CMC and CSPB for recommendation to the Minister.
Provision is also made for the Minister to establish a Medical Parole Advisory Board, which currently consists of 11 medical practitioners registered as such under the Health Professions Act (Act No.56 of 1974), in order to provide an independent medical report to the National Commissioner, CSPB or the Minister as the case may be. What I have just outlined is the profile, and calibre, of the various individuals, and professional bodies, that the Correctional Official must deal with. We declared 2013 as “The Year of the Correctional Official”.
As government, we want to raise the status, and profile, of the Correctional Official. Being a Correctional Official is an honourable, and most noble, profession. Correctional Officials have a serious responsibility to society, and the next generation. When society breaks down, Correctional Services picks up the pieces and deals with the entirety of the human experience. However, Correctional Officials themselves must first, through their own conduct, earn respect in order to give this profession the respect that it deserves. For many years, inmates were subjected to dehumanising, and brutal, prison conditions. Correctional Officials had been, for a long time, referred to as guards and warders, to reflect the security, and punitive approaches, used in prisons.
The role of a guard/warder was clearly defined: maintaining security and internal order. Indeed, the term “guard” suggests only a custodial identity and function. The change of the title to “Correctional Official” reflects the introduction of the rehabilitative philosophy to the field of corrections. Therefore, the balance between maintaining internal security and order, as well as rehabilitation, is paramount. Unlawful attacks by officials on inmates, as well as riots instigated by inmates in correctional centres and attacks on officials will not be tolerated.
As stated in the Freedom Charter, imprisonment shall be only for serious crimes against the people, and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance. Correctional Officials are expected to deter recurrence of criminal behaviour by transforming inmates, and managing rehabilitation programmes. Correctional Officials are ideally placed to rehabilitate, and influence, inmates positively, mainly due to their frequent interaction. To have the opportunity to interact with inmates, and solve their problems, can be a major satisfaction in this profession.
Inmates can copy a lot from Correctional Officials, which can enhance behaviour change. Correctional Officials are absolutely necessary, and indispensable, in rehabilitating inmates. Some do it poorly, and end up worse than an offender. A Correctional Official may, therefore, be a beast or a saviour. Correctional Centres are not for holidays, where inmates just eat and sleep. As DCS, we must impact the hearts, heads and hands of offenders. Inmates must leave our correctional centres with at least a certificate in one hand, and a skill in the other. Arts, culture, heritage and sport must be effectively used for bringing about a lasting positive change in the lives of offenders.
Offenders must be geared towards making a meaningful contribution towards the democratisation of society. This can be achieved, as is clearly evident by the fact that inmates who were incarcerated on Robben Island were the mid-wives of our democratic society. Other recent examples include Riku Nortje (37 years), Correctional Services 2011 top university student who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996, who was released on parole earlier this year (on 10 January 2013) after serving 16 years of his life sentence at the Leeuwkop Correctional Centre.
Nortje started serving his sentence at the age of 21, and only had Grade 10. Upon his release, he had 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 distinction in 2009. In the 2012 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, our inmates achieved a 79,25% pass rate compared to 68,06% in 2011.
We are working towards turning our prisons into learning centres, and we want offenders to read, study and work. Similarly, in the case of Correctional Officials, education, life-long learning and reading, will ensure that you cultivate a positive attitude towards rehabilitation. Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. Everyone can change. Correctional Officials must step in where the church, mosque, temple, school, psychologists and psychiatrists have failed. 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. Nevertheless, it is the Correctional Official who prepares inmates for successful rehabilitation, re-entry and reintegration. Therefore, we will do everything possible to improve the working conditions of Correctional Officials and ensure opportunities for further training and development. We expect you to also play your part.
Since my appointment as Minister of Correctional Services on 12 June 2012, we have on various occasions emphasised to DCS management that we must resolve issues which negatively affect employer-employee relationships. We are deeply aware that for us, as DCS, to truly fulfil our mandate requires motivated staff members, who live and embody our vision, mission and values with passion and commitment. At our meeting with organised labour on 11 February, we re-iterated our commitment towards uplifting Correctional Officials’ morale, skills, working conditions, and resolving outstanding labour disputes.
We have asked for a collective realisation that we are duty-bound to officials in DCS to find long-lasting solutions, which will give meaning to our clarion call that this is the Year of the Correctional Official. This clarion call must heighten our collective sense of obligation to our Correctional Officials. The outcome of our engagement with organised labour resulted in the formation of a task team, headed by Mr. Teboho Mokoena: CDC Human Resource and consisting of four members of POPCRU and the PSA respectively as well as four members from DCS.
The task team’s mandate is to resolve the most pressing, and long outstanding, labour issues. In line with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, DCS must be characterised by:
- a high standard of professional ethics;
- services that are rendered impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias;
- efficient, effective utilisation of resources;
- a responsive climate focused on people's needs; and
- a participative customer based, and an accountable, transparent and development-oriented administration.
One of the major barriers to service delivery improvement is fraud and corruption. This is a scourge that all of us must fight with vigour, for the betterment of the lives of our people. We urge all stakeholders in DCS to unanimously declare war on corruption. The adoption of the National Development Plan (NDP) by government, as the vision for the country, encourages us to intensify our efforts in pursuit of public safety.
To this end, the department hosted a colloquium on overcrowding, alternative sentencing and the white paper on remand detention on 19 and 20 November 2012, which was attended by all relevant stakeholders including representatives from the judiciary. After the promulgation of the Correctional Matters Amendment Act, the department has put in place a plan to operationalise the implementation of the new Act. The department has now established a fully-fledged Branch for Remand Detention.
The department is currently implementing a pilot project for electronic monitoring of certain categories of inmates placed on parole, which started on 14 February 2012. It is our view that the pilot has been a resounding success, and that it is time to extend electronic monitoring to other categories of offenders, including offenders still serving custodial sentences in our centres.
This year (2013), the Victim-Offender Dialogues (VODs) will be one of our flagship programmes. On 30 January, we welcomed victims of the 1996 Worcester bombing, in Tshwane who arrived by train from Worcester, to meet the youngest bomber, Stefaans Coetzee, on 31st January at the Pretoria Central Correctional Centre. Civil society must play a greater role in the re-integration of offenders. Through the VODs, Parole Boards and other structures, we are working hard towards democratisation and creating more opportunities for people to join the fight against crime and build a new society.
DCS must reinforce corrections programmes through music, reading for redemption, creative literature, the arts, cultural events, heritage renewal events, sporting events, formal education and acquisition of skills, economic renewal through cooperatives and enterprise development, spiritual growth and self-correcting interventions, among others.
Section 35(2)(e) of the Constitution states: Everyone who is detained, including every sentenced prisoner, has the right to conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity, including at least exercise and the provision, at state expense, of adequate accommodation, nutrition, reading material and medical treatment. From the new financial year (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 (AET) level 1 to 4. Our agreement with the Department of Basic Education to utilise offender labour to construct, and maintain schools, is being concluded. The establishment of the DCS trading entity is also being finalised.
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.
DCS must remain fully committed to a caring and just society, enjoining all of us to afford those who err against society the opportunity to correct their ways under humane conditions. We must go all out to rehabilitate those seeking opportunities for change in their lives. We must be passionate about galvanising understanding for our transformative agenda from prisons to corrections, and preparing offenders to be reintegrated as functional members of society. The contribution of Correctional Services to a peaceful, secure and democratic society is, in my view, very much under-valued. We have an enormous responsibility to educate the public on the importance of rehabilitation in creating the South Africa we envisage – safe for all people, in particular women and children.
In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, I challenge you to create an organisational culture in DCS that cares. A culture that encourages, recognises, supports and rewards service excellence. I challenge you to develop the leadership skills necessary to create a compelling vision for all to subscribe to and emulate. I challenge you to seek and find the joy, and happiness, that comes with dedicated service to humanity. I challenge you to strive for excellence with pride, and humility, as enshrined in the Batho Pele programme.
Finally, we want to congratulate, as well as challenge, the achievers present at this gathering to sustain service excellence. Forward ever, backward never. There is definitely no room for backtracking, in the same way that there is no room for complacency. Sometimes even when you are on the right track, you will be run over if you just sit there and you do not move forward. You have to perpetually belong to the Achievers' League, but also keep lifting your standards even higher than before. Let us live and strive for excellence in DCS. Let’s go all out, and work, to ensure that the people of South Africa are, and feel, safe.
Working together, we can do more!
Thank you.
