Programme Director,
National Commissioner: Mr. Thomas Moyane,
Chief Operating Officer: Ms. Nontsikelelo Jolingana,
Chief Deputy Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners,
Other members of the Correctional Services family,
Members of the media,
Distinguished guests.
As part of government’s efforts, aimed at consolidating the restoration of identity, citizenship and dignity, government introduced the SMART ID Card on the 18th of July 2013. The SMART ID Card intensifies pride, and confidence, amongst South Africans.
I am, therefore, delighted that, during Women’s Month, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is registering a milestone achievement with the official launch of new staff Identification (ID) Cards.
This project, which we are launching at Head Office today, is a culmination of many months of hard work, and planning, by DCS officials under the leadership of the National Commissioner, the Chief Operations Officer and officials from Security Standards and Human Resources. I also wish to convey our gratitude to the State Security Agency, and Government Printing Works, for their insightful guidance on this journey.
Programme Director, I am also contented that this major accomplishment occurs this year which we have appropriately declared “The Year of the Correctional Official”. As South Africa marks a break with identity documents that were prone to identity theft, DCS has also taken the first crucial step in issuing secure identification to our staff - which is not susceptible to identity fraud.
We must all work hard to ensure that this project succeeds, and that we embrace these ID cards with the honour, and pride, that our Correctional Services profession deserves. These cards should resonate with the DCS core values, and should speak to our collective identity as a department which takes seriously its work, and legal mandate, of public safety, restorative justice and offender rehabilitation.
Ladies and gentlemen, Corrections is a strict, multi-faceted profession. As we issue these cards today, we should bear in mind the department’s core business: rehabilitation through correction and human development in secure, safe and humane detention or under community-based correctional supervision.
DCS is an integral part of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster. The White Paper on Corrections reminds us that “Security relates to the appreciation, through vigilance, of the need to ensure the safety of employees, offenders and the community.
Employees of the Department of Correctional Services are expected to always remember that their work has a major security component, and therefore reckless activities or disclosure of information that could subject a fellow employee, an offender or a member of the public to harm, must be avoided.”
To this end, we convey condolences to the family, and colleagues, of Mr. Tebogo Israel Ratsoma from Baviaanspoort Management Area, who was ambushed, and gunned down, on 19th August whilst retuning from work. We call upon the Police to leave no stone unturned in this investigation, and to ensure that the perpetrators face the consequences of their actions. May his soul rest in peace.
Programme Director, society correctly expects the department to secure it from those that our courts have found to have transgressed against its laws. Our responsibility is to enforce sentences handed down by the courts.
Further, our Constitution requires us to deliver on the correction, and development, of offenders. In other words, the rehabilitation of offenders and secure, safe and orderly custody are two sides of the same coin. The organisational culture envisaged by our post-1994 policies is certainly one devoid of militaristic practice.
The new ethos demands a socio-security orientation, which balances security and corrections. In other words, DCS can be interpreted as “a civilian structure with a strong social sector dimension, with a focus on tight security, on personnel discipline and on a civilian rank recognition as crucial factors in correctional management.”
For us, security refers to all those services, rendered by the department, aimed at ensuring the provision of safe, and healthy, conditions consistent with human dignity for all persons under our care, while providing protection for our personnel, security for the public as well as ensuring the safety of persons under our care. The balance between security, control and justice is the responsibility of all correctional officials and managers.
The implementation of the policy on ID Cards will certainly go a long way in minimising security breaches, especially at our Correctional Centres, because of the exceptional security features which are the DNA of these cards.
The cards, however, in and of themselves, will not guarantee security for anyone. It is the majority of our officials, who detest crime and corruption, who will ensure that, through these cards, the department continues to improve its profile in its core business of safe custody, and rehabilitation, of offenders.
Section 5 of the White Paper on Corrections also reminds us that correctional management is essentially about the management of human beings, both staff and offenders. The key to effective correctional management lies in the relationship between these two groups. Those who occupy managerial positions need to look beyond technical, and managerial, considerations. They should also be leaders capable of inspiring their staff, with a sense of responsibility and pride, in the way that they carry out their daily tasks.
Programme Director, this event today further marks the implementation of the White Paper on Corrections. Indeed, we are on a journey towards building an appealing, strong corporate identity for this dynamic organisation which society has entrusted with the responsibility for both public safety, and rehabilitation, of offenders.
The uniforms that the officials of the department wear, as well as the new ID cards we are issuing today, are identified in the policy as being at the centre of the new envisaged Correctional Official and our corporate identity.
Section 8(13) of the White Paper reads thus: It is important that the department has a clear approach to uniform, insignia, command and control, and the role of all members as “rehabilitators”. The department’s approach in this regard must map out a comprehensive identification package that will affect both officials and offenders in a manner that is supportive of the legal mandate of the department.
Central to this approach is a deliberate focus on the overall cultural identity of personnel as strategic agents of behavioural change of offenders, as well as the cultural identity of offenders as people who are expected to change from being offenders into responsible nation servers.
Ladies and gentlemen, we wish to acknowledge that hardworking correctional officials at our correctional facilities have, for some time now, been confronted with the potential challenge of security breaches presented by staff, especially senior full time and temporary officials, who are not obliged to wear uniform.
The implementation of this ID card policy will assist officials in properly identifying all staff at our centres, thus minimizing the risks of escapes as well as any other threats to personnel, and inmates, in our care.
Programme Director, the White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service states that “all organizations have a corporate culture, reflecting the attitudes to the way work is done and to the way the people within the organization are expected to behave”.
The same White Paper stresses further that “a corporate culture is important to ensure that all employees work together to achieve organizational goals”. For us, the organisational culture must be the summation of the personality of DCS. Every official must embody this culture.
This, therefore, requires that Human Resource Management at DCS works harder at inculcating our core values during the induction of new employees. All of us must continue to work harder at defining the ideal Correctional Official, as well as the human rights, and security, context of her or his profession. It means we should, at all times, be dedicated to our work, and serve the public with excellence.
Last Wednesday (21 August), a DCS official, who was employed at our Legal Services Directorate, was sentenced to five years imprisonment after he was dismissed for fraud amounting to more than R1,8 million (R1,823,393.10). Another official is still to stand trial in the same case. This matter has now been handed over to the Asset Forfeiture Unit for recovery.
Last Sunday (25 August), an official was arrested at Baviaanspoort for allegedly trying to smuggle dagga into the centre. We will not tolerate crime, and corruption, by officials of the department because our behaviour has a direct influence on the lives of offenders.
Programme Director, during this Year of the Correctional Official, may we all re-dedicate ourselves to serve our country unselfishly by fully participating in the correctional programmes of our department.
May our roles, responsibilities and functions in society resonate with one word – Excellence. May these new cards, that we will be receiving today, also symbolise new vows in our united fight against crime, and our renewed efforts at the rehabilitation of offenders and their successful reintegration into society.
To the thousands of Correctional Officials across the breadth and length of our country, we care deeply about you and we appreciate your individual, and collective, efforts in the reconstruction, and development, of our country. With the launch of this ID card project at Head Office today, we re-iterate that Corrections is a vital, honourable and noble career to be followed by those who do not give up on their fellow human beings.
Fellow compatriots, our country needs all of us. Let us continue in the fight against drugs, gangsterism and the abuse of women, children and the elderly. In everything we do, let us remember that we are servants of the people. May this Department be a beacon of hope, and a shining example of a lived experience of the principles of Batho Pele.
Thank you!
