Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning.
Thank you for honouring our invite to this media briefing that serves as a curtain raiser to the delivery of the budget vote speech of Correctional Services. We are encouraged by the President’s decision to integrate the two Ministries of Justice and Correctional Services. This decision is set to mark a new beginning in the efforts of this government to build a “just, fair, prosperous and equitable” society that everyone can proudly call home as envisaged in the National Development Plan (NDP).
The Department of Correctional Services contributes to the achievement of a safe country through implementation of a number of programmes, and the following are key issues for service delivery:
The resolve of the South African government to fight crime through, among others, the introduction of minimum sentence legislation and the broadening of the sentencing jurisdiction to cover lower courts, resulted in an exponential increase of inmate population between 1995 and 2004 from 116 846 to 187 036. This worsened the country’s international profile in respect of incarceration rate registering 403 inmates per 100 000 population.
To address overcrowding, a multi-pronged overcrowding management strategy was adopted, including the strengthening of diversion programmes, alternative sentencing, building of additional bed spaces, better management of the parole system and promotion of successful social re-integration and reduction of re-offending.
These bore good results as we reduced the inmate population by 31 000 from 187 036 in 2004 to 157 170 by the end of March 2014, a reduction of 29 866 in ten years, which equals 16%.
Besides overcrowding we have noted that incidents of violence and gang related atrocities among offenders as well as the stabbings of officials continue to increase in some areas. We have set up a high level national task team to investigate these incidents, assess our security systems and make recommendations on the type, scale and scope of intervention to arrest and reverse them. The task team has begun its work in St Albans Correctional Centre in Nelson Mandela Bay - Eastern Cape, where we have witnessed continued incidents of violence.
I note with appreciation the good work of the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services under the leadership of Judge Vuka Tshabalala. We will endeavor to ensure that nothing inhibits their ability to provide the constitutionally guaranteed judicial oversight on Correctional Services going forward.
In March 2014 the Department of Correctional Services concluded a ground breaking policy framework on the management of remand detainees, with the passing of the White Paper on Remand Detention in South Africa. The policy seeks to close a gap left by the White Paper on Corrections passed in 2005 as well as the amendment made to the Correctional Services Act.
Through continued transformation of the country’s remand detention system, South Africa is now urging closer to the ideal international target of 25% of all inmates being remand detainees, Since the year 2 000, remand detainees have been reduced by 31.9% from 63 954 to 41 690 in June 2014, of which 5% (1922) has spent at least two years in custody.
The department has ensured access to effective primary health care while those in need of secondary and tertiary health care services are taken to public health care facilities. The fight against the scourge of HIV and AIDS as well as tuberculosis will be intensified. We will improve the percentage of inmates that tested for HIV from 68% of 157 170 inmates to 70% while the TB cure rate will be improved from 75% to 80%.
In November 2014 we expect to launch a video-conferencing system in all 53 Correctional Supervision and Parole Board (CSPB) offices in South Africa. This innovation is intended to help reduce the barriers of participation in the parole hearings like physical distance and language barriers to our efforts of centralising victims in the determination of offender parole hearings. Although phenomenal progress was made since 2009 in mobilising victims to participate in parole hearings of the CSPB, from just 108 to 1 125 cases per year, this still represents less than five percent of hearings that result in parole placements of offenders that roughly reaches 25 000. With this video conferencing capacity, built with funding from the Criminal Asset Recovery Account (CARA), victims can be informed to go to their nearest CSPB offices and be linked to the actual parole board hearings.
We will embark on an intensive campaign of promoting alternative sentences within the cluster, establish social compacts to strengthen social acceptance of ex-offenders, enhance restorative justice and tightening the supervision of parolees, probationers and remand detainees. Although there has been phenomenal improvement in compliance with conditions of probationers and parolees from 82% in 2012/13 to 94% in 2013/14, the department will invest more on building the credibility of the system among the criminal justice partners and communities.
The budget of the department for the 2014/15 is R19,721 billion, projected to increase over the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) to R20,795 billion in 2015/16 and to reach R22,081 billion in 2016/17 at an average growth of 5.6 per cent.
Amounts totaling R72,6 million in 2014/15; R72,8 million in 2015/16 and R77,9 million in 2016/17 have been re-prioritised within the 2014 MTEF baseline from non-core Goods and Services items for spending on the following policy priorities:
- Implementation of Victim-Offender Dialogues;
- Purchasing of Security Equipment;
- Replacement of dilapidated Workshop and Agricultural Machinery and Equipment; and
- Integrated Inmate Management System (IIMS)
The Department of Correctional Services in collaboration with Justice, Police and other players within the criminal justice system, is poised to take delivery of services to unprecedentedly higher levels. We have what it takes to realise the ambitious ideals outlines in the National Development Plan. The endeavors require everyone, from families, to communities, to the labour movements, to business, faith-based and non-governmental organisations to put all their hands on deck so that together we can move South Africa forward.
Thank you.
Enquiries:
Adv Mthunzi Mhaga
E-mail: Mediaenquiries@justice.gov.za
