Address by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Mr Ronald Ozzy Lamola, Mp, on the occasion of the Department of Correctional Services Budget Vote National Assembly, Cape Town
Honourable House Chairperson;
Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Nkosi Phathekile Holomisa;
Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, John Jeffery;
Ministers and Deputy Ministers from sister Departments;
Honourable Members of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services;
Honourable Members; Acting National Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services, Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale; Inspecting Judge, Justice Edwin Cameron;
Members of the National Council for Correctional Services;
Members of the Parole Boards;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
We want to start by quoting our esteemed stalwart, Charlotte Maxeke when she said: “This work is not for yourselves. Kill that spirit of self and do not live above your people but live with them and if you can rise, bring someone with you”. Close quote. As honourable members would know, Mama Maxeke was also the first woman in South Africa to be appointed as a Probation Officer. History records that she was frequently seen in the courts in Benoni and Boksburg where she appeared on behalf of youth who committed various crimes seeking alternative sentences to incarceration. As we present the budget vote for the Department of Correctional Services, I can think of no better call to action to our officials across the board, from the administrative capital in Pretoria to our most remote centre in Malmesbury.
In the work you do, seek no personal glory as this work is not for yourselves, but rather for all South Africans so that together, we can create a safer South Africa. We want to bring together reformed parolees, victims of crime, rehabilitated ex-offenders, civil society, and South Africans from all walks of life and make South Africa rise in line with a vision by progressive leaders like Mama Maxeke.
We present before this August house a budget amounting to (twenty six point 1 billion rands) 26,1 billion rands for the 2022/23 financial year allocated as follows, (fifteen point two billion rands)15.2 billion rands for Incarceration, (four point six billion rands) 4.6 billion rands for Administration, (two point six billion rands ) 2.6 billion rands for Care, (two point three billion rands) 2.3 billion rands for Rehabilitation, and lastly, (one point two billion rands) 1.2 billion rands for Social Reintegration. Government resources are constrained, the Department of Correctional Services has adopted an innovative way to save costs and efficiently use the allocated resources.
One of the programmes we are using to cut costs in the department is the Self Sufficiency Strategic Framework with a restorative justice element. So far, self-sufficiency has set the department on the right course to save taxpayers money and position the department of correctional services to have a restorative justice impact in communities. Together with Deputy Minister Holomisa, we took a policy decision affirming that Correctional Services has to find means to self-sustain itself. The department has farms, land, dairies, bakeries, workshops and many other amenities which position us to survive without having to rely on government funding.
I am happy to inform this August house that vegetables costs have also been significantly reduced in the department. Eight Management Areas out of 48, are no longer buying cabbage, spinach, beetroot and onions, they produce enough supply for inmate rations. We will increase the number of Management Areas in the current financial year. Five Management Areas, namely, Goedemoed (Free State), Kirkwood (Eastern Cape), Rooigrond (North West), Waterval (Kwa-Zulu Natal) and Zonderwater (Gauteng), are now fully sustainable on Red Meat, while Drakenstein (Western Cape) and Zonderwater are also no longer procuring chicken meat. The estimated cost savings as a result of implementing Self Sufficiency initiatives in the department amount to (one hundred and sixty-three million rands) 163 million rands. During this financial year, we will heighten production in our livestock and plant production farms and textile workshops. We have invested in new machinery that will assist in the mass production of uniform for both inmates and officials. We are currently training inmates and officials to run production lines with our new machines.
The target is simple, skill inmates with functional skills and increase our production capacity. House Chairperson, transferring skills to inmates remains an important programme of the department. We want inmates, upon their release, to re-enter their communities with marketable skills and become productive citizens.
Honourable Members
The few incidents of parolees who re-offended in our communities has really caused untold damage to the image of correctional services, I am happy to see that the trial on the murder of Tzane van Wyk has commenced. I am convinced that justice will prevail, and I hope that this trial will send a clear message to other parolees that reoffending does not pay. I also would like to highlight the good work of some of the rehabilitated offenders like parolee Andrew Moleko from Marikana, North-West. He learned entrepreneurial skills whilst incarcerated. He currently runs a successful construction company that employs a lot of parolees. He is one of our many parolees who are good ambassadors of rehabilitation programmes of the department.
We commend the companies which gave him opportunities and reiterate that a criminal record does not render someone completely unemployable. With limited human capital, our officials are doing extraordinary work under difficult circumstances. We appeal to communities not to deny parolees opportunities. We have seen with parolees like Moleko that access to opportunities contributes towards their rehabilitation. During the 2021/22 financial year, 90% of sentenced offenders with correctional sentence plans completed correctional programmes. With regard to offender development, offenders participate in Long Occupation Skills Programmes, Short Occupational Skills Programmes, TVET College Programmes, General Education and Training (GET), Further Education and Training (FET) and the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate. Offenders also receive Psychological, Social and Spiritual Services. House Chairperson, the voted allocation for offender development is supplemented through the National Skills Fund allocations.
The current agreement of (eighty seven point two million rands) R 87.2 million for the training of (five thousand four hundred and eighty) 5 480 offenders has been extended from 31 March 2022 to 31 March 2023. This funding ensures that more offenders are provided needs-based skills development opportunities as part of their rehabilitation. The accreditation of Offender Training Facilities and Workplaces has been enhanced. The Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (merSETA) assisted in formalising the National Skills Development Management System, thus resulting in correctional facilities including Boksburg, Kgosi Mampuru II, Drakenstein and Bizzah Makhathe being approved to provide accredited programmes.
We are also working with the Services SETA in accrediting female hairdressing sites/salons at Durban, Bizzah Makhathe, Pollsmoor and Worcester correctional centres. Much work has been done in terms of addressing the identified gaps and we are confident that we will meet all accreditation requirements. It is our resolve that all training programmes offered in our correctional centres are accredited and meet the set industry standards. Formal education has been doing extremely well over the years. Our matriculants continue to surpass the national pass rate. It gives me great pleasure to announce that we have registered a new school in the KwaZulu-Natal Region, named Sicebengolwazi, which when translated, means ‘armed with knowledge’. This school is already operational, offering Grades 10 to 12 subjects.
The National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA) is another institution that we have formalised a working partnership with, under the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies. This partnership will be piloting Microsoft Digital Literacy Programmes to offenders. These partnerships are also explored with the business sector and NGOs as we enhance relations and collaboration for the purposes of empowering offenders with skills for employability, job preparedness and to create job opportunities.
The Department will also be extending correctional programmes this financial year to Remand Detainees. We have developed structured programmes to assist Remand Detainees to develop general life skills which they could apply during detention and upon their release to prevent future offending behaviour. The programmes will focus on several areas such as emotional health and wellbeing, problem solving, emotional intelligence, substance abuse, conflict resolution, domestic violence, and restoration of relations. We are also encouraged that National Treasury has approved 100% retention of revenue we generate through self-sufficiency. This is a major boost to the programme as we will reinvest resources towards its growth.
The department has commercialised its arts and crafts products to enhance and self-sustain some of its programmes. Various in-house projects with the use of inmate labour are currently underway to refurbish other amenities such as kitchens, recreational facilities, and office accommodation. Not everything in state needs to be outsourced, the state must be a pioneer in some markets industries. What is now evident is that there is more ground that we can cover through our in-house built programme. We are now repairing tower posts to augment our security infrastructure. Tower posts offer several advantages to our security enterprise. An elevated or aerial view provides a bigger spectrum where one official can effectively conduct monitoring. Every movement is also noticeable from an aerial position. As a result, disturbances, be it outside cells or on the inside, can be spotted in real time. The in-house built programme will also be covering the construction of Community Corrections offices.
The Mpumalanga Department of Education has reached out to the Department of Correctional Services on its Rhandza Xi Kolo Xa Wena Campaign, that seeks to mobilize communities to always own and safeguard their schools. It further encompasses repairing damaged school property. Deputy Minister Holomisa was on Tuesday in Mpumalanga where the two departments signed a Service Level Agreement for us to refurbish school furniture for the Mpumalanga department of education through utilization of offender labour. We have a similar agreement with the Gauteng Department of Education. This is born out of the type of work that Correctional Services has been doing over years, refurbishing damaged public infrastructure. Some of the schools in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Eastern Cape have had their infrastructure restored by Correctional Services. Fixing ceilings, painting walls, rendering basic maintenance work and cleaning is in the package that DCS makes available through offender labour.
The Departmental production workshops continue to manufacture and supply furniture for various client Departments. Among them are the Departments of Justice and Constitutional Development and Housing, Water and Sanitation. It is with a great sense of joy to announce that the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure will be placing orders for furniture with Correctional Services production workshops. An increase in the orders placed means that we get our production workshops to be more productive, as inmates cannot sit idle in their cells. More inmates will be at work. More inmates will be meaningfully occupied.
Honourable Members, overcrowding in our facilities continues to be a perennial challenge that requires holistic attention in terms of crime deterrence by our communities. For as a long as people continue to commit crime, we are thus left vulnerable to possible overcrowding in correctional centres. Although there has been a reduction in the inmate population over the years, the correctional system remains under pressure. Over a period of five years, from 2015/16 to 2020/21, we have recorded a reduction of 12.99%. In real figures, we moved from 161 984 to 140 948. Sadly, there are spikes that we often encounter.
What cannot be avoided is the fact that overcrowding is brought by external factors to Correctional Services. In terms of capital projects, it is worth mentioning the construction of additional bed space at Parys has achieved 85% completion and is scheduled to be finalised during the 2023/2024 financial year. This upgrade project will provide an additional 176 bed spaces. The upgrade and refurbishment of the Emthonjeni Youth Centre will regain a total of 640 bed spaces and transform the centre into a state-of-the-art Integrated Security Systems facility. This project is scheduled for completion during the 2022/23 financial year. Another milestone is the refurbishment of the Umzimkulu correctional centre which was finalised during the 2021/22 financial year. The facility will be operationalized during the current financial year.
Work is also continuing when it comes to the welfare of our officials. The Waterval Management Area was struck by a Tornado in 2019, leaving serious destruction to the centre and the residential area of our officials. As a result, the officials whose houses were damaged became displaced and had to be relocated elsewhere on the terrain. We are pleased to announce that the refurbishment of 42 staff houses will be finalised during the month of June 2022. Honourable members, allow me to provide an update on the matter involving the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) following a Constitutional Court judgement handed down on 4 December 2020.
The Department of Correctional Services and JICS have been working on the implementation of the judgment and the creation of a JICS Bill to ultimately replace sections 88A(1)(b), 88A(4) and 91 of the Correctional Services Act, 111 of 1998 as confirmed by the Constitutional Court to be constitutionally invalid. We remain hopeful that a solution will be found on the impasse to ensure we comply with the judgement. It is now common knowledge that the Department of Correctional Services, like many other departments, suffered budget cuts. The Compensation of Employees (CoE) budget cuts amount to R11 billion over the MTEF period ending 2024/2025.
Honourable Members, one of the challenges that the department is faced with is the reality that the demand for services will not stop or decline just because there is a budget cut. Instead, service delivery expectations will continue to grow irrespective of whether resources are commensurate with such demands. Therefore, this challenge calls for a change in a manner that the Department delivers its services. To this end, Correctional Services has begun a process of reconfiguring head office such that some resources will be released to augment the dire human resource needs at key strategic areas. This will inevitably have an effect on how services are delivered at head office.
For the Department to be persistent and purposeful in ensuring that service delivery is not compromised by a shrinking human capital, the situation requires a different posture. It requires, amongst others, a change in operations and culture, starting from top management to the correctional centre floor level. Honourable Speaker, I am pleased to announce that the Department of Correctional Services will be embarking on a recruitment drive for learners.
We are looking at over 3000 opportunities which will diversify the skills set that we intend attracting in our workforce. We continue to encourage the youth of this country to consider corrections as a career of choice. We pride ourselves in being one of the niche institutions where almost all disciplines are accommodated. We will also finalize the appointment of the National Commissioner in due course. On the international front, the department has committed to exchange programmes and benchmarking visits in the areas of mutual interest which include, staff training and development, security, rehabilitation, reintegration, and parole administration.
We also participated in two Southern African Development Community Bi-National commissions hosted by President Ramaphosa. Botswana has finalised legislation on the transfer of sentenced offenders, and we are currently engaging with relevant stakeholders to ensure that this is done in a correct constitutional approach.
Esteemed guests and honourable members, a new cause and a new vision are being pioneered behind bars. With what we have achieved thus far, it does demonstrate a prosperous journey ahead. We appeal to South Africans to partner with us, Corrections is a societal responsibility, on our own, we can’t carry the entire load of transforming law breakers. Let us work together to create a safer and prosperous South Africa. With that, I table the budget of the Department of Correctional Services to this August house.
I thank you.
