Programme director
Inspecting Judge of Correctional Services, Judge Van Zyl
Free State MEC for Police, Roads and Transport, Mr Manyoni
Speaker of the Motheo District Municipality, Councillor Erasmus
General of South African National Defence Force (SANDF), General Moadira
Regional Commissioner, Mr Modise
Acting Area Commissioner, Ms Kgaile
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)
Department of Correctional Services (DCS) stakeholders, colleagues and offenders
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a pleasure to join you here in Grootvlei on the fifth day of the Corrections Week. This is the fourth year of the Corrections Week campaign which was launched in September 2006. The intention was to create a public space to reflect on the past activities, status of the department and its strategic plan; and to confront identified challenges. This year our focus is on the following priority areas:
* Youth development
* Offender labour
* Promotion of visits to offenders
* Parole system and restorative justice
* Supporting the Judicial Inspectorate in promoting the human rights of offenders
* Interfaith services in support of corrections.
The theme of the 2009 Corrections Week is, “Together doing more to break the cycle of crime”. From the enthusiasm I have seen since Monday, I am tempted to say the fight against crime is winnable. It has been very heartening to realise that many South Africans have embraced the call made by our President, Jacob Zuma, on this vexed matter of crime. During the budget vote in June this year, President Zuma reiterated the commitment that "working together with all South Africans we would intensify the fight against crime and corruption".
The visit to our correctional centres has been very encouraging. We started in Modimolle where offenders demonstrated a caring attitude through their outreach programme which provides food to vulnerable children.
In Losperfontein, we observed elated young offenders as they were ‘serenaded’ by popular kwaito musicians during the launch of the Basha Arts Programme. Basha Arts aims to use creative arts as a rehabilitation vehicle. In Leeuwkop, we witnessed a moving programme targeted at young learners, aimed at preventing new offences. There offenders, some serving life, gave the learners a shock treatment sending the message that 'crime does not pay'.
Accordingly, it is befitting that today, on day five of Corrections Week, we should focus on a fundamental value enshrined in our Constitution, that is, respect for human rights. We are fortunate to have the Honourable Judge Van Zyl with us as we look at human dignity and the importance of creating humane conditions for our offenders. Because of the role the Judge's office is playing, we have received several requests from offenders asking us to look at our parole system, amnesty, accommodation, nutrition and other matters.
The Judicial Inspectorate, which is an independent body, was established to ensure that the rights of offenders are respected, and that offenders are given a voice on issues of rights. We have recently interacted with Judge Van Zyl in Cape Town, in August 2009 to look at how best we can assist his office to discharge its mandate efficiently, and without hindrance. It was a fruitful discussion in which we agreed to improve our communication channels while ensuring that the independence of the Judicial Inspectorate is maintained and promoted.
We are indebted to you Judge Van Zyl, and your team, for doing more to ensure that the rights-based culture and the protection of offender rights are entrenched in our correctional system. The Judicial Inspectorate plays a crucial role in monitoring and evaluating the implementation of human rights laws in our centres. We should not lose sight of the fact that to this day violations of rights are still continuing. It is this that makes the work of the Judicial Inspectorate so vital to our plans.
Fundamental problems we face today have a history and must be understood within their correct context. It is common knowledge that in the past South Africa had one of the most brutal systems that showed total disrespect for human rights. For these reasons, the South African state was declared a ‘crime against humanity’ by the international community.
As you know, under apartheid rule, the correctional system played a central role in the gross violation of people’s rights. It follows that correctional centres then called "prisons" and literally treated as such, were characterised by harsh conditions and the most dehumanising physical forms of punishment. Rules were administered with no regard to fairness and justice. Focus was on physical security and control. In that set-up, offenders were not only incarcerated but they had no rights. Nobody had access to correctional centres and to the living conditions of offenders. Actually, it’s a first for South Africa that we interact with offenders the way we are doing.
We can be proud to say with the advent of democracy, we now have a Constitution whose Bill of Rights guarantees the rights of all South Africans, including offenders. Many have questioned our approach to corrections vis-à-vis victims’ rights. We have to make it known that our Bill of Rights provides for conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity. Examples in this regard include adequate accommodation, nutrition, medical treatment and visits by family members.
Through our development and care, offender labour programmes, where offenders give back to society, we aim at finding a balance between victims’ right to reparations and offenders' right to care under humane conditions.
Similarly, the White Paper on Corrections advocates for a correctional system underpinned by a human rights culture. We have taken our cue from the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners and the Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice. These instruments provide guidelines for observing human rights, individual rights of offenders and the rights of victims.
The Correctional Services Act of 1998 expresses the purpose of the correctional system, as being:
* to contribute to maintaining and protecting a just, peaceful and safe society
* enforcing the sentences of the court
* detaining all offenders in safe custody while ensuring their human dignity
* promotion of social responsibility
* promotion of human development.
We believe punishment of offenders ends when the sentence is pronounced. Therefore, we can only say that we have succeeded to shift our emphasis as a department from punitive methods of punishment to more humane approaches to rehabilitation when offenders begin to be treated as members of society who have at some point in their lives lost control and came to be at loggerheads with their families and communities. It is very important to create an enabling environment where correctional officials adhere to a higher ethical standard. The attitude and professionalism should contribute to the nurturing of the new environment that we want, that is consistent with our democratic principles and ethos.
We will be failing in our duty if we do not emphasise the important role you are expected to play. As correctional officials, you have the most interaction with offenders on a daily basis. You are the ones who spend a lot of time with them. You are therefore better placed to leave a lasting impression on their minds. This could be the reason why in one play of Mbongeni Ngema a correctional official says playfully in one comic song, "mina nawe s’boshwa, sofela la".
I thank you for the good work you are doing. Your steady commitment and dedication support the ethos of Batho Pele. Treating offenders with respect will create a desire in them to change; to start making the right decisions in their lives. It remains important to realise that a good enough feeling influences a person’s behaviour in a particular way, first about himself or herself.
I call upon all our colleagues to support the work of the Judicial Inspectorate by ensuring that:
* inspectors and independent visitors have access to our facilities and to offenders
* corrective measures are immediately put in place after receiving relevant reports
* correctional centres work closely with other human rights-based formations to educate both offenders and personnel about human rights
* you all become ambassadors of the values enshrined in our Constitution.
Let us all be guided by Utata Madiba’s wise words when he said, “to deny any person their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.”
I thank you.
Enquiries:
David hlabane
Cell: 082 052 3499
Issued by: Department of Correctional Services
25 September 2009
