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Date : 13/04/2005
Source: Ministry of Correctional Services
Title: Balfour: Correctional Services Dept Budget Vote 2005/2006


Budget Vote address in the National Assembly, by the Minister of Correctional Services, Ngconde Balfour, MP

Madam Speaker
Cabinet Colleagues
Honourable Members
Honoured Guests; Ladies and Gentlemen


When Christmas Fihla Tinto, affectionately known as Com T, was elected Volunteer in Chief of the Langa Branch of the ANC in 1955, he was not to know that he would be sentenced to two long terms of imprisonment during his years as a political activist. His task, 50 years ago, as Volunteer in Chief was to coordinate the collection of the demands of the people of Langa for inclusion in the Freedom Charter.

The Congress of the People held in Kliptown decided at the time to include a specific clause in the Freedom Charter dealing with equality before the law. The clause states that "imprisonment shall be only for serious crimes against the people, and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance."

The imprisonment of Com T was an act of vengeance because his political beliefs differed to that of his jailers. But, like thousands of others, his vision of the future was not diminished by his unjust imprisonment. It would take another 41 years before their vision would be realised in our Constitution of 1996, where it is clearly stated that "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."

Com T was not to gain from this while incarcerated but his work and that of thousands of other tireless volunteers in 1955 was the inspiration for our current Constitution and we can thus proudly celebrate the Freedom Charter as a founding document of our democracy.

During the dark years of incarceration of our leaders, prisons were dehumanising institutions. Former President Nelson Mandela described the challenge for every prisoner was how to survive prison intact, how to emerge from prison undiminished and how to conserve and even replenish one's beliefs. In sharing his experiences of years of imprisonment with us, our former President states: "Prison and the authorities conspire (d) to rob each man of his dignity...... the authorities attempt(ed) to exploit every weakness, demolish(ed) every initiative, negate (d) all signs of individuality - all with the idea of stamping out that spark that makes each of us human and each of us who we are."

Opening the Emthonjeni Youth Centre in 1998, the former President stated: "It is good to see that we have moved away from the culture of apartheid where prisoners were inhumanely treated. By denying the humanity that is in all of us, it robbed prisoners of their dignity. We have to create a culture that will motivate offenders to become law-abiding and productive citizens. They need to be reintegrated back into the community because we want them to contribute to the good of all. Of course, imprisonment is a punishment, and rightly so. Those who break the law must pay the price. But we should also use it as a starting point for development and a process of healing. Offenders are human beings too, they are our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters who have disappointed us. They have a right to a chance to unlock their potential to better themselves."

Madam Speaker

These are the words of someone who has suffered and toiled at the hands of inhumane imprisonment. As the African National Congress, we will ensure that such inhumanity is destined for the dustbins of the past. We will continue to facilitate new beginnings for all those offenders who want to amend their ways and seek to prepare themselves for their lives that lie ahead of them. In the public gallery, we have people who are working towards these new beginnings. Carmicael Philander, a sentenced offender at Malmesbury, at the age of 32 years, has completed the LLB degree and this will be conferred upon him next week by the University of South Africa. We have mothers with their young babies, all keen to return to their homes where they can restart their lives with their families.

These are the people that the ANC believes must not be rejected and ignored. By rejecting them, we will not solve the problem of crime. Instead, we will perpetuate criminality. In our strides to entrench democracy in our country, we need to be making greater efforts to assist those who are amongst society's most disadvantaged and vulnerable. As much as offenders have committed crimes, we cannot ignore the fact that they are amongst the marginalised in this country at whom state resources should be directed.

Within Correctional Services, we are on a winding road that will lead to government's realisation of our Programme of Action as presented by President Thabo Mbeki in the State of the Nation Address. As part of the JCPS Cluster, we will continue our efforts in contributing towards reducing levels of crime, improving the effectiveness of the criminal justice system and supporting programmes aimed at upholding national security. Our best chance of success is to be found in building a correctional service that truly cares for all.

In the drafting of the White Paper on Corrections in South Africa, we were mindful of the responsibility placed on us by both the Freedom Charter and the Constitution. When Cabinet adopted and approved the White Paper on 16 February 2005, it was a major milestone for the Department of Correctional Services. It placed us on an unambiguous path, away from a punitive penal system to a correctional system driven by the twin objectives of correction and development. There is no other way for us in South Africa. If we want to succeed in breaking the back of crime and criminality, we cannot be contributing to conditions in which such anti-social tendencies flourish. The White Paper embodies the department's long term strategic policy and operational framework that recognises correction as a societal responsibility and places rehabilitation at the centre of all the activities of Correctional Services.

While the White Paper is meant to guide the work of the department, it also sets objectives against which the department should be measured by the people of South Africa. In line with the Programme of Action of government, delivering services according to the principles of the White Paper continue to be the focal point of the department over the medium to long term. The White Paper will be implemented through a phased focus on 36 Centres of Excellence in this financial year. This will test within these identified correctional centres the practical options for implementing correction and development as two elements of rehabilitation in the context of a safe, secure and humane institution. I must however point out that the spirit of the White Paper is not confined to the 36 identified centres only. Every correctional centre in the country will have the responsibility to start implementing the objectives of the White Paper and I expect creative and innovative steps to be taken by management of all correctional centres to start giving expression to our ideals as outlined in this document.

Madam Speaker

While I will be referring in some depth to the detail of our budget allocation for the current financial year, it is significant to note within the additional amounts set out in the Budget, 250 million rand has been allocated over two years for the implementation of the White Paper.

As noted by both the Office of the Inspecting Judge and the Law Society of South Africa in its 2004 Prison Report, overcrowding remains one of the biggest challenges facing the department. The Law Society recommends a paradigm shift while the Inspecting Judge states that the only answer is to drastically reduce our prison population. The National Council for Correctional Services chaired by Judge Siraj Desai, at its inaugural meeting has committed itself to focusing on how to reduce overcrowding. In addition, the Judiciary under the guidance of Judges Bertelsmann and Boshielo will convene a conference in September to deliberate on the role of the Judiciary in reducing overcrowding in correctional centres.

On 31 January this year, the accommodation capacity of correctional centres stood at 113 825. In comparison, the total inmate population was 187 446 with 52 326 of this total being awaiting trial detainees and 135 120 being sentenced offenders. This amounts to roughly 4 out of every 1 000 South Africans being in prison while the international average of incarceration rates is 1, 5 per 1 000. Of course, we have to manage this situation in cooperation with our colleagues in the Integrated Justice System. We are involved in combined efforts with the Department of Social Development, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, SAPS and the NPA in the management of overcrowding. There is currently also a national inter-sectoral initiative to reduce the number of children awaiting trial in our correctional facilities.

The department is approaching overcrowding with a multi-pronged strategy that includes the following:

* Encouraging the improvement of the first and second levels of correction in the family and social institutions respectively
* Encouraging community involvement in social reintegration
* Improving the correction and development programmes within the department to ensure enhanced facilitation of rehabilitation
* Encouraging an approach to appropriate sentencing that is focused on facilitating rehabilitation
* Managing the levels of awaiting trial detainees through the IJS Case Management Task Team and the Inter-Sectoral Committee on Child Justice
* Managing the levels of sentenced inmates through improving the effective and appropriate use of conversion of sentences to community correctional supervision, release on parole and transfers between correctional centres
* Through the departmental capital works programme, upgrading existing facilities and building new correctional centres that are both cost effective and rehabilitation-oriented.

We are also involved in discussions with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the Department of Safety and Security concerning the locality of responsibility for accommodating awaiting trial detainees. In our combined efforts to alleviate overcrowding in relation to awaiting trialists, optimal use is made of relevant sections of the Criminal Procedure Act which make provision for amendments to bail conditions and the placement of certain categories of ATD's under the supervision of a correctional official. Similarly, relevant sections of the Criminal Procedure Act are also used for the placement of sentenced offenders under correctional supervision.

While it remains important for us to continue managing levels of overcrowding in terms of our constitutional obligations, the sustainable solution to overcrowding is to be found in how we correct offending behaviour and improve the correction and development of offenders. In this regard, we face a double-edged sword. For correction and development to be effective, we need more manageable numbers of inmates, while to achieve this, we must ensure that the rate of repeat offending is reduced.

As we advance the transformation of our correctional system, it is required of us to deliver focused quality services to all persons under our care and to create a secure working environment for our officials, ensuring that it is conducive to their role as rehabilitators. We also need to substantially improve our management of relations with accredited external stakeholders and oversight authorities.

As the responsible Minister, I have two distinct passions within Correctional Services; the first being my staff members and the second passion being the inmates placed under our care. During my term in office, I am prepared to go to any lengths within reason, to care for their respective needs. I am extremely proud of the vast majority of my correctional officials. They might be much maligned by sections of the public who show little appreciation for the nature of their work but they must know that the Minister appreciates the level of commitment that they display in their work. What a sight it was to watch Kanelo Matiea and Pumla Kwakhe, officials of Mount Fletcher and Mount Ayliff respectively, leading their choirs consisting of inmates in song at an Imbizo in Lusikisiki last week. The pride of both members and inmates was obviously evident. They, and many others like them, have joined Correctional Services not merely for a wage packet, but because they are committed to the calling of serving offenders in the noble profession of corrections.

The real value of correctional officials remains understated. Even while incarcerated by hostile warders who cared little about humane treatment of inmates, it was the great Nelson Mandela who described correctional officials as follows: "The most important persons in any prisoner's life is not the Minister of Justice, not the Commissioner of Prisons, not even the Head of Prison, but the warder in one's section."

He continued: "I always tried to be decent to the warders in my section; hostility was self-defeating. There was no point in having a permanent enemy among the warders. It was ANC policy to try to educate all people, even our enemies: we believed that all men, even prison service warders, were capable of change, and we did our utmost to try to sway them."

Madam Speaker

Nothing has changed since then for the ANC. While correctional officials are no longer enemies of the people, we still regard those at the coalface of our correctional institutions, the custodial officials, as being the key to bringing about life-changing attitudes amongst offenders. It is those correctional officials who are the silent and unacknowledged fighters of crime and criminality in our country. It is they who can facilitate a change in morality in the lives of inmates and it is they who can give substance to ANC policy of correction and development as the key to fighting the scourges of crime and poverty.

The budget allocation to the department for this financial year amounts to 9, 234 billion rand and provides for an establishment of 36 000 personnel and operational costs for a daily average offender population of 192 000 incarcerated persons and 76 000 community correctional supervision cases and parolees. Provision was also made in this allocation for the increased employer contribution to the Government Employees Pension Fund and the newly introduced housing allowance for personnel.

Expenditure on compensation of employees is expected to consume an average of 64 percent of the Vote. An amount of 553 million rand was made available in the budget for the contribution of the employer to the medical scheme of the department.

The total MTEF allocation for capital works' projects provides for the building of the first four new correctional centres which will be commissioned in this financial year and another four correctional centres in the 2006/07 financial year. It also makes provision for the funding of the two public-private partnership correctional centres as well as the maintenance and upgrading of correctional facilities.

These new generation correctional centres make provision for 3 000 inmates per centre and are more conducive to rehabilitation and are cost effective. The sites for the establishment of the first four new generation correctional centres have been handed over to consultants contracted by the Department of Public Works. Already, bulk earthworks have started at the Leeuwkop, Nigel and Kimberley sites and the Klerksdorp site will be put out to tender next month. It is envisaged that all main contractors would be on site by August this year. The completion of these correctional centres will provide additional space for 12 000 inmates and job opportunities for 2 300 new officials.

In order to protect society by means of preventing escapes and supervising offenders, expenditure increased under the Programme Security to 2, 7 billion rand in 2004/05, and is expected to increase rapidly to 4, 2 billion rand by 2007/08. The bulk of the increase is linked to the initial increase in operating costs associated with appointing additional personnel to implement the seven-day working week. Within the additional amounts announced in the 2005 Budget, 255 million rand has been allocated for 2007/08 to appoint additional personnel to assist in the transition to the seven-day working week.

Escapes remain a serious challenge for the department but through the implementation of a National Escape Prevention Strategy as well as Regional Escape Prevention Strategies, we succeeded in reducing the number of escapes from 195 in the 2003/04 financial year to 171 in the 2004/05 financial year.

A disturbing trend, however, is the increasingly violent nature of some escape incidents and security breaches, especially by high risk awaiting trial detainees where dangerous weapons such as firearms are smuggled into correctional centres and which have led to injuries and even the tragic deaths of officials and inmates. Incidents that readily come to mind include the tragic deaths in November last year of the Head of C-Max at Pretoria Central, Mr Sammy Gomba and the Acting Area Coordinator, Mr Ben Ndinisa who bravely stood their ground as committed correctional officials and paid the supreme price. The viciously brutal attack on two nurses at Emthonjeni Youth Centre, Baviaanspoort, in March this year is another incident as well as the death of Special Task Force Member, Jacques Horn, also in March when an attempted escape at Groote Schuur Hospital was foiled by him and his colleagues. The price to pay in all these and other similarly violent incidents is much too high and must be turned around. Our members cannot be easy targets for thugs who show no respect for human life. I remain committed to ensuring that the culprits in these incidents are brought to book. No leniency must be showed to them. Despite our commitment to rehabilitation, there is a category of offender who will never gain from correction and development. They are the incorrigibles and they must be treated accordingly. An attack on any official is an attack on the entire correctional system with an injury to one official being an injury to all of us, including the Minister. Together with the South African Police Services and other justice agencies, we will hunt them down and nail those corrupt officials who are accessories to these crimes.

Corrupt-minded correctional officials and those who are grossly negligent give unexpected and even expected opportunities to inmates to escape. In addition, poor management supervision of operational units and facilities that do not meet security requirements also contribute to security breaches. A secure environment can only exist where there is prevention of escapes by inmates, where there is prevention of inmate abuse and violence, where there is protection of employees and service providers and where such an environment is free of corruption, negligence and incompetence in carrying out security duties.

But I also want to salute all officials who continue in their commitment to carrying out the mandate of the department, quite often at great personal risk and even at the expense of their physical and mental well-being. I also want to acknowledge the role played by our Emergency Support Teams throughout the country and want to assure all my officials that I will continue propagating for better service conditions for all correctional employees. Last year I stated that I would prioritise this. Research and consultations in this regard have taken longer than expected but I am pleased to report that the department will soon be engaging the services of private partners to develop a business case in order to take this work forward.

During the 2005/06 financial year and beyond, special emphasis will be placed on measures to ensure the prevention of dangerous weapons and firearms entering our facilities. In efforts to tighten up access control and prevent dangerous weapons from entering correctional centres, 80 million rand will be spent this year on the installation of advanced technological equipment at the 36 Centres of Excellence and 30 other identified high risk centres. Equipment to be installed includes items such as CCTV cameras, biometric readers and scanning devices. In addition, a National Security Plan and Minimum Security Standards for correctional centres will be implemented during the year.

An additional R30 million was allocated to the department for the new Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards. Since October 2004 the department, in a ground-breaking decision, established 52 new Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards. New legislation for the first time allocates decision-making authority to the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards with the exception of decisions relating to the granting of parole to offenders who are declared dangerous criminals and those sentenced to life imprisonment.

In another significant departure from past practices, and in a deliberate attempt to empower victims of crime, the victims or relatives of victims of certain specific serious crimes may now make representations to the Parole Boards and they are also permitted to attend sessions of the Parole Boards. This is a significant step in the quest to establish and promote restorative justice as an acceptable and viable mediation process. The department is currently appointing permanent officials to these Parole Boards, including Chairpersons drawn from community members.

Madam Speaker

I want to give notice to the House that in about a fortnight's time I will be making a further announcement that is expected to impact positively on correction and related matters in both the correctional environment and in communities. In addition, I am also seriously considering giving instructions to correctional centres where overcrowding levels are becoming unmanageable, not to accept any further admissions of offenders. It is a matter that I will be discussing with my colleague, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.

Expenditure under the Care programme is expected to increase from 777 million rand in 2004/05 to R1, 2 billion in 2007/08 in order to fund the department's commitment to managing HIV and Aids related diseases and making available health services previously provided as a free service by provincial health departments. The department plans to improve these services by upgrading healthcare facilities in correctional centres and appointing medical practitioners, pharmacists and nursing personnel. Within the additional allocations provided in the 2005 Budget, provision has also been made over the MTEF period for the introduction of a three nutritional meals system per day to inmates.

Under the programme Development we will improve existing activities which focus on offender development, including formal education, skills development, sport, recreation, arts and culture.

The department estimates that it will receive revenue of about 89, 7 million rand during 2005/06, mostly generated through the sale of products from correctional centre workshops, hiring out offenders labour and letting official personnel accommodation. Part of the income generated from offenders labour is paid to them as a gratuity.

The Department eagerly awaits the promulgation of the preferential procurement regulations that are aligned to the broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Act. As a department, we are committed to Black Economic Empowerment in all our tendering processes and will promote this in the best interests of the core business of DCS and in line with government policy. But I must also issue a word of caution and warning to those who believe that such policies can be exploited. We will carefully monitor all empowerment deals and will act decisively where there is evidence of fronting by companies.

The introduction of a seven-day establishment is a key factor in the optimal utilisation of our resources and the department is in the process of phasing out the costly overtime system for essential weekend services. This will allow us to put in place mechanisms that will promote government's commitment to creating work and fighting poverty. Replacing the overtime system with a seven-day working week has started on 01 April this year. Already, we have 1 000 new recruits undergoing training in our two training colleges at Kroonstad and Zonderwater. At the same time, I want to point out that I remain committed to seeking improvements in the conditions of service of staff members.

We are also determined to retain good working relationships with labour unions. The Memorandum of Agreement signed between the department and POPCRU is already being operationalised. Significant in this regard is the confirmation by the union that correctional services is indeed an essential service in terms of the Labour Relations Act and a commitment to function within the ambit of the law. We believe that this commitment will facilitate constructive participation in established structures for engagement with the department.

I can report, Madam Speaker that the Departmental Bargaining Chamber that has been inactive, has been reconvened and that conciliation and binding arbitration shall be used to break deadlocks. A Minister's Consultative Forum will also be set up to engage on strategic policy matters and information-sharing. A policy on dress code and the wearing of insignia will also be finalised shortly. Henceforth, all members will wear insignia as determined by departmental policy. I want to acknowledge the constructive role played by the Joint Technical Committee leadership in determining this Memorandum of Agreement and foresee a relationship characterised by the principles of equality, mutual respect, honesty and integrity.

In the past, the department has always been the preserve of males in terms of its employment policies and practices. During the first decade of democracy deliberate actions were taken to turn this around and to date the department has raised the number of female officials to 7 372 compared to 4 000 in 1995. At senior management level, this has also changed significantly with 33 female correctional officials filling such positions.

Rehabilitation of offenders through sport and recreation is also due to become one of the flagships of the department. Our slogan, "An offender in sport is an offender out of court", will find resonance in the programmes that we will be introducing. Later this year, we will be sending a departmental team of about 100 participants to the World Police and Fire Games in Canada.

In International Relations, we will endorse the Charter of Fundamental Rights for Prisoners at the 11th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice later this month. We will continue to participate in multilateral forums such as the International Corrections and Prisons Association, the Conference of Commissioners for East and Southern Africa and the United Nations. In conjunction with other African states, the department will develop a programme that will result in full compliance with the UN Minimum Standards on the Treatment of Offenders. Our participation in Bi-National Commissions and Joint Commissions of Cooperation has resulted in us hosting several delegations from various countries as well as the Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights under the African Union.

Ministers responsible for Prison Management and Correctional Services in SADC countries are continuing efforts to implement the July 2003 Johannesburg Declaration on Corrections which inter alia, seeks to include the field of corrections in the work of regional and continental multilateral structures.

In dealing with corruption and fraud in DCS, our partnership with the Special Investigation Unit has yielded potential savings of 328 million rand for the department. Disciplinary referrals in this regard number 175 and there have been 132 criminal referrals of members and 25 of doctors thus far. I am also awaiting the final report of the Jali Commission.

In concluding, allow me to congratulate Judge Siraj Desai on his reappointment as Chairperson of the National Council for Correctional Services and the members of the Council who have just been appointed. I also wish to acknowledge the sterling work being done by the Inspecting Judge, Judge Hannes Fagan, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services, Mr Dennis Bloem and all members of the committee, Mr Nkosi Mokoena and the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Constitutional and Security Affairs. My appreciation also goes to all stakeholders such as NGOs CBOs, labour unions and spiritual-based organisations for the sterling work that they do in our correctional centres.

Finally, to all my staff members present here today, from Commissioner Linda Mti to every member in the furthest corner of the country - know that your government will continue supporting you and that, together, we will succeed in building a correctional system that truly belongs to all.

I thank you.

Issued by: Ministry of Correctional Services
13 April 2005

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