Budget Vote speech of Minister of Correctional Services, honourable BMN Balfour, MP, at Parliament, Cape Town

Madam Speaker
Deputy Speaker
Members of the Cabinet
Chairpersons and members of the portfolio and select committees
Members of Parliament
Distinguished guests
The Commissioner of Correctional Services, your executive management committee and the rest of the staff
Ladies and gentlemen

Let me first acknowledge thousands of partners, officials, offenders and members of the public that are gathered in five of our regions to watch this speech on big screens today as part of our budget vote izimbizo. To all of you in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West as well as Free State and Northern Cape regions we are grateful for the time you have made to join us as we outline our plans to contribute in building a safer and a more secure South Africa.

Madam Speaker, Mr John Martin, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Athlone Institute Trust said some people criticise government for all sorts of things using various excuses for failures to stand up and do things for themselves. He said, "Today this project of (the) Paarl community flies in the face of those complaints. What we see here this morning is a community initiated government and community partnership. Let it never be said that wardens and offenders are twiddling their toes in our jails. Send them to Paarl to see what we did together."

Madam Speaker, let me reiterate Mr Martin's words anyone doubting the progressive achievements made by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) should go to Paarl and many other areas across the country "to see what we did together" with communities. In Paarl through our officials and offenders we constructed a complex of buildings from scratch to house the Athlone House of Strength, a one-stop victim empowerment centre for abused women and children. The project has contributed significantly in realising our new mandate of correcting offending behaviour, rehabilitation, restoration of human relations harmed by crime and also social re-integration of offenders.

Through our stakeholder relations and community outreach campaign we have ensured that the Department of Correctional Sservices (DCS) is a visible partner and is succeeding in blending our programme of corrections, rehabilitation and social reintegration with national efforts to fight poverty, underdevelopment and prevent crime.

Madam Speaker, we will always cherish the platform we are given in this august House to give an account of our successes, challenges, interventions and new plans for accelerating the delivery of correctional services in South Africa.

When the people of South Africa spoke in their multitudes in 2004 giving the African National Congress (ANC) an overwhelming majority to place the country on a new and higher development path, we made a clear pledge to double our efforts to ensure a better life for all. We are making headway. However, overcoming the challenge of ensuring that South Africans including the elderly, children and women are able to go about their normal life activities without fear of abuse, crime and violence will be the ultimate test of a true freedom. Many in our country laid down their lives and selflessly sacrificed to create such a society and therefore we can never rest until this is attained and sustained in our country.

Advancing corrections and punishment dialogue

The violent and aggressive crime spike apparently driven by organised syndicates that we witnessed towards the end of 2006 and the massive media coverage it received has played a critical role in people's overall assessment of government commitment to fight crime with all that it has. We do understand some people's anger, fear and emotional reaction to these developments. We should hasten to state that these are not informed by a national objective reality as reflected in crime statistics especially among major categories of crime, but by individual experiences and circumstances. Aligned with this kind of reaction we are observing the resurgence of a more conservative punitive paradigm in the public discourse. We believe this should be faced with sober and logic minds while also demonstrating empathy to many victims of crime. Overwhelming evidence from best international research projects shows that the "lock and throw the key away" perspective of dealing with crime only compounds the situation by breeding more crime and repeat offending.

I wish to repeat former State President Nelson Mandela's words of wisdom shared while officially opening the eMthonjeni Youth Centre at the Baviaanspoort Correctional Centre in Gauteng.

"Government will not tolerate crime. However, it does not mean that we have to ignore offenders. They are part of our society's problem and rejecting them is not going to solve the problem of crime. They are human beings too, they are our brothers, sisters, our sons and daughters who have disappointed us. They have the right to a chance to unlock their potential to better themselves."

We should all learn to appreciate that the visionary South Africans made a profound statement of policy as far back as 1955 when the Freedom Charter was adopted saying, "Imprisonment shall aim at re-education, not vengeance".

We are not oblivious to the fact that some of the crime perpetrators are becoming increasingly violent and aggressive. We believe that without doubt those deserve incarceration in the interest of public safety for a longer time if not for the rest of their lives. No one can reverse a crime already committed instead we should all be investing in protecting the next victim by breaking the cycle of crime and reducing re-offending rates in our country.

Profile of DCS

The Department has been allocated a R10,74 billion for the 2007/08 financial year to implement its key programmes aimed at contributing in ensuring a just and a safer South Africa through incarceration of offenders, correction of offending behaviour, rehabilitation and social re-integration of offenders. We keep in our 241 facilities of different sizes about 158 859 offenders, 445 079 of whom are awaiting trial detainees with women constituting only 2,1% of the total offender population (DCS IMS - January 2007). We also have over 60 000 parolees and probationers who are doing their sentence terms under community corrections. This massive operation is a labour intensive exercise currently resourced by 41 000 officials nationally. Depending on their classification, offenders are progressively exposed to numerous corrections and rehabilitation programmes which are carried out within our facilities like factories, workshops, classrooms, farms, etc, or within communities as an integral part of blending our functions with mainstream government programmes of fighting poverty and under development.

In many respects we are able to produce enough furniture, tools as well as food like pork, eggs, milk, bread and vegetables to cover our institutional needs while in cases of over supply we donate food to local communities as a contribution in fighting poverty. Thousands of families across the country can bear testimony to this. The national resources allocated to us are optimally used for ensuring the best value for all South Africans. Most of these details about the functioning of this department are not know by many people and in many instances the fact that notorious serial killers, rapists and abusers are no longer able to carry out their acts of terror is taken for granted without acknowledging continuous good work done by this Department.

The attainment of six distinctions by a juvenile offender Sifiso Zulu in Durban Westville Correctional Centre in KwaZulu Natal and a bursary offer by the South African Institute for Chartered Accounts to study for BCom at the University of Cape Town is one in many. This inmate was sentenced to six years and served about half of his sentence before qualifying for parole in January this year.

Renewing our pledge

Madam Speaker, the financial year 2006/07 will go down in our history as a watershed year with numerous positive milestones in our quest to build a correctional system rated as among the best in the world. On the other hand we also received wake up calls for intensifying internal controls and strengthen our compliance drive as we double our efforts to deliver on the plans of the third democratic government before the end of this term in 2009.

When I assumed the responsibility of leading the Department in 2004, I committed to this house to spare no effort in ensuring that the Department makes a difference to perpetrators in our care and also victims of crime. I warned against a false sense of security expected by people clamouring for a retributive approach to corrections. I again committed my Department to ensuring effective implementation of a multi pronged strategy for dealing with overcrowding in order to create an enabling environment for effective correction and rehabilitation of offenders.

Together with the Deputy Minister, Ms Loretta Jacobus, we will give the House an overview on how far we have gone since those pledges were made giving a particular focus on the previous financial year while also outlining the interventions we will make over the remaining period of our brief by the President.

Creating an enabling environment for corrections and rehabilitation

Foremost on our minds and hearts is the challenge of overcrowding that creates unsuitable condition for the implementation of corrections and rehabilitation programmes. It should always be noted that the challenge of overcrowding is an international phenomenon that will probable be with us for a number of years as no single player in a society can ever resolve the challenge in any sustainable manner.

I am happy to announce that the implementation of our eight-pronged strategy has begun to give dividends. Over the past six years we have consistently reduced overcrowding by 4,77% per year with the past two years (2005/06) reaching 15,72% and 10% reduction rates respectively. The fact that we have 38% more offenders than our bed spaces remains unacceptable, but South Africa's international rating dropped by 14 places on the list of most congested prisons in terms of the International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS). The decline is by design and with greater awareness and stronger integration of partners of the criminal justice system and other civil society partners, we are committed to sustain these trends in the interest of public safety.

Also in six years we improved our bed spaces by 14,45% through renovations, limited expansions and re-commissioning. Given the reduction of overcrowding I have alluded to earlier the decrease of awaiting trial detainees by 22,02% and the next increase of offenders by 3,6% over the past six years, I can safely we are winning the battle for now.

The National Council on Correctional Services (NCCS) led by Judge Siraj Desai, and the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons (JIP) led by Judge Nathan Erasmus, have been pivotal in ensuring a continuous improvement in correctional services and in strengthening integrated governance. I take my hat off these two outstanding judges and their teams for their incisive and visionary interventions, without which we would have been poorer in service delivery. Today our co-operation with judicial officials in particular magistrates has reached new heights especially after a road show that covered at least four provinces where we shared knowledge, experience and strategies for addressing challenges facing the corrections system of South Africa. The positive spin offs of this co-operation have started to trickle in as we observe an improvement in the placement of offenders who pose no danger to the society under correctional supervision in line with many instruments contained in the Criminal Procedure Act and the Correctional Services Act. Jacobus and I will shed more light on these issues.

The current overall positive trend in the reduction of overcrowding is facing a significant threat over the next few years. A changing profile of offender and awaiting trial inmate population who are increasingly incarcerated for aggressive and violent crimes, poses a real challenge as they occupy more bed spaces, more often and for a longer period. This trends cuts across women, youth, children and adult male offenders. This trend will have significant policy and strategy implications to the Department and the whole of the criminal justice system if the current trends are sustained over the next five to 15 years. With mandatory sentences the category of offenders serving 10 to 15 years increased by over 12% over the last six years, from 45% in 2000 to 57% of the total offender population in 2006. A similar trend is also observed among other categories serving longer sentences including lifers. Alone the Department cannot provide solutions to these anticipated long-term problems. I therefore appeal to parents to be the first line of defence against a continued bleeding of our society due to crime.

Following a series of complaints from offenders and their families last year about our parole system, I ordered an audit as well as interventions to eliminate backlogs with regard to the implementation of the legislative instruments for early releases. The audit found over 19 584 backlog cases across the country. These then were taken through the Case Management Committees (CMCs) and the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards (CSPB) for accelerated attention and consideration. The improvement made after the audit is commendable as the backlog was slashed by 49,16% to 9 957 cases which are still receiving special attention from overstretched CMCs and CSPB. We will keep track of these development and institute quarterly reviews to ensure that no backlogs are accumulated again.

We have also noted with appreciation the portfolio committee's experiences when it visited the southern Cape last week. I have been informed of those challenges with delayed the processing of applications for parole. I have ordered an intervention by our regional management during a standing meeting I had on Tuesday this week and I will keep this House informed through the portfolio committee and select committee.

The social re-integration programme continues to grow in leaps and bounds. The nearly two-year old SPB work is gaining the necessary momentum. During the 2006/07 financial year we started with the recruitment of the vice-chairpersons. The initiative is aimed at strengthening community and victim participation in our processes of granting parole to deserving offenders. These community leaders of good standing ensure that government commitments to participatory governance is realised. Regrettably the recruitment drive only netted less than the desirable response of the requisite 52 vice-chairpersons. We are gearing our selves for a massive awareness drive and co-operation with key partners like the portfolio committee and the select committee to ensure that people of high standing and integrity are appointed to fill this gap currently closed by our officials.

The work of CSPB will be further assisted by the intensification of the campaign, Operation Masibambisane that is integrated into the social re-integration programme.

Management of Awaiting Trial Detention (MATD) system

The Cabinet in 2006 mandated the Department of Correctional Services to lead the project of re-engineering the MATD system in South Africa. The brief goes beyond just addressing congestion of facilities to ensuring that all provisions of the Constitution, legislation and international protocols applicable to un-sentenced inmates are applied. DCS is leading an inter-departmental task team composed of representatives of justice and constitutional development, South African Police Services (SAPS), home affairs and social development to drive the programme. We have also established an embryonic chief directorate and contracted a project manager to drive the development of appropriate policies and procedures, identification of correctional centres for use as pilot Remand Detention Facilities (RDFs) in each region, as well as the development and implementation of a synchronised cluster programme of action aimed at meeting short to long term strategic needs in the management of awaiting trial detainees. Some of the areas to be seriously explored include electronic tracking of Awaiting Trial Detentions (ATDs) and setting up of an integrated information management system for the justice crime prevention and security cluster.

Gearing the Department for implementing the seven-day working week

Madam Speaker, it is with a great sense of satisfaction that I introduce to you and the House our new National Commissioner, Mr Vernie Petersen who brings with him a wealth of experience, knowledge and wisdom about correctional services and our partners. He had been our Regional Commissioner in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng as well as our corporate services chief deputy commissioner. He has a long history of activism for social justice and development. He started his career by helping the weak and the vulnerable in our society as a social worker, before venturing into various leadership positions including that of an advisor to the former Minister of Social Development. He is a soft-spoken tough cookie with brains of a genius, a heart of steel and a thick skin that will not crack even under any heat. I believe I am echoing the feeling of the whole Cabinet when I say I have absolute confidence in his abilities as a leader, a manager, an agent of transformation and a firm decision maker. I wish to assure you that Mr Petersen will pick up the reigns of comrade Mti and smoothly proceed from where he left.

I cannot fail to acknowledge the legacy of Former Commissioner Linda Mti, who had contributed immensely in building a formidable team of executive and senior managers and gave a clear direction through championing the development of the White Paper and subsidiary policies, procedure and programmes in the Department. The allegations of improper conduct with regarding to the procurement processes should be rejected and laid to rest. The public service commission had declared in their report that they found 'nothing untoward' about him. On behalf of the leadership and management of DCS, I wish Mr Mti the best in his new venture and career.

I also wish to thank the former acting Commissioner, Sis Jabu Sishuba and her executive management colleagues for having ensured a smooth transition and continued service delivery over the past five months.

The Department has surpassed its employment target of 8 311 additional employees as part of the implementation of the seven-day working week scheduled to kick off in April 2008. The last group of the massive recruitment drive is currently undergoing a learnership programme in preparation for their deployment at two training colleges of correctional services, Zonderwater and Kroonstad. In addition to thousands of new recruits we created 752 new positions as part of the ongoing alignment of the structure with the requirements of the White Paper. This resulted in a fairly constant vacancy rate of 8%. This year 341 additional posts will be created and filled while also reducing the vacancy rate.

Other interventions aimed at ensuring that the requisite institutional capacity is instituted include the following:

* The adoption of an integrated human resources strategy that seeks to ensure the recruitment and retention of scarce skills such as doctors, pharmacists, nurses, educationists and psychologists. In consultation with the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), the Department of Health and the National Treasury a new dispensation for health workers as a scarce skill was finalised, costed and the first phase of nurses funded for implementation.

* On the labour relations management front the Department has a cause for celebration as well. This follows the successful implementation of relationship building by objectives model that was part of the settlement of a protracted labour dispute that characterised correctional services in yesteryears. Two Minister's Labour Consultative Forum meetings were held. Regional negotiations culminated in the signing of the relationship-building objective (RBO) by all regions creating a conducive environment for taking labour relations to a new level that goes beyond bread and butter issues.

* We know for sure that our personnel are our greatest resource for the delivery of correctional services which are rated among the best in the world with a commitment to excellence and integrity. We have taken steps to ensure appropriate investment in our personnel through the following programmes:
* Institution of the job refinement programme. The programme is aimed at giving appropriate recognition to the corrections profession as this function has graduated from being a mere masculine function of opening and locking gates of offenders to a more dynamic function that embodies critical elements of counselling, coaching, development and protection of offenders while also facilitating community and family contact for sustainable social re-integration on release. The project due for completion during the course of the financial year is expected to assist in the review of conditions of service for all our officials. We dare not fail on this because our mission of ensuring that every correctional official is a rehabilitator would be a pie in the sky.

* The implementation of the second phase of the interim promotion arrangement negotiated with the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) as well as the Public Service Association (PSA) was successful. The project benefited 1 857 officials at salary levels five and six who subsequently progressed to the next levels. These developments are expected to improve staff morale and overall service delivery.

* Other interventions include: the institution of the HIV and Syphilis Prevalence Survey for helping us design a supportive environment for HIV positive and AIDS suffering officials, affirmation of women particularly in management and promotion of an organisational culture that is aligned to our new ethos.

* On preparing our managers and staff for championing the implementation of our new direction, we trained 91% of our 165 senior management service members on change management, 933 frontline officials on living the principles of Batho Pele "people first" as well as 600 middle managers, 230 of whom have already received certificates for completing a management development programme run in partnership with Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).

* Increasing the staff complement from 36 311 in the 2005/06 financial year to 41 406 in 2006/07 with a target of reaching 45 674 by the end of 2009/10 financial year, a 25,79% increase and provision of additional 9 363 jobs within five years.

* Conscious of our obligation to contribute to the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), we engaged 500 unemployed graduates for gaining critical experience for their marketability last year and also engaged 1 500 more in January 2007.

Madam Speaker, I believe this House and our nation can see that I am not just upbeat about this Department's performance for nothing. We can longer behave like fishes that lay a thousand eggs and keep quiet. I promise you that this year we will be 'a hen' that lays one egg and makes sufficient noise for the world to know.

Infrastructure development programme

Physical security and information technology are two of the key pillars of our minimum security standards policy we have approved and partly implemented in the previous financial year. We had announced in this house the implementation of the state of the art biometric access control and closed circuit television (TV) monitors in 66 correctional centres inclusive of 36 centres of excellence. That programme has been implemented successfully and launched in July 2006. We have allocated R100 million per year over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for the rollout of the biometric access control system with closed circuit TV monitors to cover the remaining facilities. These will also include x-ray security scanners. In addition, security fencing with closed circuit television monitors and motion detectors is being implemented in high risk facilities nationally at a cost of nearly half a billion rand. We take issues of security very seriously hence the allocation of an annualised budget increase of 194,6% for equipment over the MTEF period.

The construction of new generation correctional facilities is a mega infrastructure development programme identified as one of the top priorities of correctional services on which we will focus our energies during the current medium term expenditure framework. The construction of the Kimberly Correctional Centre is progressing well. The report of a transaction adviser on the remaining centres has been received and discussed with the National Treasury. We have agreed to go ahead with constructing five of the additional centres following a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. We will now proceed to the next phase of appointing project managers with National Treasury considering footing the Bill of the project managers.

Partnerships for effective service delivery improvement

The government has made it absolutely clear that ensuring sustainable development, protection the country's citizenry and ensuring a better life for all can never be the government's sole responsibility. In my inaugural budget vote speech as Minister of Correctional Services I had extended an invitation for South Africans, individually and in their respective formations, to join me in taking corrections to unprecedented heights of effectiveness in crime prevention and in creating a safer South Africa. I am proud to announce that many South Africans and their formations have come to the party. We have begun to build enduring partnership with various players within and outside of government including the following:

* Government clusters and departments as well as its agencies like the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).

* Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like the Open Society Foundation (OSF) and our traditional partners like National Institute for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of Offenders (NICRO), South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (SANCA), Khulisa and the President's Awards.

* Other new partnerships are with the Business Against Crime (BAC), Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM) and academic institutions like TUT, to mention but a few.

These relationships are helping in improving service delivery, promoting our democracy and accountability, mobilising resources and also serving as a sounding board for continuous improvement of correctional services delivery in its quest to be among the best in the world.

Our partnership with Business Against Crime (BAC) and CSIR involves the development of a cutting edge technology strategy that will help DCS deliver quality services on a 24:7:365 bases for all beneficiaries. That strategy is expected to be finalised this year to provide a guiding framework and ensure coherence of various current and future information technology and communication related initiatives. They are also assisting with sharpening our corporate services.

The OSF has donated R3 million for conducting a three year evaluation project aimed at assessing the implementation of the Correctional Services Act (Act 111 of 1998) in a sample of management areas. The researcher will monitor and evaluation the following elements of the Act: incarceration conditions, oversight functions, protection and promotion of human rights culture within the facilities, centre management, functioning of the correctional supervision and parole boards, healthcare, rehabilitation and social re-integration of offenders. The panel of experts conducting the research and the evaluation will give periodic reports to correctional services in order to sharpen the implementation or even consider amendments to the legislative and regulatory framework to ensure pragmatism. The interventions incorporate the transfer of skills for using the new assessment tools widely in correctional services when the project is concluded. There is a joint task team that drives the implementation of the project.

We have reached an agreement with the MRMs Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa to drive campaigns aimed at strengthening the family unit, community structures and our social fibre as the basis of a stronger society. A stronger society that is rooted in self respect, appreciation and love inflicts less violence and crime against itself and when the campaign takes root correctional services will reap the benefits. During the Corrections Week celebrations in September 2006 we launched a one-million signature campaign that is aimed at not just building greater awareness of the societal responsibility for correcting the offending behaviour, rehabilitation and social re-integration of offenders but to ensure public and stakeholders ownership of the responsibility of building a safer and a more secure South Africa.

Driven by our belief that the site of service delivery is a local municipality with provincial governments also putting their shoulder behind the wheel, we adopted a campaign called Operation Masibambisane as a platform for co-operation with local municipalities, provincial governments, the NGO sector, faith-based organisations (FBOs) and other civil society structures. We met with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), traditional leadership structures, ordinary business people and professionals who all responded with great enthusiasm to the call for a helping hand. Some of the manifestations include medical doctors and social workers who have volunteered to assist us in the Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga regions.

What we should not tire of telling is that the task of transforming a correctional system of a country with such a history as South Africa can never be a smooth sailing or a few years programme. A correctional system can only be as good as a country can be. Therefore, a national call sounded by the President for a reconstruction of the soul should be said over and over again. In a context of increasing dysfunctional families and societies, the degradation of a social fibre and the fading of moral and ethical values, a development that is compounded by levels of poverty and underdevelopment, correctional services cannot hope to succeed. We plan to intensify our role within communities and also in mobilising the civil society behind the anti-crime campaign driven by the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster.

Building an ethical and a secure correctional system

The elimination of fraud and corruption is one of the key success indicators in our endeavours to transform Correctional Services. To deal with this scourge, Correctional Services has partnered with the Special Investigation Unit (SIU - Cobra) and the Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions) and has succeeded in uncovering medical aid corruption resulting in the recovery of R22 million in the previous financial year. Emanating from the Jali Commission recommendations, the Scorpions arrested 120 persons as part of investigations into medical aid fraud amounting to R45 million.

A departmental task team with regional representatives was established to accelerate the implementation of the disciplinary recommendations of the Jali Commission that were tabled last year. Over 100 officials were investigated by the Departmental Investigation Unit (DIU). The Code Enforcement Unit (CEU) concluded 60 hearings and registered a commendable conviction rate of 92%. All Jali Commission related cases are expected to be finalised by November 2007 in terms of internal disciplinary processes.

Fighting fraud is a complex operation and to close all gaps we trained 828 managers and officials on ethics across the country including 20 trainers who will drive the rollout of the training to reach the rest of the officials in correctional services. Our Compliance Improvement Plan (CIP), which focuses on improved internal controls will also result in a smaller window of opportunity for those hell bent on committing fraud and enable us more easily to detect such fraud.

Even in this instance we need to note, it takes two to tango. If members of the public, businesses, NGOs, FBOs and other role players could refuse to play the 'corruption and fraud ball' with officials, our institutions and society would be purer.

Priorities for 2007/08 and anchor projects

The Department has adopted six priorities and five key projects that we commit to deliver on effectively over the next two years and beyond. These are informed by both triumphs and tribulations of the past few years as we strive to turn this huge Department around. Besides the achievements I have outlined, there were a number of challenges identified by our selves first and acknowledged by the Auditor-General (AG) and the portfolio committee. These included challenges of compliance with government's regulatory framework, violence and incidents of aggression within our facilities, escapes as well as poor public understanding of correctional services and its strides. Other challenges include delays in the construction of the new generation correctional centres and the mammoth task of rolling out the finalised model for the management of the offender life cycle, the offender rehabilitation path.

The identified six priority areas of focus are underpinned by our service delivery improvement plan that entails five projects. These include improving communication of our strategic direction, creating enabling environment for rehabilitation, enhancing good governance and compliance, improving our integrated planning and performance reporting, enhancing our external partnership and expediting the social re-integration programme. The service delivery improvement plan that underpins these priorities contains are:

* phased implementation of the social re-integration action plan
* expediting the building and upgrading of facilities
* development of an appropriate remand detention management system
* implementation of the seven-day working week and the job refinement projects
* phasing in of the implementation of the offender rehabilitation path.

In essence these are not entirely new projects, but an affirmation the strategic decisions taken earlier are correct and therefore focus should be on implementation. These will inform the allocation of resources over the remaining years of the third democratic government and will indeed take correctional services to a higher bar in delivering services.

Conclusion

Madam Speaker, I would like to acknowledge that the South African society has begun to appreciate corrections as part of the mainstream in the process of fundamental transformation of our country. We just need to be more proactively and turn around the recent wave of negative headlines for positive ones. We will focus our energies on ensuring that every important role player is appropriately informed of the Department's vision, mission, objectives and interventions as well as challenges around which societal energies should be mobilised as we seek to build a caring correctional system that effectively contributes in building a better life for all in a much safer and secure South Africa.

I again wish to thank all our partners for their unwavering support during the course of the year. My gratitude also goes to the Deputy Minister, the National Commissioner, the executive management committee as well as the rest of the staff for their vision and resilience to soldier on under sometimes very trying conditions. I also salute our regions, offenders and members of the public that have made it their business to come and engage us in various izimbizo held around the country today. We will always cherish your contributions as we march together towards a correctional system you envisage for our beloved country, South Africa.

Last but not least, my family which is always behind me at all times with love and support. I will always be indebted to you for that.

Madam Speaker and honourable members, I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Correctional Services
18 May 2007