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Date : 29/06/2004
Source: Ministry of Correctional Services
Title: N Balfour: Correctional Services Dept Budget Vote debate, NCOP


BUDGET VOTE ADDRESS BY MR BMN (NGCONDE) BALFOUR, MP, MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, IN THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES, 29 June 2004

Madam Chairperson
Cabinet Colleagues
Honourable Members
MECs and Members of Provincial Legislatures
Chairperson of the National Council for Correctional Services - Judge Desai
The Inspecting Judge - Judge Fagan
Stakeholder and Community Representatives

In addressing you this morning, I want to put it in the context of serious incidents that occurred at three of our correctional centres in Mpumalanga and Gauteng during the past four days.

Members of Correctional Services, ostensibly aligned to POPCRU, engaged in illegal strike action at Barberton and Nelspruit Correctional Centres. Despite Correctional Services being designated an essential service in terms of section 71 (8) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995), members engaged in irresponsible and illegal actions that had the potential of putting the safety and security of the public at risk. At Barberton, this resulted in inmates not being provided with meals for more than 24 hours while at Nelspruit 800 awaiting trial detainees broke out of their cells by forcing doors after they realised that members were not on duty.

It was only quick action by management and non-striking members that prevented a mass break-out at Nelspruit. While waiting for reinforcements from the South African Police Services and the SA National Defence Force, seven dedicated and loyal members at Nelspruit stood between inmates and possible escapes. Firing five warning shots, these committed men contained the situation and with the assistance of reinforcements, succeeded in getting all inmates back into their cells, thus preventing any escapes. They put themselves at risk of being over-powered but were true to their mandate of the ideal correctional official. At Barberton, 36 members took it upon themselves to maintain order and control despite irresponsible actions by others. They remained on duty for more than 29 hours before being relieved by support staff, without consideration for their own conditions.

When reinforcement staff from Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal arrived at Barberton, they were confronted by illegal strikers who wanted to block their path to duty. Undaunted by this, these committed men responded by singing a song that included the words: "Balfour and Mti, send us anywhere and anytime; we will work for you."

It had the desired effect and I can report to Honourable Members that stability has been restored at Barberton and Nelspruit, which I personally visited yesterday, while at Devon Correctional Centre in Gauteng non-striking members continued to be in charge of the situation.

It is these committed men and women for whom I stand before you today. They are the true deliverers of a better life for all our people. It is they who remain true to the Batho Pele principles and for whom I, the Deputy Minister and Commissioner will continue to strive for better working conditions.

It is true, Honourable Members, that at Correctional Services we are faced with many challenges relating to remuneration and service conditions. Our members work under stressful conditions given the nature of their work. Those at the coalface of security, correction and care within our facilities are potentially exposed to risk as I have illustrated to you. I will soon be making a presentation to Cabinet dealing with remuneration and service conditions. This will include addressing critical shortages of professional staff as we fail to attract and retain much-needed professionals simply because we offer non-competitive and unattractive remuneration packages. The matter of overtime remuneration is also being tackled as a priority. Already, a Task Team involving DCS, DPSA and National Treasury has completed research and submitted recommendations on how the weekly establishment of the Department could be structured to ensure efficient delivery of services.

I have deep appreciation for the concerns of members relating to parity in salaries, medical-aid contributions and benefits and other issues such as career advancement and work conditions These are, after all, matters pertinent to contributing towards pride in the workplace. But, as a country, we cannot tolerate irresponsible actions as have happened in the past few days.

Those who have made themselves guilty of indiscipline, illegal action and the disruption of essential services, will have to bear the consequences. Their actions are unjustified and reprehensible and have put the lives of others and the public at large, at risk. Unions within DCS operate within an agreed framework and I will continue to honour this. At the same time, where individual or groups of members of Unions act as they have been doing over the past few days, their Unions must call them to order. If those involved are members of POPCRU as they claim to be, then POPCRU at regional and national level have a responsibility to the South African public to ensure compliance with agreements that govern the relationship between themselves and DCS.

The budget of DCS for the 2004/2005 financial year is R 8,407 billion and will provide for an overall establishment of 35 197 personnel and for supervision of an average prison population of 187 000 prisoners and 72 000 probationers and parolees. This include allocations of R2, 507 billion for the national office, R1, 322 billion for the Gauteng region, R1, 106 billion for the Western Cape, R972 million for KwaZulu-Natal, R821 million for the Free State/Northern Cape region, R820, 6 million for the North West/Mpumalanga/Limpopo region and R795, 4 million for the Eastern Cape.

Expenditure on compensation of employees is expected to consume an average of 63,9 per cent of the Vote over the medium term, while payment for capital assets, which includes building of new prisons by the department and all the payments to the private prison contractors, should consume an average of 14,7 per cent, mainly because of the increased allocation to payments for capitalisation.

Included in the budget allocation is compensation of employees expenditure which amounts to R 5,36 billion for personnel salaries, allowances and bonuses. Over the medium term this category of expenditure continues to dominate, due to the personnel-intensive nature of incarceration and rehabilitation as well as associated overtime expenditure for staffing correctional facilities. An additional allocation of R100 million in 2005/2006 will provide staff for new correctional centres and for the related day-to-day operating costs of their activities.

The budget also provides for an amount of R 111,589 million for the purchase of departmental equipment and R1, 143 billion for capital works projects of which R194, 731 million provides for the fixed portion of the Public Private Partnerships prisons. This allocation includes new capital projects, maintenance and professional fees.

The total MTEF allocation for capital works projects, with allocations of R914, 162 million, R982, 950 million, R1, 007 billion respectively for the 2004/2005 to 2006/2007 financial years, provides for the building of four new prisons which will be commissioned in the 2005/2006 financial year. These prisons will be in Gauteng, the Northern Cape and North West Province.

During the past 10 years, while government has made huge strides in the transformation of policing as well as the prosecutorial and judicial system, we must acknowledge that within Correctional Services, transformation did not always receive the attention that it warranted. Much of our focus was on safe custody. A turn around on this narrow focus has already been started under my predecessor, Honourable Ben Skosana and Commissioner Mti. Our strategic plans for 2004 to 2007 will build on this foundation of transforming the department and the correctional system.

At Correctional Services, we are committed to playing our part in furthering integrated governance within the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster. Our programmes will be consistently aimed at contributing towards delivery on the security priorities as outlined in the State of the Nation Address. Central to this is effective correction, focused rehabilitation and the social reintegration of offenders into their communities.

A Draft White Paper on Corrections has been approved by Cabinet and a joint Task Team with Treasury has also finalised the costing of the White Paper's Implementation Plan. This will be presented to Cabinet and upon approval, a Policy Conference will be held in the latter part of the year to align existing policies with it. The White Paper is aimed at steering the transformation of the correctional system and delivery on rehabilitation. Over the next decade, we will pursue a new direction in correctional management and the Department will contribute fully to the drive towards the attainment of social crime prevention and effective integrated criminal justice in the country.

The imperatives from which we derive our mandate at Correctional Services, that include the Constitution, the White Paper, the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998, its Regulations, Policies and Procedures, create the space for concentrated delivery. We have opted to develop best practice in the implementation of the White Paper through establishing Centres of Excellence in each region. In these Centres we will be able to put into practice the needs-based corrections, development and care programmes that are implicit in the White Paper. A total of 36 Centres of Excellence will be put in place. Already, 23 sites have been identified, with the regional breakdown being four for the Western Cape, three for the Eastern Cape, three for KwaZulu-Natal, three for Free State/Northern Cape, five for Gauteng and five for Mpumalanga, Limpopo/North West.

The White Paper calls for a profound commitment by South Africans to create the conditions in which the correctional system is solely challenged with the care and correction of those who require focused attention of professional correctional officials and those who require to be corrected outside of the mainstream of society. Crime prevention and rehabilitation require a social compact between government and civil society, and as such, I believe that we need to mobilise our communities around issues of social cohesion, social justice, moral regeneration, ethical values, and socio-economic development.

Correction is indeed not merely a mandate of the Department responsible for running the correctional centres and community corrections offices. Correction is a societal responsibility of all institutions and individuals. As Government, we believe that correction, both as self-correction and correction of others, is inherent in good citizenship. Correctional Services is tasked to place rehabilitation at the centre of all of its activities, but the challenge of social reintegration of offenders into their families and communities, is not achievable without partnerships.

The JCPS Cluster has taken the lead in forging partnerships and the high degree of coordination and cooperation within the cluster must be extended to provinces and local government structures. It is crucial for Correctional Services that we forge similar partnerships and levels of coordination and integration with provincial departments responsible for safety and security, social development and health. Currently, we participate in Justice and Safety forums at provincial and local government level where issues such as information sharing, overcrowding, awaiting trial detainees and alternative sentencing are addressed.

Of major concern is the increasing number of young people committing crimes. More than 73 000 young people in the prime of their lives are in our facilities, with 26 781 between the ages of 18 to 25 years being awaiting trial detainees. Some may indeed be there due to the lack of alternative facilities for children awaiting trial. Others are there because they have been charged with and sentenced for heinous crimes that include murder, rape and drug abuse. This has increased the responsibilities on Correctional Services and the Department of Social Development who has a significant role to play in providing for the care of children in distress. Provincial Social Development Departments will increasingly have to manage places of safety for young offenders as an alternative to being placed in correctional centres.

So too, the provision of health services for inmates is growing in importance. Most provincial departments are diverting their responsibilities relating to health to Correctional Services. We enter into Service Level Agreements with provinces for the provision of health services, for which we have to pay without any concomitant increase in our budget. Add to this, our difficulty in attracting and retaining health professionals and you would begin to appreciate the need for greater integration between the three tiers of government if we want to remain true to our mandate of service delivery to all our people.

I will be embarking on road shows in the provinces to meet political leaders and to give effect to community outreach programmes of Correctional Services. I am calling on the support of Premiers and MECs in this regard and invite members of the NCOP to join me in September when we reach out to communities throughout the country. We will launch a project, "Correction as a Societal Responsibility" that will culminate in community activities at Drakenstein Correctional Centre in the Western Cape on Heritage Day. I do realise that communities are angry with inmates who are often perceived as being contemptuous of the rule of law.

It remains our responsibility at Correctional Services and as national and provincial political leaders to convince the public that correction and rehabilitation do not translate into soft-peddling on crime. We need to convince our constituents that correction and rehabilitation are aimed at ensuring the safety and security of the public. They must understand that we cannot release angry young people into society who have had no benefit of correction and rehabilitation. If we continue to do that, it is at the risk of increasing levels of repeat offending. I want to extend a hand to communities to assist me in ensuring that intervention and rehabilitation programmes become compulsory for young offenders. We cannot leave them at the mercy of the masters of crime who operate within our correctional centres.

We call on Honourable Members to join us as we strive to ensure that our resources are prioritised towards correction and development of the youth, and in particular first offence youth. It is the youth to whom we have the highest moral obligation to correct their offending behaviour and to steer them away from the influence and control of habitual inmates.

We also need to increasingly encourage the use of appropriate alternative sentencing options within the criminal justice system. The Department must enhance service delivery to parolees and probationers in order to prevent repeat offending, which has an impact on expenditure. Within our budget, provision has been made for constituting and implementing Remission and Parole Boards and it is envisaged that recruitment of staff for Parole Boards will start next month while training will follow in August.

As we proceed with the transformation of the correctional system, we need the criminal justice system to be responsive to the greater capacity for rehabilitation and correction that will emerge in the Department. This must inform the approach that we develop to sentencing and to releasing offenders on parole, both of which must be focused on furthering the correction of the offending behaviour of the sentenced offender.

It is true that there are DCS members who do not see themselves as service providers as evidenced by the illegal actions at Barberton and Nelspruit. The transformation of the Department must entail addressing improved service delivery by our officials, who must fully understand that their function is to provide services to offenders, their families and friends. We need committed front line workers such as those who I alluded to earlier and we must demonstrate appreciation when they go beyond the reasonable call of duty. Consideration is being given to implementing service delivery excellence awards nationally, through which members would be judged by their peers and honoured accordingly.

Cabinet has also endorsed the introduction of a Departmental corporate identity that enables all members to identify themselves with DCS. Through this, members also have some indication of respective positions within the Department. Uniform and insignia are a reflection of the mutual respect that is expected from our members. We are committed to instilling in the DCS a strong sense of personal and organisational discipline. Communities will never respect us as long as we engage in activities that are in conflict with the best interests of the people that we claim to serve. We must dispel the public perception that we are an organisation riddled with corruption and maladministration. In order to do this, we must start dealing effectively and expeditiously with corruption. I am committed to supporting the work of the Jali Commission. We have already benefited from the Interim Reports of the Jali Commission and the investigations of the Special Investigative Unit (SIU). Culprits will be prosecuted and they need to know that they will no longer be able to exploit weaknesses within internal disciplinary procedures. Later this morning, I will take delivery of a Report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that has completed an assessment of anti-corruption capacity within the Department. This important study will assist us in shifting the focus to corruption prevention and in this way; undermine the inherent tendency towards corruption.

Our Disciplinary Code and Procedure has been exploited by corrupt members and I am currently studying a proposed revised Disciplinary Code and Procedure that would hopefully contribute towards dealing with the menace of corruption.

I would like to acknowledge the presence of the Chairperson of the National Council for Correctional Services, Judge Desai; the Inspecting Judge, Judge Fagan; Kgoshi Mokoena, the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Affairs; and invite them, together with all Honourable Members in this House, to join me in ensuring that the Department lives up to its Mission of placing rehabilitation at the centre of all our activities. I want to invite Members to hold us accountable to our commitment to a cleansed, trained and dedicated management; sound working relationships between managers and personnel in order to deliver on rehabilitation; seeking improved working conditions for our members; the delivery of our core services and enhanced corruption prevention capacity.

The planned HIV/AIDS Prevalence and Attitude Survey is a key priority for 2004/2005. Currently, we are not accredited to dispense anti-retroviral therapy and patients who qualify for such treatment, are referred to accredited sites of the Department of Health. With regard to our Development Programme, we will concentrate resources on literacy, education, skills development and recreation and sport as part of rehabilitation. The priority areas in relation to security are to ensure that the escape trend moves downwards, and that the safety of offenders is improved, in particular through an anti-rape strategy within our facilities.

We accept that Correctional Services is in need of a major shake-up but want to report that it has begun. Please do join us as we venture on a journey that should change the face of corrections in this country. We expect hurdles along the way, even major ones. We expect disruptive elements to continue testing the limits of our patience. Yes, we can possibly even predict that we will be confronted with more Nelspruits and Barbertons. This might cause a slight slowing down of the journey along the way but no diversions will be brooked. I again invite all stakeholders, including the Unions, to match our commitment to a better life for all.

I thank you.

Enquiries: Graham Abrahams
Cell: 082 453 2244
Issued by: Ministry of Correctional Services
29 June 2004

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