Date: 25/07/2005
Source: Department of Correctional Services
Title:Balfour: Orientation session for Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards
Address by the Minister of Correctional Services, Mr BMN Balfour, MP, at an Orientation Session for Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons of the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards held at Birchwood Executive Hotel and Conference Centre, Boksburg, on 25 - 26 July 2005
Programme Director
Commissioner Linda Mti
Chief Deputy Commissioners and Managers
Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons
Ladies and Gentlemen
Since my appointment as the Minister of Correctional Services by the President in April last year, there have been a few significant milestones worth recalling here this morning. Amongst the milestones but certainly not limited to these, are the promulgation of the Correctional Services Act, 1998, No 111 of 1998, the introduction of the seven-day week establishment, the adoption of the White Paper on Corrections in SA and the related Centres of Excellence, the constitution of the National Council for Correctional Services whose Chairperson, Judge Siraj Desai, is expected to address you tomorrow, the implementation of the remission of sentence for sentenced offenders and parolees and of course, the appointment of our newly-constituted Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards.
In some way or other, all these milestones impact directly on your functions as the leadership of the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards. And I am mentioning these milestones very specifically because these are matters that collectively contribute to the core business of the Department of Correctional Services.
You are now directly involved in the core business of the department and it becomes your responsibility to ensure that our mandate is carried out without fear or favour. You are being entrusted not only with a position of responsibility as Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons but also with a legal and constitutional mandate to ensure compliance and delivery. It is no easy task facing you in your new positions and if any of you harbour ideas that being appointed to these positions places you in a comfort zone, you are in for a horribly rude awakening.
In a real sense, you are pioneers. You are entering what can be described as virgin territory. As much as the White Paper represents a departure from the old and a new strategic policy direction for the correctional system, the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards give effect to this new way of thinking within the department. It will require a major mind- shift in attitudes and practices by those who have been in the correctional system in the past; having to unlearn much that has been acceptable then but that has no place in our new approach to corrections. We also have people who have had no experience in the correctional system and for them this is the start of a new learning curve; one that can be critical to the success or otherwise for our new policy direction.
I will be touching on a number of issues that you will be confronted with during your tenure of office but would first like us to consider your role as servants of the public of South Africa. By accepting the positions of Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons, you have also accepted the responsibility to serve our people and to deliver on our mandate as Correctional Services. You are servants of the people – nothing more and nothing less. In the same way that President Thabo Mbeki has a moral and legal obligation to put people first, you and I have a similar obligation.
Batho Pele is not an empty slogan of rhetoric. Batho Pele is a way of life; it is a commitment to deliver. It is putting the needs and interests of the people that we serve above our own. When you accepted office, you accepted to remain true to the Batho Pele principles. These are eight principles that must be engrained in our conscious. It must form the basis of all our dealings with members of the public. Looking at your programme for the two days, you are going to be bombarded with information. Much of it will be to give practical effect to your work. If you absorb nothing else, go home with the eight Batho Pele principles as the guide to all your work. These principles are:
* Consultation - As leaders and managers, you must listen to and take into account the views of the people you serve and pay heed to their needs
* Access – As Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons, ensure easy and comfortable access to the services that you are supposed to provide.
* Courtesy - In your position, the citizens of our country are your clients. Treat these customers with consideration and respect. Never make it a burden for them to approach you.
* Setting standards – You are in the unique position to determine the standards to be set. What you do now, will determine whether the public have a high regard or not for Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards. It is up to you to ensure that the promised level and quality of services are always of the highest possible standard.
* Information – You have the opportunity to provide excellent information on your services.
This is a new innovation for our country. People do not understand the correctional and parole system. You can now influence this by providing accurate and accessible information.
* Openness and Transparency – Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards must not be like the proverbial brother that you want to hide from the public because of his wrong-doings. You also do not have a monopoly on the functioning of the Boards. If you want to find acceptance of your decisions and rulings, you should be open to public scrutiny; allow your decisions to be questioned and respond honestly and frankly to such questions. No hidden agendas, no favours, no home-town decisions as in sporting parlance. * Redress – Do not allow standards of service to fall below the promised levels. Where it does happen, respond swiftly and sympathetically. Do not make excuses for poor service delivery.
* Value for money – You have the chance to add value to the lives of our citizens. You deal with offenders, victims and the public at large. Their needs could be completely diverse. You are best placed to serve those needs and to bring value to their lives.
Let us now see how these principles relate to some of the issues that you will have to come to grips with as the drivers of our Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards.
The Correctional Services Act makes it clear that I appoint the Boards that have a clearly defined membership. For the first time in our correctional system, communities will now play a critical role in decision-making processes on the Boards. You will not be making recommendations. You will take decisions and would have to stand or fall by those decisions. You are given a degree of independence in your decision making but as in any other sphere of public life that independence is subject to limitations. Nothing is absolute. You are not independent of the correctional system. Nor are you elevated above the correctional system. In fact, you are an extension of the correctional system subject to recall and sanction as outlined in the Act.
This system needs to gain credibility. If we want the public to accept societal responsibility for corrections, then we must involve the public in the correctional system. The appointment of members of communities to the 52 Boards including the position of Chairperson, is a step in the direction of promoting this objective. But the public will not allow itself to be taken for a ride. If the Chairperson is supposed to represent his or her community, then he or she would have to do just that. You are not being put in a position of power to the detriment of communities. You are not being entrusted with power as a form of control or manipulation. If you do that, you will expose yourself and it will be the community that you are supposed to represent who would demand your removal.
In understanding your role especially that of Chairperson, know that it is not limited to chairing meetings. If anyone of you have illusions about this, get rid of it now. We are not appointing people at such senior levels simply to chair meetings. Managing your respective Boards is but a small part of your responsibilities. The real work is what you do outside of the functioning of the Boards.
As fulltime employees, you would have to be in constant liaison with the communities you serve. Your functions would include engaging communities, marketing the Boards and its work and ensuring that structures exist within communities to facilitate your work on the Boards.
The correctional system is part of the extended integrated criminal justice system. If we want your decisions to have the desired outcomes and to contribute towards the overall fight against crime, you would have to be involved in structures in communities that work. The ideal is that in every area of jurisdiction of our 52 Boards, there would exist an organised integrated justice system cluster consisting of representatives of amongst others, the police, the prosecuting authorities, the magistracy, the judiciary, the correctional system and even Social Development and Education. If you want your Board to be effective and not just another lame-duck initiative, you would have to take the lead in setting up such structures where they do not exist and ensure its sustainability, viability and effectiveness.
But your area of work in communities goes even beyond that. You would have to engage community organisations, religion, schools, local structures, community leaders including traditional leadership and every structure that impacts on communities. They will be the key to the success of your work. Networking becomes a critical element of your work. You will not be office-bound. The area under your jurisdiction will be your office.
This is not going to be a comfort zone for anyone. If you had illusions that this would be an easy ride into the sunset, you are in for a rude awakening. You are going to be measured by your outcomes. This is not another easy pay day. I am determined to ensure that this system works. I might not be able to have a direct hold over every one of the 52 Boards, but make no mistake, I will be monitoring your work like a hawk. There will be no place to hide. You had a choice when accepting this position, and by damn, you are going to have to deliver.
Your work is informed by a number of legal documents that you would be considering during this session. I will not delve into that but it is critical that while you would have to work within the parameters of the law, it is important that you take initiative in putting in place an operational system that will best serve the needs of your area. Information remains power. What you do with that power, however, is critical. If you want to manipulate it, you will already be on a negative footing.
The chain of command and accountability is clear. Your independence does not mean that you have free reign. Rigid norms are set for your work. You will be under the jurisdiction of your respective Area Commissioners, the Regional Office and ultimately Head Office. As chairpersons, you were appointed for the skills that you bring to the table. You could be facing some tensions, especially if there is a perception that you are new to the correctional system. But such tensions are not necessarily bad. How you respond to it will determine how effective your working relationships are on your Boards.
As Chairpersons, you will be working with Vice Chairpersons and others who have been long in the integrated justice system, including the correctional system. This could present certain challenges to you as some might feel that you are filling positions which they would have wanted. You would have to deal sensitively, yet firmly with such challenges. It could yet contribute towards the effectiveness or otherwise of your Board. Bold leadership is wanted but this must always be matched with hard work.
The department has put in place certain systems and mechanisms that will guide your work and allow for assessing and monitoring. This will be strictly adhered to and will be reinforced by both scheduled and unannounced visits to your areas by various parties. The Minister will also pay you visits. This is not to spy on you but to determine whether we are on track with our objectives of building a caring correctional system.
As trendsetters, you have a tremendous responsibility. You literally hold the key to the status of certain categories of offenders within the correctional system. But you also have a responsibility to the victims of crime and their families. Victims now have a direct say in the correctional supervision and parole system. If we want credibility, we will have to involve victims and communities on much more than just a superficial level.
In your work you must also be sensitive to other departments making up the integrated justice system. We must not be seen as undermining their work nor forcing our opinions on them. Cooperative governance is the key to success for you. If you ignore it, you do so at your peril.
There are two other groupings that you would have to establish very close working relationships with if you are to succeed in your work. This includes the Pre-Release Resettlement unit within the department. If I were in your shoes today and tomorrow, I would not leave until I have made direct contact with people such as Messrs Kriek, de Bruin, Marren and Warnick who I believe are somewhere amongst us. I have a very simple philosophy in life. I like to know my friends and my foes. I want to understand their thinking and I want to be in a position to observe them first-hand. What makes them tick? Which buttons should I press to elicit certain responses? I want to know the terrain in which I am to operate.
Then, there is the Correctional Supervision and Parole Review Board that will be the proverbial watchdog of your work. Selected from the National Council for Correctional Services, a Judge will be the Chairperson of this Review Board. If too many cases of your Board come up for review before them, it could just lead to questions being asked. So you see, while you will be taking decisions, there are a number of checks and balances built into the system that will be a constant reminder to you of the challenges that you face.
We have to finalise 10 more Boards in order to have the entire country covered. My experiences from the Remission of Sentence process give me tremendous confidence and hope for the direction that we are taking. The commitment of officials has been phenomenal. There is a new urgency in the corridors of Correctional Services. I detect a greater sense of ownership of the correctional system. Of course, we still face great challenges but we are moving in the right direction.
You can speed up the pace of change. You can bring value. You can bring a new dimension to the table. You can make a difference. But that would require that you have a plan that works for your Board. If you are going to complain that you do not have the resources to make a difference, then you should rather have a rethink about filling your position. If you are going to moan and groan about not receiving support, then you already start with a disadvantage. If you are only going to be driven by the salary and remuneration package that you think you should be getting, then again, this position is not for you.
This is the start of an exciting challenge. This opens a whole new range of possibilities. See problems as opportunities. The system of Parole Boards can only function optimally if the drivers of it are convinced of its possibilities. Yes, there would be weaknesses. Yes, there would be contradictions. Yes, there would be frustrations.
How you deal with it will be the greatest challenge. You could walk away and shift blame elsewhere. Or, in responding to challenges confronting you, you could consider the following words of the renowned poet and Author, Oliver Wendell Holmes:
“What lies behind us and what lies before us Are tiny matters Compared to what lies within us.”
I leave you to ponder upon that. Do enjoy the Orientation Session and in the process, discover what lies within you.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Correctional Services 25 July 2005
Source: Department of Correctional Services
Source: Department of Correctional Services
Title:Balfour: Orientation session for Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards
Address by the Minister of Correctional Services, Mr BMN Balfour, MP, at an Orientation Session for Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons of the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards held at Birchwood Executive Hotel and Conference Centre, Boksburg, on 25 - 26 July 2005
Programme Director
Commissioner Linda Mti
Chief Deputy Commissioners and Managers
Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons
Ladies and Gentlemen
Since my appointment as the Minister of Correctional Services by the President in April last year, there have been a few significant milestones worth recalling here this morning. Amongst the milestones but certainly not limited to these, are the promulgation of the Correctional Services Act, 1998, No 111 of 1998, the introduction of the seven-day week establishment, the adoption of the White Paper on Corrections in SA and the related Centres of Excellence, the constitution of the National Council for Correctional Services whose Chairperson, Judge Siraj Desai, is expected to address you tomorrow, the implementation of the remission of sentence for sentenced offenders and parolees and of course, the appointment of our newly-constituted Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards.
In some way or other, all these milestones impact directly on your functions as the leadership of the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards. And I am mentioning these milestones very specifically because these are matters that collectively contribute to the core business of the Department of Correctional Services.
You are now directly involved in the core business of the department and it becomes your responsibility to ensure that our mandate is carried out without fear or favour. You are being entrusted not only with a position of responsibility as Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons but also with a legal and constitutional mandate to ensure compliance and delivery. It is no easy task facing you in your new positions and if any of you harbour ideas that being appointed to these positions places you in a comfort zone, you are in for a horribly rude awakening.
In a real sense, you are pioneers. You are entering what can be described as virgin territory. As much as the White Paper represents a departure from the old and a new strategic policy direction for the correctional system, the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards give effect to this new way of thinking within the department. It will require a major mind- shift in attitudes and practices by those who have been in the correctional system in the past; having to unlearn much that has been acceptable then but that has no place in our new approach to corrections. We also have people who have had no experience in the correctional system and for them this is the start of a new learning curve; one that can be critical to the success or otherwise for our new policy direction.
I will be touching on a number of issues that you will be confronted with during your tenure of office but would first like us to consider your role as servants of the public of South Africa. By accepting the positions of Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons, you have also accepted the responsibility to serve our people and to deliver on our mandate as Correctional Services. You are servants of the people – nothing more and nothing less. In the same way that President Thabo Mbeki has a moral and legal obligation to put people first, you and I have a similar obligation.
Batho Pele is not an empty slogan of rhetoric. Batho Pele is a way of life; it is a commitment to deliver. It is putting the needs and interests of the people that we serve above our own. When you accepted office, you accepted to remain true to the Batho Pele principles. These are eight principles that must be engrained in our conscious. It must form the basis of all our dealings with members of the public. Looking at your programme for the two days, you are going to be bombarded with information. Much of it will be to give practical effect to your work. If you absorb nothing else, go home with the eight Batho Pele principles as the guide to all your work. These principles are:
* Consultation - As leaders and managers, you must listen to and take into account the views of the people you serve and pay heed to their needs
* Access – As Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons, ensure easy and comfortable access to the services that you are supposed to provide.
* Courtesy - In your position, the citizens of our country are your clients. Treat these customers with consideration and respect. Never make it a burden for them to approach you.
* Setting standards – You are in the unique position to determine the standards to be set. What you do now, will determine whether the public have a high regard or not for Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards. It is up to you to ensure that the promised level and quality of services are always of the highest possible standard.
* Information – You have the opportunity to provide excellent information on your services.
This is a new innovation for our country. People do not understand the correctional and parole system. You can now influence this by providing accurate and accessible information.
* Openness and Transparency – Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards must not be like the proverbial brother that you want to hide from the public because of his wrong-doings. You also do not have a monopoly on the functioning of the Boards. If you want to find acceptance of your decisions and rulings, you should be open to public scrutiny; allow your decisions to be questioned and respond honestly and frankly to such questions. No hidden agendas, no favours, no home-town decisions as in sporting parlance. * Redress – Do not allow standards of service to fall below the promised levels. Where it does happen, respond swiftly and sympathetically. Do not make excuses for poor service delivery.
* Value for money – You have the chance to add value to the lives of our citizens. You deal with offenders, victims and the public at large. Their needs could be completely diverse. You are best placed to serve those needs and to bring value to their lives.
Let us now see how these principles relate to some of the issues that you will have to come to grips with as the drivers of our Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards.
The Correctional Services Act makes it clear that I appoint the Boards that have a clearly defined membership. For the first time in our correctional system, communities will now play a critical role in decision-making processes on the Boards. You will not be making recommendations. You will take decisions and would have to stand or fall by those decisions. You are given a degree of independence in your decision making but as in any other sphere of public life that independence is subject to limitations. Nothing is absolute. You are not independent of the correctional system. Nor are you elevated above the correctional system. In fact, you are an extension of the correctional system subject to recall and sanction as outlined in the Act.
This system needs to gain credibility. If we want the public to accept societal responsibility for corrections, then we must involve the public in the correctional system. The appointment of members of communities to the 52 Boards including the position of Chairperson, is a step in the direction of promoting this objective. But the public will not allow itself to be taken for a ride. If the Chairperson is supposed to represent his or her community, then he or she would have to do just that. You are not being put in a position of power to the detriment of communities. You are not being entrusted with power as a form of control or manipulation. If you do that, you will expose yourself and it will be the community that you are supposed to represent who would demand your removal.
In understanding your role especially that of Chairperson, know that it is not limited to chairing meetings. If anyone of you have illusions about this, get rid of it now. We are not appointing people at such senior levels simply to chair meetings. Managing your respective Boards is but a small part of your responsibilities. The real work is what you do outside of the functioning of the Boards.
As fulltime employees, you would have to be in constant liaison with the communities you serve. Your functions would include engaging communities, marketing the Boards and its work and ensuring that structures exist within communities to facilitate your work on the Boards.
The correctional system is part of the extended integrated criminal justice system. If we want your decisions to have the desired outcomes and to contribute towards the overall fight against crime, you would have to be involved in structures in communities that work. The ideal is that in every area of jurisdiction of our 52 Boards, there would exist an organised integrated justice system cluster consisting of representatives of amongst others, the police, the prosecuting authorities, the magistracy, the judiciary, the correctional system and even Social Development and Education. If you want your Board to be effective and not just another lame-duck initiative, you would have to take the lead in setting up such structures where they do not exist and ensure its sustainability, viability and effectiveness.
But your area of work in communities goes even beyond that. You would have to engage community organisations, religion, schools, local structures, community leaders including traditional leadership and every structure that impacts on communities. They will be the key to the success of your work. Networking becomes a critical element of your work. You will not be office-bound. The area under your jurisdiction will be your office.
This is not going to be a comfort zone for anyone. If you had illusions that this would be an easy ride into the sunset, you are in for a rude awakening. You are going to be measured by your outcomes. This is not another easy pay day. I am determined to ensure that this system works. I might not be able to have a direct hold over every one of the 52 Boards, but make no mistake, I will be monitoring your work like a hawk. There will be no place to hide. You had a choice when accepting this position, and by damn, you are going to have to deliver.
Your work is informed by a number of legal documents that you would be considering during this session. I will not delve into that but it is critical that while you would have to work within the parameters of the law, it is important that you take initiative in putting in place an operational system that will best serve the needs of your area. Information remains power. What you do with that power, however, is critical. If you want to manipulate it, you will already be on a negative footing.
The chain of command and accountability is clear. Your independence does not mean that you have free reign. Rigid norms are set for your work. You will be under the jurisdiction of your respective Area Commissioners, the Regional Office and ultimately Head Office. As chairpersons, you were appointed for the skills that you bring to the table. You could be facing some tensions, especially if there is a perception that you are new to the correctional system. But such tensions are not necessarily bad. How you respond to it will determine how effective your working relationships are on your Boards.
As Chairpersons, you will be working with Vice Chairpersons and others who have been long in the integrated justice system, including the correctional system. This could present certain challenges to you as some might feel that you are filling positions which they would have wanted. You would have to deal sensitively, yet firmly with such challenges. It could yet contribute towards the effectiveness or otherwise of your Board. Bold leadership is wanted but this must always be matched with hard work.
The department has put in place certain systems and mechanisms that will guide your work and allow for assessing and monitoring. This will be strictly adhered to and will be reinforced by both scheduled and unannounced visits to your areas by various parties. The Minister will also pay you visits. This is not to spy on you but to determine whether we are on track with our objectives of building a caring correctional system.
As trendsetters, you have a tremendous responsibility. You literally hold the key to the status of certain categories of offenders within the correctional system. But you also have a responsibility to the victims of crime and their families. Victims now have a direct say in the correctional supervision and parole system. If we want credibility, we will have to involve victims and communities on much more than just a superficial level.
In your work you must also be sensitive to other departments making up the integrated justice system. We must not be seen as undermining their work nor forcing our opinions on them. Cooperative governance is the key to success for you. If you ignore it, you do so at your peril.
There are two other groupings that you would have to establish very close working relationships with if you are to succeed in your work. This includes the Pre-Release Resettlement unit within the department. If I were in your shoes today and tomorrow, I would not leave until I have made direct contact with people such as Messrs Kriek, de Bruin, Marren and Warnick who I believe are somewhere amongst us. I have a very simple philosophy in life. I like to know my friends and my foes. I want to understand their thinking and I want to be in a position to observe them first-hand. What makes them tick? Which buttons should I press to elicit certain responses? I want to know the terrain in which I am to operate.
Then, there is the Correctional Supervision and Parole Review Board that will be the proverbial watchdog of your work. Selected from the National Council for Correctional Services, a Judge will be the Chairperson of this Review Board. If too many cases of your Board come up for review before them, it could just lead to questions being asked. So you see, while you will be taking decisions, there are a number of checks and balances built into the system that will be a constant reminder to you of the challenges that you face.
We have to finalise 10 more Boards in order to have the entire country covered. My experiences from the Remission of Sentence process give me tremendous confidence and hope for the direction that we are taking. The commitment of officials has been phenomenal. There is a new urgency in the corridors of Correctional Services. I detect a greater sense of ownership of the correctional system. Of course, we still face great challenges but we are moving in the right direction.
You can speed up the pace of change. You can bring value. You can bring a new dimension to the table. You can make a difference. But that would require that you have a plan that works for your Board. If you are going to complain that you do not have the resources to make a difference, then you should rather have a rethink about filling your position. If you are going to moan and groan about not receiving support, then you already start with a disadvantage. If you are only going to be driven by the salary and remuneration package that you think you should be getting, then again, this position is not for you.
This is the start of an exciting challenge. This opens a whole new range of possibilities. See problems as opportunities. The system of Parole Boards can only function optimally if the drivers of it are convinced of its possibilities. Yes, there would be weaknesses. Yes, there would be contradictions. Yes, there would be frustrations.
How you deal with it will be the greatest challenge. You could walk away and shift blame elsewhere. Or, in responding to challenges confronting you, you could consider the following words of the renowned poet and Author, Oliver Wendell Holmes:
“What lies behind us and what lies before us Are tiny matters Compared to what lies within us.”
I leave you to ponder upon that. Do enjoy the Orientation Session and in the process, discover what lies within you.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Correctional Services 25 July 2005
Source: Department of Correctional Services
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