Date: 30/09/2004
Source: Ministry of Correctional Services
Title: N Balfour: Umtata Management Area
ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MR N BALFOUR, MP, DURING A VISIT TO THE UMTATA MANAGEMENT AREA, 30 September 2004
Deputy Regional Commissioner Mr Tseana
Acting Area Commissioner Mr Abersalie
Senior Managers
Heads of Correctional Centres
Members of DCS
Originally, I wanted to include the Umtata Management Area in my Imbizo and Outreach programme but logistics made it impossible. When a gap appeared in my diary, I decided to come here at very short notice.
But thank you for the readiness to accommodate me. I have long wanted to visit Umtata, and for some very good reasons at that. The region has a long history of political struggle and is easily one of the most prominent areas deeply involved in our quest for freedom. When that freedom came in 1994, Umtata had a much more difficult task to shake off the shackles of the past than other regions. It has a political history and an economic backlog so intertwined that the full benefits of democracy has not yet been completely felt.
The region had to be integrated into the Eastern Cape Province, bringing on board many challenges as a result of previous political dispensations that were at odds with our new democracy.
But another reason why I was keen to be here is the public perception of DCS within the Umtata Management Area. This perception, to say the least, has never been positive. The Management Area has been badly tainted in the eyes of the public. If you wanted negative stories of Correctional Services, you were sure to find it in Umtata, is a common refrain that I have heard.
But I am not easily convinced. I do not believe that everything about Umtata is negative. How can it be when the region boasts the type of political record that it has? What I am very much aware of is that the legacy of the past has left Umtata under-resourced, with a poor standard of facilities and none or very little of the modern trappings that make the management of Correctional Centres in other areas easier and less stressful. I have empathy for the challenges that you have to deal with and I sincerely believe that within your ranks there are many good women and men committed to the ethos of Correctional Services. There are some gems amongst you who give expression to our motto of serving with pride and humility.
The trying circumstances that you have to work under make the contribution of such individuals so more significant. To some of you, being in Correctional Services is not just a job, an occupation, a place to earn a living. It is a calling where you are committed to your profession and committed to the task of rehabilitation and correction. For that, I am most grateful and thankful and want to applaud those individuals.
But then there is also the other side of the coin. And that side of the coin is not as pleasing and satisfying. It is one of negativism, opportunism, entitlement, even dishonesty, corruption and certainly, anti-revolutionary. Those are the people who do not deserve to be within Correctional Services. Those are the people who do the good men and women of Correctional Services a disservice. Those are the people who probably contributed nothing to our political struggles of the past and in fact hindered us through their collaboration with our evil past. But today, they want to present themselves as firebrand revolutionaries; as red-hot political activists, ready to toyi-toyi at the drop of a hat and to abandon their places of work. They are the people who discredit the rest of us. And they are within your ranks.
But they must also realise that we are not blind to their activities. This government, led by the ANC of which I am a member, will not be held to ransom by them. As we routed out apartheid, we will route them out with their evil intentions and devious plans. They give Umtata a bad name. They cause Umtata to be regarded as corrupt, inefficient and without morality. They are amongst the enemies of the ordinary people of Umtata and it is at them that we must direct our core business
Source: Ministry of Correctional Services
Title: N Balfour: Umtata Management Area
ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MR N BALFOUR, MP, DURING A VISIT TO THE UMTATA MANAGEMENT AREA, 30 September 2004
Deputy Regional Commissioner Mr Tseana
Acting Area Commissioner Mr Abersalie
Senior Managers
Heads of Correctional Centres
Members of DCS
Originally, I wanted to include the Umtata Management Area in my Imbizo and Outreach programme but logistics made it impossible. When a gap appeared in my diary, I decided to come here at very short notice.
But thank you for the readiness to accommodate me. I have long wanted to visit Umtata, and for some very good reasons at that. The region has a long history of political struggle and is easily one of the most prominent areas deeply involved in our quest for freedom. When that freedom came in 1994, Umtata had a much more difficult task to shake off the shackles of the past than other regions. It has a political history and an economic backlog so intertwined that the full benefits of democracy has not yet been completely felt.
The region had to be integrated into the Eastern Cape Province, bringing on board many challenges as a result of previous political dispensations that were at odds with our new democracy.
But another reason why I was keen to be here is the public perception of DCS within the Umtata Management Area. This perception, to say the least, has never been positive. The Management Area has been badly tainted in the eyes of the public. If you wanted negative stories of Correctional Services, you were sure to find it in Umtata, is a common refrain that I have heard.
But I am not easily convinced. I do not believe that everything about Umtata is negative. How can it be when the region boasts the type of political record that it has? What I am very much aware of is that the legacy of the past has left Umtata under-resourced, with a poor standard of facilities and none or very little of the modern trappings that make the management of Correctional Centres in other areas easier and less stressful. I have empathy for the challenges that you have to deal with and I sincerely believe that within your ranks there are many good women and men committed to the ethos of Correctional Services. There are some gems amongst you who give expression to our motto of serving with pride and humility.
The trying circumstances that you have to work under make the contribution of such individuals so more significant. To some of you, being in Correctional Services is not just a job, an occupation, a place to earn a living. It is a calling where you are committed to your profession and committed to the task of rehabilitation and correction. For that, I am most grateful and thankful and want to applaud those individuals.
But then there is also the other side of the coin. And that side of the coin is not as pleasing and satisfying. It is one of negativism, opportunism, entitlement, even dishonesty, corruption and certainly, anti-revolutionary. Those are the people who do not deserve to be within Correctional Services. Those are the people who do the good men and women of Correctional Services a disservice. Those are the people who probably contributed nothing to our political struggles of the past and in fact hindered us through their collaboration with our evil past. But today, they want to present themselves as firebrand revolutionaries; as red-hot political activists, ready to toyi-toyi at the drop of a hat and to abandon their places of work. They are the people who discredit the rest of us. And they are within your ranks.
But they must also realise that we are not blind to their activities. This government, led by the ANC of which I am a member, will not be held to ransom by them. As we routed out apartheid, we will route them out with their evil intentions and devious plans. They give Umtata a bad name. They cause Umtata to be regarded as corrupt, inefficient and without morality. They are amongst the enemies of the ordinary people of Umtata and it is at them that we must direct our core business
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