Date: 28/09/2004
Source: Ministry of Correctional Services
Title: N Balfour: Zonderwater Training College
ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MR N BALFOUR, MP, TO STUDENTS AT THE ZONDERWATER TRAINING COLLEGE, Pretoria, 28 September 2004
Programme Director
Commissioner Linda Mti
Head of the Training College Ms Rose Sekotlong
Staff Members
New Recruits of DCS
Yesterday was the fifth month since my appointment on 27 April as Minister of Correctional Services by President Thabo Mbeki. I immediately went onto a steep learning curve. Faced with the prospect of managing a budget of over eight billion rand and a staff complement of 33 000 people, it was a far cry from the days of my earlier life when I had a budget of just over R240 million and about 60 staff members.
It was the proverbial chalk and cheese situation. There was just no comparison. I was entering a new, unknown world; one where I had to decide to swim or face possible drowning. It was a tremendous challenge that I faced but I was relishing the opportunity presented to me, no matter the ebb and flow of the waves.
As new recruits to Correctional Services, doing a Learnership on Correctional Science, you find yourselves in a somewhat similar situation.
Some of you have probably come straight from a school situation into an adult environment of work and decision-making. Others might have already tasted the challenges of employment in earning a living. Still others might never have been employed before. But none of you would have yet experienced both the joys and the challenges of being a correctional official, based permanently in one of our correctional centres.
I am sure that there are a variety of reasons why you chose to seek a career within Correctional Services. Perhaps it is because you could not find anything different to do. Perhaps you were attracted by the uniform. Perhaps you have friends or family working for Correctional Services. And, perhaps, you were more idealistic, and saw the opportunity of working in Correctional Services as a chance to contribute towards the building of our country and serving our people.
Whatever your reasons might have been, you now have the chance to forge a career within Correctional Services. You have the opportunity to become part of what I have described as the Correctional Services truck. This is no conventional truck. It is a huge truck; slow-moving at first as it gets into gear. It carries a huge cargo in addition to a trailer. But this truck has only one destination and whoever decides to get onto the truck, is more than just a passenger. Yes, there is one driver but with a number of co-drivers and literally thousands of navigators of various ranks.
I happen to be that driver with Deputy Minister Cheryl Gilwald as the first co-driver and National Commissioner Linda Mti as the second co-driver. We have the responsibility of steering the truck to its destination. When we took on this responsibility, we did it voluntarily, knowing full well the challenges and obstacles that we would encounter. We knew that we would have to engage the gears, ensure that the breaks are in working order, but above all, like the driver of a long-haul carrier, ensure that our cargo remains on board en route to our destination.
We depend to a great extent on the navigators on board to map out the route as we negotiate the highways; as we go into bends; as we gather speed and, yes, even when we have to reverse at times. In order to reach that destination, all of us on board must be of one mind. Every team member has a part to play. Every component of that truck must be synchronised because only then will we be able to move ahead smoothly. Every navigator has a responsibility, none more important than the other. If one fails, it has a ripple effect, impacting on our journey and causing us to slow down.
You have decided to join this Correctional Services truck. You have agreed to be apprenticed as a technician, as a navigator, as a team member. At the moment, you find yourself at the back on the trailer. You have to learn the art of the trade. You have to find a niche for yourself in the team. But your role is not of less importance than that of the driver and co-drivers. They will not be able to reach the destination without dedicated team members. Along the way, they might even decide to shed some cargo, navigators and team members who hinder forward movement. But that would be in the best interests of the whole team. If some must be sacrificed along the way in order to reach the goal, so be it.
I am making this analogy because you have decided to be part of this team. Welcome on board. I would enjoy having you as part of the crew. I look forward to the value that you bring and I am certain that your stay at this college will prepare you for the rigours that you face.
There are some fundamentals that you will have to adopt before you join the team on a permanent basis. You will have to go through the learning phase and the experiential training and at the end of that, after being assessed, graduate with your licence to become a correctional official. You will have to commit yourself to serving the people of South Africa with pride and humility. You will have to understand how that truck works. You will have to get to grips with its mechanical nature, with its components and with its journey.
It is a challenge that you have accepted as I did on 27 April. You are here because you chose to be here. As such, I expect you to accept and abide by the policies and principles that guide and drive this huge truck that Correctional Services is. Since your arrival here and for the rest of your stay, you will be exposed to all the policy documents that guide our work. This include the Correctional Services Act and related Regulations, our White Paper on Corrections in South Africa and our Orders. But you will also be schooled in security and care matters. You will have to acquire basic management skills, training in health care, rehabilitation and most importantly, an understanding and a commitment to human rights practices.
Thereafter, you will have nine months of experiential training, putting into practice the theoretical training that you will acquire here.
I understand that you are a contingent of 461 students. I want to emphasise that all the training in the world will be of no value to you if you do not make a personal commitment to your profession. You need to be developing a personal work ethic. If your attitude is negative, your work environment will be negative. If you think you can get away with skipping assignments and tasks during your training, you would want to carry such an attitude over to the workplace. That will be the wrong beginning for you. It will not be a place of new beginnings, as one of our slogans state. You should then rather decide now not to be part of the truck. Join some other organisation, and not Correctional Services.
But if you embrace Correctional Services as really a place of new beginnings, stay right on board. Find a place for yourself on the truck. Show curiosity, enthusiasm and a will to succeed. I urge you to become one of the brand new officials of a new Correctional Services. Do not fall into the trap of bad habits picked up from others. Start afresh with me.
I say it to my members whenever I have the opportunity - you become a Correctional Services official before you become a member of the trade union movement. Yes, it is your right to be a member of a labour organisation and I would be the first to encourage you to join a labour union at some time. But it is important to remain mindful of how you were able to become a member. You first become a correctional official, then a union member. It is a matter of getting our priorities right. It is a question of commitment to our profession; of delivering on our mandate and of service to the people of South Africa.
If you still see your way clear on embracing Correctional Services, then I am pleased to have you as a member of the team. See yourselves as pioneers of our White Paper. See yourselves as pacesetters in implementing the new direction that we are pursuing where corrections and rehabilitation are at the core of our business.
If you succeed in this, you would earn the respect and support of all South Africans and when the Correctional Services truck winds it way through our communities, you will be looked upon with pride by all.
Good luck in your training. May you become the jewel within the Correctional Services crown of loyalty, commitment, dedication, pride and humility.
I thank you all.
Issued by: Ministry of Correctional Services
28 September 2004
Source: Ministry of Correctional Services
Title: N Balfour: Zonderwater Training College
ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MR N BALFOUR, MP, TO STUDENTS AT THE ZONDERWATER TRAINING COLLEGE, Pretoria, 28 September 2004
Programme Director
Commissioner Linda Mti
Head of the Training College Ms Rose Sekotlong
Staff Members
New Recruits of DCS
Yesterday was the fifth month since my appointment on 27 April as Minister of Correctional Services by President Thabo Mbeki. I immediately went onto a steep learning curve. Faced with the prospect of managing a budget of over eight billion rand and a staff complement of 33 000 people, it was a far cry from the days of my earlier life when I had a budget of just over R240 million and about 60 staff members.
It was the proverbial chalk and cheese situation. There was just no comparison. I was entering a new, unknown world; one where I had to decide to swim or face possible drowning. It was a tremendous challenge that I faced but I was relishing the opportunity presented to me, no matter the ebb and flow of the waves.
As new recruits to Correctional Services, doing a Learnership on Correctional Science, you find yourselves in a somewhat similar situation.
Some of you have probably come straight from a school situation into an adult environment of work and decision-making. Others might have already tasted the challenges of employment in earning a living. Still others might never have been employed before. But none of you would have yet experienced both the joys and the challenges of being a correctional official, based permanently in one of our correctional centres.
I am sure that there are a variety of reasons why you chose to seek a career within Correctional Services. Perhaps it is because you could not find anything different to do. Perhaps you were attracted by the uniform. Perhaps you have friends or family working for Correctional Services. And, perhaps, you were more idealistic, and saw the opportunity of working in Correctional Services as a chance to contribute towards the building of our country and serving our people.
Whatever your reasons might have been, you now have the chance to forge a career within Correctional Services. You have the opportunity to become part of what I have described as the Correctional Services truck. This is no conventional truck. It is a huge truck; slow-moving at first as it gets into gear. It carries a huge cargo in addition to a trailer. But this truck has only one destination and whoever decides to get onto the truck, is more than just a passenger. Yes, there is one driver but with a number of co-drivers and literally thousands of navigators of various ranks.
I happen to be that driver with Deputy Minister Cheryl Gilwald as the first co-driver and National Commissioner Linda Mti as the second co-driver. We have the responsibility of steering the truck to its destination. When we took on this responsibility, we did it voluntarily, knowing full well the challenges and obstacles that we would encounter. We knew that we would have to engage the gears, ensure that the breaks are in working order, but above all, like the driver of a long-haul carrier, ensure that our cargo remains on board en route to our destination.
We depend to a great extent on the navigators on board to map out the route as we negotiate the highways; as we go into bends; as we gather speed and, yes, even when we have to reverse at times. In order to reach that destination, all of us on board must be of one mind. Every team member has a part to play. Every component of that truck must be synchronised because only then will we be able to move ahead smoothly. Every navigator has a responsibility, none more important than the other. If one fails, it has a ripple effect, impacting on our journey and causing us to slow down.
You have decided to join this Correctional Services truck. You have agreed to be apprenticed as a technician, as a navigator, as a team member. At the moment, you find yourself at the back on the trailer. You have to learn the art of the trade. You have to find a niche for yourself in the team. But your role is not of less importance than that of the driver and co-drivers. They will not be able to reach the destination without dedicated team members. Along the way, they might even decide to shed some cargo, navigators and team members who hinder forward movement. But that would be in the best interests of the whole team. If some must be sacrificed along the way in order to reach the goal, so be it.
I am making this analogy because you have decided to be part of this team. Welcome on board. I would enjoy having you as part of the crew. I look forward to the value that you bring and I am certain that your stay at this college will prepare you for the rigours that you face.
There are some fundamentals that you will have to adopt before you join the team on a permanent basis. You will have to go through the learning phase and the experiential training and at the end of that, after being assessed, graduate with your licence to become a correctional official. You will have to commit yourself to serving the people of South Africa with pride and humility. You will have to understand how that truck works. You will have to get to grips with its mechanical nature, with its components and with its journey.
It is a challenge that you have accepted as I did on 27 April. You are here because you chose to be here. As such, I expect you to accept and abide by the policies and principles that guide and drive this huge truck that Correctional Services is. Since your arrival here and for the rest of your stay, you will be exposed to all the policy documents that guide our work. This include the Correctional Services Act and related Regulations, our White Paper on Corrections in South Africa and our Orders. But you will also be schooled in security and care matters. You will have to acquire basic management skills, training in health care, rehabilitation and most importantly, an understanding and a commitment to human rights practices.
Thereafter, you will have nine months of experiential training, putting into practice the theoretical training that you will acquire here.
I understand that you are a contingent of 461 students. I want to emphasise that all the training in the world will be of no value to you if you do not make a personal commitment to your profession. You need to be developing a personal work ethic. If your attitude is negative, your work environment will be negative. If you think you can get away with skipping assignments and tasks during your training, you would want to carry such an attitude over to the workplace. That will be the wrong beginning for you. It will not be a place of new beginnings, as one of our slogans state. You should then rather decide now not to be part of the truck. Join some other organisation, and not Correctional Services.
But if you embrace Correctional Services as really a place of new beginnings, stay right on board. Find a place for yourself on the truck. Show curiosity, enthusiasm and a will to succeed. I urge you to become one of the brand new officials of a new Correctional Services. Do not fall into the trap of bad habits picked up from others. Start afresh with me.
I say it to my members whenever I have the opportunity - you become a Correctional Services official before you become a member of the trade union movement. Yes, it is your right to be a member of a labour organisation and I would be the first to encourage you to join a labour union at some time. But it is important to remain mindful of how you were able to become a member. You first become a correctional official, then a union member. It is a matter of getting our priorities right. It is a question of commitment to our profession; of delivering on our mandate and of service to the people of South Africa.
If you still see your way clear on embracing Correctional Services, then I am pleased to have you as a member of the team. See yourselves as pioneers of our White Paper. See yourselves as pacesetters in implementing the new direction that we are pursuing where corrections and rehabilitation are at the core of our business.
If you succeed in this, you would earn the respect and support of all South Africans and when the Correctional Services truck winds it way through our communities, you will be looked upon with pride by all.
Good luck in your training. May you become the jewel within the Correctional Services crown of loyalty, commitment, dedication, pride and humility.
I thank you all.
Issued by: Ministry of Correctional Services
28 September 2004
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