The matter first came to the attention of MPs last week, during a briefing by the inspectorate to members of Parliament's correctional services portfolio committee.

Discussion on the long delay in tabling the report, which was signed off by former Acting Inspecting Judge of Prisons, Nathan Erasmus, on March 31 this year, ended with chairman Dennis Bloem saying the matter would be further investigated.

"The committee will call Judge Nathan and [Correctional Services] Minister [Ngconde] Balfour to a meeting to explain what has happened," he said at the time. But on Friday, speaking ahead of a second briefing by the
inspectorate to his committee, Bloem said the matter had now been cleared up -- the delay was the result of bungling by unnamed officials in Parliament's documents section, where incoming papers and reports are received.
He read extracts from a letter of apology sent by Peter Lebeko, the manager of Parliament's documentation centre.
In the letter, Lebeko acknowledges 510 copies of the annual report were received on June 19 this year, but says his officials did not follow proper procedure.

"The books arrived in our stores, but the officials failed to notify us about the receipt. It is a standard procedure that when books are received, the relevant department is notified and given copies to ensure the tabling of the document. "Officials in the store failed to do this, and this should not have happened," the letter states.

Bloem said neither the minister's office nor the inspectorate could be "put in a box" over the matter.
"Clearly, at the centre of this problem, Parliament. Officials... are saying these books were received on June 19, and they have not done what they are supposed to be doing. "We can't ignore this -- I will take it up... with the Speaker of Parliament to say this is not correct. It is not right... members of Parliament were meant to get [the report] and they did not." He also vowed to ensure action was taken "about these officials who have not taken Parliament seriously".

Bloem said the report was officially tabled by Balfour on Thursday this week. The document, widely reported on last week, is scathing of correctional services' efforts to rehabilitate prisoners and offer them adequate health care.

Early last week, and the week before, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya told MPs in the National Assembly "there is something radically wrong" with the management and administration of Parliament, after avoidable delays in the passage of the Children's Amendment Bill.