[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

Chairperson - Honourable Judge Desai
Honourable Members of the Council
Commissioner - Rev Lulamile Mbete
Members of the Executive Committee of the Department

It is an honour and privilege to address this august body at this first meeting of the year in my capacity as Minister of Correctional Services.

May I at the outset, as we enter into the New Year and begin to tackle the challenges that lie ahead, welcome you all as members of the National Council for Correctional Services and assure you of my commitment to put to good use the valued counsel and guidance you provide. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the out-going Chairperson, The Honourable Judge Kumleben, for his role in setting up the Council and to congratulate him for a job well done.

I have appointed the Honourable Judge Desai in terms of section 83 subsection (4) of the Correctional Services Act, 1998, to take over as Chairperson of the Council. The appointment of Judge Desai as Chairperson of the National Council for Correctional Services has met with the full approval of the Minister of Justice, Dr Penuell Maduna.

The appointment of a High Court Judge to assist Judge Desai as vice-chairperson of the Council as contemplated in terms of relevant sections of the Act, shall be made as soon as I have received a recommendation from the Minister of Justice for a suitable replacement to fill this position.

At this stage I would like to enter into a discussion about my expectations, as Minister responsible, regarding the role to be played by the Council in performing its primary function in terms of section 84 subsection (1) to advise, at the request of the Minister or on its own accord, in developing policy in regard to the correctional system and the sentencing process.

In essence, an "ideal" advisory process is one that aims to "improve" policy-making to the extent that policy should reflect the best knowledge and technical practices available.

Therefore, as a starting point, the advisory process needs to determine what knowledge exists, what relevant research is being conducted, and how the results are presented to most usefully serve the policy making process. These are not simple and straightforward issues, given the nature of the complexity of the issues facing the correctional system, which is what makes the role of this body particularly challenging. It is therefore not surprising that the members of the National Council have been chosen for their knowledge, expertise, experience, and for their commitment to the transformation of our criminal justice system into an efficient, effective and integrated system. The advice of this body will therefore be always welcomed and understood in the spirit of this shared commitment.

In order to fulfil a meaningful advisory role as contemplated above, the work of the National Council must invariably be supported by research.

In this regard, section 84 subsection (4) requires the National Commissioner to provide the necessary information and resources to enable the Council to perform its primary function, which should include the appointment of such staff to the secretariat as may be necessary to enable the Council to perform its functions. Furthermore, the Council may appoint such number of committees as it may require to assist it to perform its functions or to enquire or conduct research into any matter falling under its jurisdiction in terms of the Act, or any matter referred to it by the Minister. The procedures at a meeting of the Council shall be determined by the Chairperson in consultation with the other members of the Council, provided that any decision made in this regard shall be taken after due consideration of the principles of openness and transparency. The Act makes provision for a quorum and a decision of the Council.

The Council must only consider requests emanating directly from the Minister's office. I have already discussed this particular subject with the Chairperson.

In this regard, the Chairperson must share the proposed agenda for a meeting of the Council with members prior to the meeting, giving them sufficient time to make inputs. The Chairperson in consultation with the Minister will decide the final agenda.

As a Minister, I am responsible for the powers and functions of the executive assigned to me by the President in terms of the Constitution. In terms of the Constitution, the exercise of executive authority includes inter alia the developing and implementation of national policy. In this regard, I have initiated a process to draft a White Paper on Correctional Services to formulate durable and long-term focused policies for the Department.

A White Paper on Correctional Services gives us an opportunity to embark on a holistic policy formulation process to review existing policy objectives with a view to identifying potential policy options and solutions which incorporate international experience and best practice and provide the greatest value for public monies spent.

Until recently, the Department of Correctional Services was completely inward focused, operating in isolation without any direct supervision from Cabinet and the Minister. This led to a situation where officials were left to their own devices, resulting in a number of improprieties. This also led to a blurring of the executive powers and functions of the Minister to develop policy for the Department, with the Department assuming this role for itself. Notwithstanding the numerous addresses I have made to management to clarify roles, there is still some resistance in some quarters, and hence the reason why officials will sometimes ignore the Minister's office and make direct submissions to the Council.

And I hope for the good of the work of this Council this practice will come to an end, as I have already confided in the National Commissioner to remedy this and enforce proper procedures.

My vision of a White Paper process is one that is underpinned and inspired by practical considerations rather than theory per se and that will deliver a policy framework capable of being transformed into administrative actions supported by relevant structures within existing budgetary and human resource constraints and other inherent limitations.

I also see the White Paper process as an opportunity to embark on an extensive re-examination of the constraints imposed by our physical plant on staffing and maintenance, with the aim of setting policy guidelines and standards for facility design to achieve low operating costs, the construction of cost effective and appropriate facilities to meet our specific needs and the reduction of fixed posts and the number of staff committed to access and migration functions.

In terms of section 84 subsection (2), the Minister must refer draft legislation and major proposed policy developments regarding the correctional system to the National Council for its comments and advice.

I have therefore requested the Director: Ministerial Services to prepare a presentation on the proposed White Paper process for this meeting of the Council so as to obtain the necessary comments and guidance from the Council.

On my advice the National Commissioner will also make a presentation on restructuring of certain aspects of the Head Office of the Department so as to allow effective role-playing, decision making, implementation, management, review and monitoring of the administrative decisions.

As you are quite aware, the last few years have been very difficult for the Department of Correctional Services with one crisis after the other. In the past year, the solution to the problem of overcrowding continued to elude the Department to such extent that we came under immense criticism and pressure for being unable to provide detained persons conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity as contemplated in terms of section 35(2)(e) of the Constitution, 1996. It is common cause that we have an average overpopulation rate of 68% in our prisons.

As a result of overcrowding, we had to detain many children under the age of 18 years referred to us by the Courts in terms of section 29 of the Correctional Services Act, 1959, in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions with inadequate provision for their personal security and health care. In fact, in the Western Cape the Department came under the spotlight for the overcrowded conditions in Pollsmoor Prison especially referring to the conditions under which children under the age of 18 were detained, which culminated in a legal challenge by a group of parents - led Ms Patricia De Lille, for the removal from prison of children under the age of 18 years and the urgent re-dress of their poor health and living conditions.

Notwithstanding the difficulty of convincing our sister departments in the criminal justice about the need for a sustainable reduction strategy to alleviate overcrowding, we were able to successfully implement a release programme which resulted in a significant reduction of the prison population.

In the week of 19 September 2000, we released 6 580 awaiting trial prisoners accused of less serious offences that were granted bail of less than R1000.00 but were unable to afford the bail. We also made a significant reduction in numbers by bringing forward the release date of parolees by a maximum period of nine months achieving a total reduction of approximately 17 000. This is indeed a significant achievement considering that this figure is almost twice the accommodation capacity of all the recent prison construction projects put together, this is so despite the small hitches we experienced with the release of the awaiting trials. The mistakes made will indeed serve as lessons for similar release programmes in future.

I am satisfied with the achievements we made thus far. This year we have adopted a programme that builds on the lessons of 2000 with the following as our main priority areas:

* OVERCROWDING:
* We will utilise all the new prisons:
* Kokstad - accommodation +1 392
* Bloemfontein (APOPS) - accommodation +3 028
* Louis Trichardt (APOPS) - accommodation +2 960
* Devon - +600

* We intend to review the penalisation factors which determine when the Parole Board can consider an offender for parole.
* Rehabilitation and re-opening of prisons that were closed due to dilapidation.
* Enhancement of the functioning of Community Corrections.

* REHABILITATION PROGRAMMES
* Further implementation of unit management.
* Develop and promote a common understanding of Restorative Justice.
* Establishment of a "Partnership Forum for Correctional Services" to promote a collective social responsibility for the rehabilitation and re-integration of offenders into the community as productive and law-abiding citizens.
* Development of an assessment mechanism (possible tool) to measure the success of rehabilitation programmes and contribution towards crime prevention.

* INTENSIFICATION OF THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION AND CRIME IN PRISONS:
* Implementation and extension of anti-crime projects throughout the nine provinces.
* Implementation of a multi-disciplinary community based programme to target youth at risk with crime in poor urban areas.
* Establishment of solid links with SAPS and NIA to combat crime and corruption in prisons.
* Launching of the code of conduct in the provinces.
* Establishment of a new Chief Directorate on Good Governance, which will facilitate a pro-active capacity for anti-corruption measures within the Department. Administrative measures will be put in place to ensure that this unit is independent and completely free from any departmental manipulation.

As Minister, I undertake to ensure that the Department provides the Council with the necessary information and further particulars on any programme it undertakes, which may result in the adoption of new policies, to enable the Council to perform its primary function.

Finally, the National Symposium on Correctional Services held on 1 - 2 August 2000 attended by approximately 160 participants representing approximately 70 stakeholder organisations identified a need to promote a collective social responsibility for the rehabilitation of offenders.

In this regard, I would therefore like to conclude my address by quoting from a translation of Karl Marx by T B Bottomore on the future of society when he says:

"If man is not free, in the Materialist's sense, that is, if he is not negatively free to avoid this or that event, but is positively free to express his true individuality, then rather than punishing individuals for their crimes we should destroy the social conditions which engender crime, and give to each individual the scope which he needs in society in order to develop his life. If man is formed by circumstances, these circumstances must be humanly formed.
If man is, by nature, a social being, he only develops his real nature in society and the power of his nature should be measured not by the power of private individuals but the power of society."

In conclusion I wish you well in your deliberations and your excursion in the next two days.

I THANK YOU.

Issued by the Ministry of Correctional Services, 25 January 2001