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Programme Director
Minister of Home Affairs, Dr MG Buthelezi MP
Members of Parliament
Members of the Judiciary
MEC for Transport, Limpopo, Dr T S Farisani
MEC for Safety and Liaison, Gauteng, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane
Commissioner of Correctional Services, Mr Linda Mti
Directors-General
Correctional Services Management and Staff
Representatives of our stakeholders and partners
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Let me add my voice to the warm words of welcome that have been expressed here by my colleague, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane, who has always given support to the activities of this Department. I also wish to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to you the community for honouring my invitation to this Imbizo.

As we are gathered here, other Cabinet Ministers are engaged in various programmes in promoting the principle of Government coming to the people.

However, it is even more gratifying to see some of the members of the Justice Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster also present at this Imbizo. I recognise Dr M G Buthelezi, the Minister of Home Affairs. Our presence today at this Imbizo Outreach Programme will help to build partnerships and contribute towards providing an answer to President Mbeki's call for us all to build a people's contract for a better South Africa.

This means building a people's contract for a safe and secure South Africa, so that communities work with a bigger police service to fight crime, to help reduce illegal firearms and to fight corruption, the Judiciary in the prosecution and conviction of criminals, and an effective Correctional System to secure, develop and correct the offending behaviour of offenders.

It means building a people's contract for expanded access to social services such as registering those eligible for social grants, including the extended Child Support Grant.

Working in partnership against HIV and AIDS, ensuring that free basic electricity and water reach all who should have them and further expanding social services.

It means building a people's contract for growth and development and for a growing economy that expands economic opportunities and skills development to help reduce unemployment.

It means building a people's contract for more efficient people-centred government that is closer to citizens and provides easier access to services.

It means building a people's contract for African renewal in a safer world and working for peace, democracy and stability throughout our continent and beyond, therefore creating conditions for faster development in our own Country.

Subsequent to successful Imbizo gatherings in the Cape Flats, Western Cape on 1 April and Tzaneen in Limpopo on 3 April led by the Minister of Safety and Security and myself respectively, we deemed it fit to create a platform for dialogue between Government and the people by embarking on a process of identifying stakeholders and interest groups that we must reach in line with our core business.

It is for this reason that we thought it opportune to be here today to interact with all stakeholders and deliberate on issues of concern, as well as to chart the path for future co-operation.

In Correctional Services we were the first to concede and accept that we are not in a position to achieve our mission without collaborating and building partnerships with civil society, as we believe that crime is a societal problem and therefore "Correction" is a societal responsibility. The Department needs the active support of all stakeholders in its fight to change the lives and behaviour of offenders for their successful re-integration into society as law-abiding citizens. The public needs to be properly educated about the correction process in order to eradicate the widely held perception that offenders are society's outcasts, and therefore do not deserve a second chance. Correctional Services must also be recognised as an integral part of the Moral Regeneration Movement.

As a department we fully understand our specific role and mandate in the fight against crime as well as our contribution to the attainment of a just, peaceful and safe society. We also greatly need the involvement of the community in this regard, particularly in the monitoring of parolees and probationers.

We are in the process of establishing Community Corrections Forums to assist in the creation of employment and work opportunities for offenders placed on Community Corrections. Presently we have these forums functioning in the Limpopo province.

As I did on several occasions in the past, I wish to appeal to you to accept those offenders who bring back knowledge and skills acquired in prison through our development programmes. Your involvement is even more important in facilitating and mediating the process of healing and reconciliation between the offender and the victim.

It is unfortunate that prisons or correctional systems, the world over, attract negativity and receive little sympathy from the public. A lot of people in our communities never remove the label of "criminal" from people who served their time, even those who were rehabilitated through our programmes. The reforms that took place with the advent of democracy seem not to be recognized by the society at large.

Professor Dirk Van Zyl Smit provides a clear picture of where the South African prison system comes from:

"The history of the South African prison system in the last twenty years is a history of both change and continuity. On the one hand, there is the history of a system, which formed part of the State apparatus of a minority government, which applied explicitly racial criteria. The prison system itself was governed by highly restrictive legal regime, which included explicitly racist elements. Change in this regard has been significant and on occasion has anticipated change in the national political structure...."

In my addresses to Parliament, I thoroughly canvassed that it is an indisputable fact that the vast majority of inmates in our institutions are from previously disadvantaged groups who are unskilled and of little value in the labour market. It is therefore the responsibility of Government to ensure that they are the beneficiaries of the new democratic dispensation by providing them with the necessary basic skills to enhance their chances of becoming economically active by obtaining formal employment in the labour market and thus helping to break the cycle of crime.

Prison statistics on the origin and background of offenders may be used as indicators for Government social spending. As argued above these areas will be where conditions of leaving are sub-standard and poverty found to be rife.

Non-Governmental Organisations, Faith Based Organisations, Community Based Organisations and Business may also use this information to inform their investment and social responsibility decisions.

In our attempts to transform the prison system to an effective correctional system, we introduced a number of programmes and initiatives intended to give effect to the requirements of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and other Government policies as well as international standards and treaties of the United Nations.

First we wrote a new Act, the Correctional Services Act, Act 111 of 1998. The Act provided for progressive structures and direction that the department would be compelled to follow. These stipulations of the Act ensured that the Department opens itself up to public scrutiny and did not become law unto itself by putting in place some checks and balances.

The establishment of a Judicial Inspectorate which functions independently to report on human rights abuse and conditions of prisons has been a major change. This statutory body is led by a Judge who has the authority of inviting other Judges, including Judges of the Constitutional Court to visit and inspect prisons.

Our incumbent Judge, the honourable Judge J J Fagan has been very active in not only exposing human rights abuses but also assisting the Department to deal with overcrowding.

Apart from the Judge personally conducting inspections, he has appointed Independent Prison Visitors (IPVs) who are members of the community across the country to inspect prisons and listen to complaints of offenders. The Judge is mandated to produce an annual report, which is for public consumption.

Another progressive innovation of the Act is the establishment of independent correctional supervision and parole boards that would be free from undue influence and manipulation by any Departmental officials. The Correctional Services Act stipulates that two members of the Board will be members of the community as well as the Chairperson and Vice-chairperson. Only one member will be deployed from the Department to serve as a secretary of the Board. Other members from the Justice Crime Prevention and Security cluster will be co-opted where necessary. The Boards are empowered by the Act to decide on the parole of every offender accept for certain cases spelt out in the Act.

The Act further stipulates that a complainant or victim or representative may make representations or attend a meeting of the Board.

However, the Act also makes provision for a Parole Review Board, which will review any decision of the parole supervision, and parole board referred to it by the Commissioner of Correctional Services and/or the Minister.

It is envisaged that these structures will be functional by the end of this year. I tasked, the Chairperson of the National Council for Correctional Services, Judge Siraj Desai to assist us in the establishment and functioning of the Boards. I'm informed that work has started in this regard. On 1 April 2003 a joint workshop between the Management of the Department and the National Council for Correctional Services took place in Pretoria.

The National Council for Correctional Services is yet another statutory body established in terms of the Act. It is composed of professionals, academics, practitioners in various fields as well as officials from the Departments of Safety and Security, Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Correctional Services.

The Council is mandated to advise the Minister on all policies or any other matter on Correctional Services. It also considers the placement on parole of offenders serving life sentences.

These fundamental changes are some of the milestones achieved in the reform of Correctional Services in contributing to the maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe South Africa. The understanding of the society at large on how these structures are functioning is crucial as they could also use them to raise issues affecting the Correctional System.

Since the promulgation of the Correctional Services Act, the Department tried to do its best to refocus its functioning and activities to reflect the spirit of the Constitution and the Act in spite of various constraints and challenges to live up to the expectations and satisfaction of the citizens of South Africa.

Be that as it may, we forged ahead in our commitment to putting rehabilitation at the centre of our activities in our quest to transforming our prisons from being so-called "universities of crime" into effective rehabilitation centres that would produce individuals capable of successful re-integration into their communities as economically active and law-abiding citizens.

In support to this strategic direction we also adopted Unit Management as a philosophy in running of prisons.

Unit Management has over the years demonstrated its effectiveness as a strategy to reduce prison violence and control gang activity while contributing to achieving prisoner rehabilitation and effective preparation of offenders for their timely integration as law-abiding citizens.

As unit Management advanced further, it was evident that it needed to be supported by the development of appropriate prison designs to enhance its application and effectiveness.

The Department has resolved to involve the community and the victims of crime in the rehabilitation process and encourage everyone's participation in the enhancement of our programmes. We intend to enhance participation in our restorative justice programme to promote the restoration of relationships between the perpetrators of crime and their victims as well as the community.

As in all other government departments, we are in the process of transformation and restructuring the Department for effective delivery on our legal mandate.

We are expected to have the process finalised by June this year. This process is at an advanced stage albeit a demanding process that requires consultation with relevant stakeholders.

The proposals on the new direction in the range of services envisaged in the restructuring will without doubt require the retraining of existing personnel and revising the curriculum for basic training of new employees.

The only two training colleges available will certainly not cope with this mammoth task. JCPS cluster member departments are; however, ready to negotiate the sharing of such facilities.

The issue of the leadership core will be addressed through the recruitment of new leadership with competencies required to achieve these new strategic plans. Identification and recruitment of such capable senior managers will be conducted even amongst other government departments. The current restructuring process will include skills audit of all employees.

It would be crucial for all our partners to engage with the range of new services that the Department set itself to deliver during this Medium Term Expenditure Framework.

These services are going to require innovation and creativity from various sectors of the society. This range of services will inform all other supporting activities: Corrections, Development, Security, Care, Facilities, and After Care.

Prison overcrowding remains one of the challenges threatening to impede the effective delivery of these services and humane incarceration of prisoners amongst others. This has become a cluster challenge. The DCS, SAPS, Justice and Constitutional Development and the National Prosecuting Authority will take joint responsibility in managing the awaiting trial detainees. A task team has been established to deal with the scourge of overcrowding.

It is clear that at the current cost of construction we will never be able to afford the resources needed to catch up with our growing prisoner population to eliminate the massive overcrowding that prevents us from effectively implementing rehabilitation programmes.

We therefore call for innovation and proper feasibility studies in the commissioning and construction of prisons hence we unveiled the "New Generation" design concept which provides a flexible and adaptable concept that can produce various alternatives. Correctly applied, this concept can help us to address the problem of limited resources.

I should mention at this point that we are winning the war against one of the challenges we face which is corruption. The work of the Jali Commission and other initiatives that the Department has embarked upon is bearing fruit.

We are also making a humble appeal to everybody to expose any form of corruption detected in order to assist us as well as Government in promoting a transparent and clean administration.

Our commitment to this course cannot be cast with any shadow of doubt. This fact is appropriately expressed by Makubetse Sekhonyane of the Institute for Security Studies in his article entitled: "Showing its teeth" published in the November 2002 edition of "S A Crime Quarterly". He states: "The Department's fight against corruption represents a significant shift in the Department of Correctional Services, given that it is financing a probe into its own affairs- a remarkable example of transparency and commitment to combating corruption. One of the key problems in the battle against corruption relates to the perceived ineffectiveness of the correctional system. Corrupt officials have always been fairly confident that they would not be caught, and even if they were caught they could assume that there would be no sanction".

An integrated policy process is underway to review the existing policies in order to bridge the identified policy gaps within the system. This process will be broadly consultative and we urge you to be part of the process. It will be necessary to hear the views of the South African citizens on the new policy and strategic direction the Department intends to take.

As the President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr Mbeki stated in his State of the Nation Address at the opening of Parliament this year; "The effective delivery of the expanded services to the people requires that we improve the efficiency of the public service. Without an efficient and effective public service, it will be impossible for us to register the advances that we are capable of."

This is going to be a major challenge in placing officials with relevant knowledge and skills at the right places and in the right numbers. This will have serious Human Resource Development implications for the Department. I'm therefore appealing to Unions and Management to co-operate in this regard. We must ensure that this process results in a win-win situation without unnecessary tensions.

Correctional Services as part of the South African society is equally affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic and health challenges sweeping the country. As I have always stated the health conditions in prisons are exacerbated by the scourge of overcrowding. Our response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic cannot be out of tune with Government policy, as many people would want it to be.

Our strategy in combating this state of affairs has been circulated to all stakeholders and was also submitted to the Department of Health to make sure that it is in line with the national programme of action.

It is an indisputable fact that cases of HIV and AIDS are increasing in proportion to the state of affairs in the broader society. Some researchers who confined themselves to smaller populations of affected prisons have a tendency of distorting the prevalence of HIV infections in prison. However, we are encouraged by those in partnership with us, in fighting this scourge.

I believe that we should move away from treating people affected and infected as just a statistics to argue about, but join hands in finding solutions to the problem.

We are concerned by the steady increase of young people entering our system on violent crimes. We are however encouraged by the progress being made in the development of the Child Justice Bill that will propose alternative processes for the prosecution and incarceration of children and youth.

In order to speed up the implementation of Government's programme of action, we must build on the progress made as a basis for the further advances needed to eradicate poverty and transform our country into a just and prosperous society. We are confident that this programme will further help push back the frontiers of poverty if Government and society are to work together in a partnership.

The Department of Correctional Services also pledged to make a contribution to the fight against poverty and enhancing rural development. We intend to use prisoner labour as well as prisoner-generated goods and services in poverty alleviation initiatives to support the programme of government.

The establishment of formal links with non-governmental and community based organisations as well as community leaders will form a significant part of our participation.

In conclusion, I would like to indicate that today's occasion is not necessarily to hear me speak, but it is for you to present your views, questions and comments to Government. As a result I will not go further than this in what I intended to share with you.

Finally, I once again wish to appreciate the presence of all the friends and partners of Correctional Services, Business, Media, Churches and you as a community who found the time to be with us here to look into those issues, which are of great concern to us as a Nation.

We need to have continuous interaction through all forms of communication to keep the South African people informed of the progress that we are making as a government and of course raising constructive criticism where necessary. God bless you

I thank you

Issued by Department of Correctional Services

7 April 2003

Source: (http://www.dcs.gov.za)