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29 September 2004

Programme Director Joe Makgoba
Reverend Mogomotsi
MEC for Safety and Liaison Ms Maureen Modiselle
Speaker of the North West Legislature Ms Thandi Modise
Mayor of Potchefstroom Mr TR Mampe
Honourable Councillors
Commissioner Linda Mti
Regional Commissioner Watson Tshivhase
Community Leaders and Invited Dignitaries
Representatives of Provincial Departments, Local Government, the Judiciary, the Legal Fraternity, NGOs, CBOs, Faith-based Organisations and Community Organisations
Area Commissioners and Heads of Correctional Centres
DCS Members
Inmates and their Families
Ladies and Gentlemen

I paid a visit to the Training College at Zonderwater, just outside Pretoria, yesterday afternoon. We have a total of 461 students at the college training to become Correctional Officials. In days gone by, they would have been referred to as warders and correctional centres were referred to as prisons with inmates known as prisoners.

I would have been known as the Minister of Prisons instead of being the Minister of Correctional Services. Prisoners would have been locked up for punishment.

I shared all of this with the students and welcomed them into the Correctional Services family. I also pointed out to them that they were in the unique position of being the first intake of students to be trained in the new strategic direction of Correctional Services. I said to them that in a sense, they are pioneers entering a place of new beginnings.

Yes, Correctional Services is a place of new beginnings, where we are endeavouring to move away from the culture of prisons into a culture of corrections. We want to move into an era where we do not regard offenders as outcasts. We want to move into an era of hope, of corrections, of rehabilitation, of restorative justice, of giving offenders a second chance at a new beginning.

Those students are at the coalface of this exciting change. They will not be caught up in the past when offenders were treated with contempt. They will not carry baggage of a discredited system which treated people less than human. They are in an era where we have respect for human rights and dignity; where we do not loathe and hate the inmates but hate the wrongs that they have done. But still, we reach out to them, giving them an opportunity to seek new beginnings and to start afresh after paying their debt to society.

Quite a number of the students at Zonderwater come from Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo. Some of them might even be sons and daughters of some of you. They seem to have settled in very well and I shared with them the new beginnings that we envisage within Correctional Services.

This morning, I would want to share some of those new beginnings with you. We are now in our tenth year of democracy and this country is very different to what many of us experienced before 1994. Our new beginnings came about on 27 April 1994 and we have just completed a decade of freedom. But, we all realise and accept that we have still some distance to go before reaching our destination of a country where we are free of poverty, unemployment and crime.

Your government, led by the African National Congress of which I am a proud and dedicated member, received a huge mandate from the people of South Africa to govern and lead. Through the ballot box, you told us that we have to continue with and expand the new beginnings. You entered into a Peoples’ Contract with the government, aimed at building a better South Africa and a better world. As the people supporting us, we are accountable to you and want to listen to the instructions that you give us. We want to listen to what you have to say about our new beginnings. We want you to partner us in pursuit of that new beginning that started ten years ago.

I am here in Potchefstroom for that very reason. I am here to listen to what you have to say and to share with your government. This Imbizo is about you, the people of Potchefstroom and the North West. It is about us taking further instructions from you; of listening to you and of responding to the issues that you raise.

Within Correctional Services, we believe that we are a crucial stakeholder and partner in the fight against crime and poverty. We believe that through correcting offending behaviour and rehabilitating offenders, we can bring value to the lives of ordinary South Africans and ensure that the future of our country is in the hands of productive young men and women. We believe that we can play a major role in offenders turning their backs on crime and becoming part of our new beginnings.

Like those students in Zonderwater, inmates now have the chance of embracing a new beginning in their lives. But more than that, our communities, our law-abiding citizens, our community organisations can now also become a part of that new beginning.

I am also here this morning to share this new beginning with you. It is not only Correctional Services that is a place of new beginnings. We want this new beginning to reach every individual, every family, every community and every province. We want this beginning to be one of forging lasting partnerships with our communities. We want to open the doors of our Correctional Centres not for inmates to escape but for communities to enter and to assist us in assisting offenders to rehabilitate themselves.

We want communities to own Correctional Centres and to turn it into places where communities can gather instead of places which we turn our backs on. We want communities to understand the work that we do in our Correctional Centres. We want communities to understand why we prefer corrections above punishment, why we prefer rehabilitation above incarceration, why we prefer community corrections above harsh treatment; why we prefer community contact instead of isolation.

We believe that it is only through correcting offending behaviour and rehabilitation that we can bring about a life-changing difference in offenders. We believe that by showing them that we will treat them with human dignity and respect despite the error of their ways, that they will understand the need for them to change to positive lives and living.

The new beginning is our only hope of bringing about real positive change. It is the only way that we can convince offenders that there is a community out there that cares.

It is for this reason that I want to invite you to join us in this new beginning. We are extremely excited about our White Paper on Corrections in South Africa that spells out our new beginning. It is the policy document that has the best potential to bring about that new beginning; that destination that we seek.

We do know and accept that we have never covered ourselves in glory in the past. We accept that we still have many weaknesses and that we face some steep challenges. We recognise that not all of us have adopted the new approach in dealing with offenders but we are determined to involve our communities in the new direction that we are on. We are determined to be open and transparent about our dealings. We want to reach our destination that is transformation. But we cannot do it without you.

Already, we have started a process of turning 36 of our Correctional Centres into Centres of Excellence where our new beginning can flourish and where inmates can be joined by communities in bringing about change in the lives of offenders.

Within the North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo region, six Centres of Excellence have been identified. They are Middelburg Female, Modimolle, Rustenburg Youth Centre, Nylstroom Youth Section, Mafikeng and Klerksdorp Adult Section. These are six Correctional Centres that will have the benefit of an environment that will provide inmates with the best chance of being successfully reintegrated into their communities when eventually released. Our aim is to give inmates every opportunity to rehabilitate and bring about a change in their lives. We believe that these Centres of Excellence will set new standards of service delivery, will enhance partnerships with communities and other stakeholders and will promote corrections as a societal responsibility. And more than that, we will be able to provide services, safety and security that will benefit both offenders and our communities.

This pilot project holds the promise of it being extended to all other Correctional Centres some time in the future; bringing our destination of a new beginning clearly within reach.

The other new beginning for Correctional Services is the setting up of new Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards. These Parole Boards will for the first time be under the leadership and guidance of community members. Through the 52 Parole Boards in the country, we want to take corrections into our homes, our streets, our suburbs, our towns and our cities. We want the public to own these Parole Boards and your region will have eight Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards. They will be located in Polokwane, Barberton, Bethal, Witbank, Klerksdorp, Rooigrond, Rustenburg and Thohoyandou.

For too long, communities have been dissatisfied with parole being granted to offenders. For too long, the interests of communities and victims of crime were not always considered. For too long, the work of Correctional Services was secretive and controversial. For too long, the only time when communities hear of Correctional Services, is when there are escapes, gang fights, corruption, abuse and drug smuggling. We believe that by involving communities in our work, we would be able to stop many of the negative tendencies in Correctional Centres.

Government has therefore decided that the Chairpersons of the 52 Parole Boards will come from communities. Already, we have called for applications from community members to fill the positions of Chairpersons on Parole Boards. A further two community members will also serve on Parole Boards. They will influence and determine the placement of offenders on parole. They will represent communities and also the victims of crime. For the first time, victims will also be able to make representations to Parole Boards and even sit in on hearings under certain conditions.

I am calling on all of you to find the best persons in your communities to apply for positions on Parole Boards. Those applying for the positions of Chairperson must have leadership and management skills, they must be able to mediate and take objective decisions. Above all, they must be involved in community structures and they must not be applying to serve on Parole Boards for ulterior motives. This is an exciting initiative in our quest for a new beginning and I want to urge suitable candidates to contact the offices of Correctional Services to obtain more details on Parole Boards.

You can bring value to the work of Correctional Services and become part of the beginnings where corrections become a societal responsibility.

But this Imbizo is also more than just about our new beginnings. It is also an opportunity for you to raise concerns about our current Correctional Centres. I want to give members of the public and inmates the chance to raise issues that concern them but also to provide solutions. This must not be about yourself but about broader issues that impact on the lives of ordinary South Africans.

It is also an opportunity for you to raise other issues within your communities outside of Correctional Services. We have the MEC for Safety and Security with us. We have the Speaker and the Mayor. We have SAPS, Justice, Health and Education. Raise matters that concern you in your community. This is the opportunity for you to engage government.

We will respond to you as best we can and where we cannot provide answers, we will refer your comments and questions to the relevant people and departments and get them to respond to you.

But do use this chance to make comments. I am going to open the floor to you now but my appeal is that you be brief and to the point. Do not make long statements. Rather, give as many people as possible the chance to speak. This is about you, the people of Potchefstroom and North West. Use the platform to assist your community, to assist Correctional Services and to build a better South Africa and a better world.

Let us hear what you have to say to your government.

Thank you.

Issued by: Ministry of Correctional Services
29 September 2004