Minister on Budget Vote: briefing

Meeting report

CORRECTIONAL SERVICES PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
4 June 2002
MINISTER ON BUDGET VOTE: BRIEFING

Chairperson: Mr B N FIHLA
 

Documents handed out
Briefing by Minister on Budget Vote (see Appendix)
 

Budget Vote 20

SUMMARY

 

The Minister briefed the committee on the key components of the Budget. The budget is aimed at projects such as Rehabilitation Programmes, Poverty Alleviation Programmes, Overcrowding, Renovations and Maintenance of Prisons, Training of staff, Corporate Uniforms, HIV /Aids, Financial Management and International Relations.

MINUTES
The Chair briefed the Committee on the Budget vote by the Minister of Correctional Services, Mr B M Skosana highlighting the key components of the Budget.

Please refer to briefing document.

Discussion
Mr Oosthuisen (ANC) asked about the general provisions of health in prisons and how it compared to last years figures.

The Minister replied that monies were not allocated to specific areas and that all monies would go to general health. In the Budget Review it stated that there had been an increase in comparison to last years figures.

Mr Swartz (ACDP) wanted a briefing on the APOPS program as the budget for this program had been increased. Was there going to be an increase in personnel in the department as had been done in the policing departments.

The Minister replied and said that the APOPS (private prisons) project would be discussed at another meeting to be held soon. He was aware of the staff shortage and that the commissioner was addressing it.

Mr Bloem (ANC) asked why the Minister was not discussing on the Boulevard Project?

Minister replied that the issue of restorative justice and Boulevard Project were being addressed however he did not wish to comment on this just yet.

Chairperson said that there should be enough time to interact on the contents of the policy speech later that afternoon.

The meeting was adjourned.

Appendix
BRIEFING OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON CORRECTIONAL SERVICES ON
THE BUDGET VOTE BY THE MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MR B M SKOSANA MP:
4 JUNE 2002.

Thank you for the opportunity to brief you on the highlights and key components of my
budget vote speech. It was an agreement between myself and the chairperson of the
Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services to have this briefing ahead of my Budget
Vote Speech this afternoon without letting out too much detail.

Due to a number of challenges facing the Department, some of which resulted from the lack of leadership and the legacy of the Old Management Styles, the President appointed Mr Linda Mt as the Commissioner of Correctional Services who subsequently facilitated the appointment of Senior Managers to long vacant positions.

I can confidently say that the Department is gearing itself on all fronts for service delivery on its legal mandate, which is safe and secure custody of offenders under humane conditions; effective correctional supervision; and rehabilitation and development of offenders.

In gearing the Department for delivery, I approved the utilization of external providers to investigate and establish business processes, systems and structure. The project is called "Gearing DCS for Rehabilitation"

The fundamental challenges that the Department is facing will be addressed in this Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period, starting with the budget of R6.8 billion allocated for the 2002/2003 Financial Year, if the current progress is to sustainable.

Rehabilitation provides programmes for skills and personal development, as well as processes for re-integrating prisoners into the community and remains at the centre of our Core Business. The allocated budget for this programme, though not sufficient is R352 807 million and represents a 1% increase over the previous year.

It must be stated that we have not yet achieved a common understanding of the meaning of Rehabilitation. A Concept document has been developed and is being enriched within the Department before it could be shared with all stakeholders.

In making reference to our Rehabilitation Programmes it is worth noting that, a multidisciplinary assessment tool for prisoner profiles; appropriate development programmes; production projects providing skills to offenders will be finalised during this financial year.

Other programmes focus on Agriculture, wood, steel and textile production projects. We are presently servicing 17 Government Departments and producing for our own consumption. Literacy is a foundation stone in rehabilitation hence we provide Adult Basic Educaion and Training (ABET) in collaboration with external stakeholders.

Our target is to educate and train more than 11 000 prisoners in ABET programmes; 11 500 in Basic Occupational Skills and 7 800 in Business Management skills in the current MTEF cycle

Out of the 14 planned skills training centres, four are nearing completion at Polokwane, Odi, Johannesburg and Bethal whereas three have already been opened at St Albans, Upington and Kimberley.

As part of our rehabilitation and restorative justice programme, the Department encourages offenders to participate in Poverty Alleviation Programmes through the the deployment and distribution of prisoner labour and prisoner generated goods and services. The programme was launched by the Deputy President in April 2002 at Zonderwater Prison near Pretoria. Another project was the building of additional classes and renovation of the Mutshalingana Primary School in Thohoyandou, Venda.

There are three key elements working against the fulfillment of the mandate of rehabilitation which must be addressed in this MTEF, namely:
· Overcrowding
· Inappropriate recruitment of staff and lack of retraining of current staff in the new paradigm
· Corruption and crime by DCS members inside prisons and in the Department.

Overcrowding violates the human rights of offenders and results in over-extension of our staff and creates conditions that are not conducive to rehabilitation. The following are some prisoner statistics:

Four (4) out of every 1000 South Africans are in prison and more than a third of (pre-sentence prisoners) who pose no threat to society are in prison merely because they are unable to afford bail. Why this is the situation in South Africa requires serious consideration in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster (JCPS).

Overcrowding due to awaiting trial and awaiting sentence prisoners (pre-sentence prisoners) stands at 55 500. However, it should be noted that alternative accommodation of pre-sentence/awaiting trial prisoners would not remove overcrowding completely.

Various mechanisms utilized to address the size of the pre-sentence prisoner population between JCPS departments should be intensified.

The Department has established a DCS Task Team for anti-overcrowding strategy and requested the JCPS Overcrowding Task Group to resolve the cross-cutting responsibilities for overcrowding and to find longer term solutions for Cabinet to deliberate on, and monitor criminal justice processes in order to proactively address generators of overcrowding.

The Renovation and Maintenance Programme (RAMP) on old prisons is continuing whilst embarking on building three new prisons near Kimberley, at Leeuwkop and Klerksdorp in this MTEF period. These will be constructed along the lines of "New Generation" design of prisons that places emphasis on cost effective, unit management facilities.

The long awaited opening of the R450million Kokstad Management Area complex has finally been opened by the Deputy President, Mr Jacob Zuma on the 30 May 2002. The main prison, Ebongweni Correctional Centre, will serve as a maximum security admission and orientation prison for violent and dangerous offenders.

It provides South Africa with a prison appropriate for accommodating those who choose to put the community, other inmates, women and children., DCS personnel and law enforcement officers at risk. It is worth mentioning at this point that the opening function cost the Department about R25 000 and not R2.4 million "Bash" as reported by the Media.

The Budget allocation for this programme under Facilities Management and Capital Works is Ri .3 billion which represents a 28% increase over last year's budget.

The shift from punitive approach to addressing recividism to one focused on humane detention in order to facilitate rehabilitation of offenders poses staffing (recruitment) and training challenges. We intend to spend R52 million to be adequately equipped to meet this challenge. Those who have been trained as disciplinarians have to become caregivers and guides of the lives that we are entrusted with. The organisational culture that the Department of Correctional Services has had, and in many cases still has, does not augur well for our core business.

The Department will have to sharpen its recruitment and training systems and strategies to attract the right people and equip those currently employed with the necessary skills. It would also have to embark on a process of redefining its organisational culture that combines an attitude of serving with excellence, and a caring and principled way of dealing with people.

We also have found the need to strengthen not only the corporate culture of DCS but also to enhance its image though promoting corporate wear or uniform. We are in the process of finalising this matter and presentations will be made to the National Council for Correctional Services and Parliamentary Committees.

As a labour intensive Department, R4.5 billion of the Budget goes towards human resources and this represents 66.26% of the Budget for this year.

A component of the staff of the Department engaging in criminal activities poses itself as a threat to service delivery. However several initiatives have been embarked upon to deal with this matter, to mention but a few:

The Jali Commission is underway to investigate corruption, maladministration, violence and intimidation in nine Management Areas and there is a need to expand its scope operations and terms of reference. The first two Interim Reports on the Durban-Westville Prison have been tabled and the recommendations will be handled internally and some referred to investigative and prosecutorial authorities for criminial investigation.

The DCS response must result in a sustainable and clean investigative and disciplinary capacity within the Department. In the previous financial year up to March 2002, 236 reports on corruption through the Hotline for Whistle Blowing in DCS were received. As a result 23 officials have been dismissed, 76 officials disciplined and 14 officials criminally convicted.

The Department cannot yet be proud of its financial management, hence we are engaged in systematic work to tighten financial accountability and the training of non-financial managers on the Public Financial Management Act, to ensure that financial systems result in improved financial management is being conducted.

Operation Vukuza is a programme launched in the Department aimed to improve financial control, accountability and management.

HIV/AIDS in prisons is an issue of deep conern. Our policy which spells out the strategy on HIVIAIDS has been submitted to the Deputy President as the chairperson of SANAC as well as the Minister of Health for ratification. The strategy includes various aspects of prevention such as health education and awareness, management of opportunistic diseases, condom provision and voluntary testing and counselling.

The Department will spend an amount of R586 million on the general provision of health and physical care needs for offenders, who have increased in number over the past year.

The establishment of decision-making parole boards with community representation has been referred to the chairperson of the National Council for Correctional Services, Judge Siraj Desai to assist in determining the criteria for selection of candidates from community and setting up the new Parole Boards throughout the country.

The Judicial Inspectorate under the leadership of Judge J J Fagan needs to be commended with the support they have given us, especially in dealing with issues of overcrowding in prisons. Their facilitation in the implementation of sections 62(f) and 63(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act is continuing to assist us in dealing with overcrowding.

In improving our International Relations we are developing closer relations with other developing nations in order to benefit from their expertise and experience.

In June 2002, the Department is to host an extraordinary meeting of Commissioners of Eastern, Southern and Central Africa (CESCA) and to provide secretarial support for the meeting.

I have also taken the initiative to convene a meeting of Southern African Ministers responsible for Correctional Services later during this year.

In conclusion, I wish to make a call to all stakeholders outside and inside government to join hands in building a safer community for all. My Department is gearing itself to lend a hand in dealing with issues of crime, moral regeneration and poverty.

Finally I would like to express my profound gratitude to the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services for the guidance and encouragement they have provided us. It is my hope and belief that we shall continue to enjoy this support during the current and future financial years. The wisdom and empathy of Mr Ben Fihla who is the former Chairperson of the Committee will be sorely missed.

In welcoming the new Chairperson, Mr Ntsiki Mashimbye we wish to express our full confidence in his abilities and trust that he will steer the ship of Correctional Services in the direction which will yield results which can only be in the best interest of the Department and the citizens of this country.