Correctional Services Legacy Report: adoption

Meeting report

Consideration and the Adoption 2004-2009 Committee Report
Ms S Rajballly (Minority Front) proposed that Members be given ten minutes to go through the report.

The Chairperson said that the report had been sent to Members on 12 February 2009. He expected that Members had already gone through the report. The Committee Secretary agreed with the Chairperson and added that she even sent text messages to the Members.

Ms S Seaton (IFP) suggested that the Committee could go through the report page by page to accommodate Members who had not read the report.

Members corrected a few technical errors and they raised the following additions to the report.

The Chairperson said that the vetting of prison officials should be included. He added that the stabbing of seven prison officials could have been prevented. Knives and sharp objects were smuggled by corrupt officials in exchange for money.

Ms Rajbally said that she would not rest until medical parole was part of the Department’s parole system. She added that it was more expensive to care for a very sick prisoner than to let his family take the responsibility. The medical facilities in most hospitals were non-existent. Medical parole would cut down these costs.

The Chairperson said that prison overcrowding should also be a priority for the new Committee. He said that he had spoken to the former Chair of the Committee, Mr Carl Niehaus, who had told him that the Committee had grappled with the problem since 1994. Fourteen years later the problem had still not been resolved.

Mr J Selfe (DA) urged Members not to be too hard on themselves because civil society had also worked hard to relieve prison overcrowding. Society should not underestimate the contribution of the Committee in solving the problem.

Ms Chikonga suggested an unannounced visit to a certain prison to inspect the medical facilities and overcrowding problem. The Committee agreed to the suggestion adding that their term would end in April so they should continue working until then.

Mr Selfe said that the report had correctly reflected everything that Members wanted to include. He thanked the Committee for the dedication to its work on behalf of the Democratic Alliance, especially the Chairperson. He acknowledged that some of the decisions were against his principles.

Ms Seaton and all opposition parties concurred with Mr Selfe’s praise for the work of the Committee.

Mr M Tolo (ANC) stated that the ruling party would sometimes think that the opposition were the enemy. In reality the role of the opposition was to strengthen democracy. He said that every mature politician should always keep that in mind.

The Chairperson thanked Members for their tolerance and hard work. He also thanked Ms Cindy Balie (the Committee secretary), the Parliamentary Monitoring Group and the media for their sterling work in exposing wrongs within the Department.

Mr E Xolo (ANC) moved for the adoption of the report and Ms Seaton seconded the motion. The report was adopted.

The meeting was adjourned.