Ministerial Overview; DCS & JICS 2021/22 APPs, with Deputy Ministers

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed the Minister and Deputies, as well as the delegations from DCS and Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS). He began by mourning the passing of Ms J Mofokeng (ANC), a beloved member of the Committee. The ANC had been comforted in its hour of need by words of comfort from opposition members of the Committee, including the DA and ACDP.

Adv G Breytenbach (DA) registered her condolences on behalf of her party on the passing of Ms Mofokeng, who had been a valuable member of the committee and a friend.

Adv S Swart (ACDP) also stated the ACDP’s condolences to the ANC and family of Ms Mofokeng, a dear friend of his. He recalled their last meeting together. She would be missed by the Committee, Parliament and South Africa in general.

The Chairperson thanked committee members for their condolences, proposing that times of difficulty defined South Africa as one nation, where all members were compatriots at heart.

He noted that the African National Congress had appointed Mr Q Dyantyi (ANC) as Acting Whip for the party in the Committee.

Political Overview

The Minister, Mr Ronald Lamola, thanked the Chairperson. He expressed his sadness over the loss of Ms Mofokeng, who had been a selfless servant leader representing the people of South Africa with honour and integrity and fought for a safer South Africa for women and children.

The Department of Correctional services worked to make South Africa a safer place, not only by housing offenders but rehabilitating them as well. Various initiatives were targeted at ensuring offenders were skilled, their criminal behaviour addressed, and their perspectives changed to conform with the law.

DCS also had outreach programmes informing communities, especially the youth, on the consequences of crime. DCS also prioritised creating opportunities for young people: when budget cuts prevented the employment of 2000 learners who had been trained, the budget was reprioritised to allow for their onboarding. From the 1st June, 932 learners would be absorbed, in line with the Department’s medium-term goal of employing 40% youth.

DCS developed inmates to prepare them for release and reintegration into society through training programmes. Some rehabilitated inmates had gone on to establish themselves in business and create economic opportunities for their communities. Efforts to empower victims in a similar way should not be left behind, and this would be stepped up in the medium term. The impact of the loss of breadwinners and parents to crime was evident, and this had to be taken into account in designing programmes for victims of crime. The loss of parents to crime no doubt contributed to the criminal behaviour of some children – Community Corrections had been tasked with intervening in this regard.

Offenders did not sit idly in cells day and night, but provided labour for community empowerment. Offenders had refurbished 10 schools in Mpumalanga, and helped with school facilities in Alexandra, Gauteng, as well as building a school and a pharmacy in the Western Cape. Farming production also continued in prisons across the country, as well as textiles. These initiatives were part of DCS’ self-sufficiency model that was to be fully implemented. A pilot of the business case was planned for 2021/22.

Poor audit outcomes remained a cause of concern for DCS. The DCS sought an unqualified outcome in 2021/22, in preparation for a clean outcome the following year. Deviations would not be tolerated, and recommendations of institutions such as the SIU would be implemented.

South Africans deserved a crime-free society where they did not fear attack by criminal elements.

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development would mark a key milestone in the history of the Constitution, as South Africa entered the 25th year of the Constitution. The Covid-19 pandemic had put Section 36 to the test, as the state had to attempt to contain the pandemic without infringing on human rights. The Constitution required an active citizenry, which recognised the injustices of the past and took up the fight against systemic racism, homophobia and xenophobia.

At the last meeting, the Minister had noted that the Department required renewal. Critical vacancies at the higher levels of the Department had been and would continue to be filled. The Justice College would continue to be supported and its turnaround strategy implemented.

The Department was making substantial investment in the modernisation of the justice system and the use of technology in the Integrated Justice System (IJS). These projects were implemented across departments in the security cluster, including SAPS, the NPA, DSD, LegalAid SA and DOJCD. Currently 8 departments were connected to the IJS Hub and were able to share information in its pilot stage. Establishing connectivity to the OCJ was in progress. The introduction of the digitisation of the Legal Aid management system was a key milestone for the IJS.

The Person Identification and Verification Application was available to 746 police stations across the country, and allowed for the verification of arrested individuals through their fingerprints. The system also told SAPS whether outstanding warrants existed for an arrested person. The IJS system would allow for an efficient criminal justice system.

The Masters Office would also be brought into the digital age in the coming year. An online deceased estates system would be introduced. The Minister believed that the digitisation process would help to deal with the lines seen at masters’ offices across country.

Better management of state litigation would be achieved through the operationalisation of the State Attorney Amendment Act, which would be aided by the appointed regional heads of the State Attorney’s office.

The transformation of the legal sector could not be achieved by government alone. The publication the Legal Sector Code would assist in this matter.

The fight against corruption would be supported by the Department over the medium term: the DOJCD targeted the establishment of two Specialised Commercial Crimes courts in the 2021/22 financial year, and would develop a position paper reviewing existing anti-corruption legislation and institutions.

The NPA would continue with recruitment of young graduates into its ranks through the Aspirant Prosecutor Programme. An office of complaints and ethics would be established within the NPA.

The DOJCD would continue to support the State Capture Inquiry in completion of its important work.

The Minister was pleased to announce that the transfer of the Land Rights Facility from the DALRRD to Legal Aid SA had begun on the 1st of April 2021.

As the plans of the OCJ were assessed, the Minister recalled that courts were a bulwark against vigilantism as said by retired CJ Mokgoro. Aspersions cast about members of the judiciary were a matter of concern. Conspiracy theories and personal attacks against justices should not be entertained.

The OCJ Court Online systems would begin to be rolled out in 2021/22. Access to justice should not be compromised by the pandemic. Baseline reductions would impact on service delivery and so more would have to be done with less. Capacitation of the SAJEI was a key target for the OCJ. SAJEI would leverage virtual platforms to continue performing its mandate under Covid-19.

The Minister concluded that implementation and hard work were what counted.

Discussion
Mr J Selfe (DA) noted his appreciation of learners being absorbed into the Department in June, but asked what happened to learners who had finished their training in December 2020 and whether these learners would be absorbed as well.

Adv Swart welcomed comments protecting the judiciary from unwarranted criticism. He enquired as to the budget for the transfer of the Land Rights Management Facility and whether this would come from DALRRD’s budget. He asked whether the Department would fund the completion of the State Capture Inquiry’s mandate. He registered his concern over some of the unwarranted attacks on members of the judiciary by members of the Judicial Service Commission, especially comments of an Anti-Semitic nature. Christian and Muslim judges were not asked questions about their religious practice, and Jewish prospective justices should not be excluded for their service on religious bodies such as the SA Jewish Board of Deputies.

Adv Breytenbach enquired as to what informed the rollout of Specialised Commercial Crimes units in areas where she thought there was little prospect of commercial crime. She questioned the cost-effectiveness of this rather than extra capacitation of existing units. She asked the Minister when implementation would happen and for an example of successful implementation of any plan. She asked how many dockets had been loaded onto and dealt with by the IJS system. She requested an update on the disciplinary matter of Lorraine Rossouw. Regarding the Western Cape High Court, she noted that just weeks ago, nearly the entire complement of acting judges was halted by the Minister at the last moment. This had caused a case backlog and costs to be incurred and asked the Minister for his reasoning. She asked what process was used for the appointment of acting judges. She raised the issue of a number of unsuitable acting judges appearing at the Judicial Service Commission in recent interviews.

Mr X Nqola (ANC) welcomed the employment of DCS learners. He understood the serious financial constraints facing the country but stated his disappointment of non-communication from DCS management in terms of learners who had been insourced by the Department.  Regarding the self-sustainability model at DCS, he asked to get more detail on this model in upcoming meetings. He welcomed the NPA Aspirant Prosecutor Programme as it increased the capacity of the NPA as an entity.

Ms N Maseko-Jele (ANC) enquired regarding the digitisation and modernisation and how decreasing allocations to ICT budgets would impact this. She also noted letters received on JICS being incorporated into the Human Rights Commission and asked for comment.

Dr W Newhoudt-Druchen (ANC) noted that she had attempted to visit a police station in Riebeek-West, WC, where there was a small courtroom where a magistrate was present once a week and held monthly maintenance issue hearings. When the department was considering using online judicial services, it should consider rural areas given the distances that had to be travelled to access justice.

The Chairperson would arrange with the Minister to discuss issues raised by the judiciary in its meeting with the Portfolio Committee. He also noted an ongoing case over Deputy Directors of Public Prosecution and state advocate remuneration and asked for an update. He highlighted the issue raised by Ms Maseko-Jele and Adv Breytenbach over the length of time IJS had taken to be implemented. The longer it took the less relevant and current the IJS would be. He noted that the IJS programme had been on the agenda during his tenure on the Portfolio Committee before 2008.

He asked whether the 30th of June was the actual deadline for the State Capture Inquiry. He also highlighted the issue raised at the JSC that black counsel retained by the Inquiry no longer seemed to work there.

Mr W Horn (DA) highlighted the limited number of centres where the Integrated Inmate Management System (IIMS) could be deployed due to network and bandwidth connectivity issues in rural correctional centres. This was causing adverse audit findings. He asked the Minister to address this matter. He also raised the perennial issue of overcrowding in prisons, which had an adverse impact on DCS’ ability to rehabilitate inmates. Previously the Committee had been told that 3 centres would be built in 2021/22 at Parys, Lichtenburg and Burgersdorp – Mr Horn asked whether build programmes had started. He echoed Adv Breytenbach’s dissatisfaction over the IJS timelines. Regarding the Masters Offices, the greatest challenge faced by those interfacing with the Office were delays in dealing with liquidation accounts, which may not be dealt with by the IJS. In terms of the fight against corruption, he noted amendments to the State Capture Inquiry regulations to allow the Hawks and NPA to act on evidence it collected, but little progress had been made: Mr Horn asked why this was the case. The Investigative Directorate was two years old but had not made much progress. He asked for feedback on challenges faced and the medium- and long-term plan for the Directorate in terms of its lifespan.

The Minister replied to members’ questions. Regarding Mr Selfe’s question on absorption of DCS learners, attrition of vacancies at DCS would provide for onboarding of remaining learners given budget constraints. The DCS was seeking to phase in the remaining learners, but could not give any concrete dates.

The accompanying budget for the transfer of the Land Rights Management Facility to Legal Aid SA was roughly R300m over the medium term. The value was R100m in the 2021/22 financial year. Discussions were being held with the National Treasury, as well as in terms of the Land Court Bill, as this Bill would give additional responsibilities to Legal Aid SA in terms of land rights management. DOJCD had discussed the need to transfer the budget from DALRRD to Legal Aid SA.

Regarding inappropriate comments made at the Judicial Services Commission as raised by Adv Swart, the Minister answered that this was a matter best suited for Parliament to address itself. He clarified that some of Adv Swart’s issues were raised during closed sessions of the JSC and engaged with.

In terms of the new specialised commercial crimes court jurisdictions, he agreed that the courts should be rolled out where need was greatest. He noted backlogs in areas for court rollouts and expanded that court locations were decided on in cooperation with courts and the NPA. The current agreed-on location was Umthatha for the first court, and the second court’s potential location was unsure.

The Minister agreed that implementation suffered from challenges, but argued that the DOJCD was deploying its best capacity to ameliorate this. IJS was beginning to take shape in terms of dockets and police station connections. The case management system within courts was also being developed, although change management was necessary to train prosecutors in the use of the system for docket and case management. The Person Identification and Verification Application (PIVA) system had made progress. The integrated management system had faced challenges, but the development of the second module would enhance its operation.

Lack of connectivity in the rural areas was a concern for all government departments and had to be looked into. Cell phone connectivity had allowed this issue to be managed to a certain extent.

Decrease in goods and services budgets for ICT were undesirable, but the Ministry had impressed on departments that they had to cope with what they had. He quoted a Shangaan proverb stating that children of the same family had to share the head of the locust – i.e. that the Departments had to be able to share meagre resources and platforms and find value within the justice ecosystem.  

Regarding acting judges with specific reference to the Western Cape, the Department was in engagement with the Heads of Court to develop criteria for appointment as an acting judge. Currently experience, character and track record were relied on. Written guidelines were, however, a desirable outcome of the Minister’s engagement with the Judges President. The lack of written criteria had posed challenges. When JPs gave the Minister the same names for acting appointments repeatedly this caused challenges in terms of the access to opportunities for prospective judges. The matter of the Western Cape acting judges had been referred to the JSC. The judicial establishment had undergone rationalisation only in 1996, and thus the allocation of judges and magistrates by area did not always reflect the caseload that they would bear. Judges President thus wanted to appoint a number of acting judges, which posed financial challenges for the National Revenue Fund. The DOJCD would have to look into rationalising the judiciary in terms of allocation of judicial officers.

On the matter of the integration of the JICS into the Human Rights Commission, the Minister was unsure whether information or discussion of this had been leaked to the Committee. This policy option was only being preliminarily discussed, and he was of the view that JICS should remain an independent component.

In terms of some state advocates earning more than Deputy Directors of Public Prosecution, the Minister saw a state-wide challenge of unbalanced compensation. A discussion between the DOJCD, DPSA, the NPA and Treasury were in discussion over the matter while the Department awaited the judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeals on the matter.

The Minister sought finality on the work of the State Capture Commission of Inquiry, but a report had to be produced and the Inquiry’s work should not be cut short. The DOJCD, Commission and Treasury continued to engage to help the Inquiry complete its work. The Minister confirmed that the DOJCD had found R75m to fund the continued work of the Commission by the end of June in terms of the court order. The DOJCD wanted to see the Commission finish its work, as the money allocated to the Commission had to be cut from its own programmes. 

Mr John Jeffery, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, continued with the responses. On the issue of JICS and the HRC, the issue may have been raised due to the HRC’s coordination of monitoring for the Optimal Protocol for the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), which monitored places where people were detained involuntarily. JICS worked with the HRC in this regard.

In reply to Dr Newhoudt-Druchen’s question of online services in rural areas, Deputy Minister Jeffery noted that criminal case evidence could be led online, although this provision did not apply to civil cases. Courts were also using the Minister’s disaster provisions to execute some functions online that they would not normally do online. A Children’s Court matter had been held online through the Kimberley division. Legislation seeking to continue this after the state of disaster would be brought to Parliament.

Regarding locations of the commercial crimes courts, regional court presidents were eager to see more commercial crimes courts established. The Umthatha commercial crimes court was functional as of March 2021, as was one in East London. These were largely manned by acting magistrates. All of these courts had extremely full rolls.

Inkosi Phathekile Holomisa, Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, emphasised the need to onboard the learners that had been trained by DCS and who had been led to believe that they would become part of the Department. These learners could not be left destitute. It was important that DCS management communicated properly in this regard.

He saw a need for DCS to expedite the establishment of the self-sufficiency and self-sustainability model to ensure the use of human resources the DCS had that were being fed and clothed at the expense of the state.

Adv Breytenbach reminded the Minister to answer her question on Ms Rossouw’s suspension and disciplinary.

The Chairperson raised the issue of evidence leaders at the State Capture Inquiry following on from concerns raised at the JSC over the departure of many black evidence leaders.

Adv Shamila Batohi, National Director, NPA, said that amendments to the terms of reference of the State Capture Inquiry had yielded good results and increased collaboration with the NPA. Certain challenges regarding timing and sequencing arose due to the Commission still being active. She reminded the Committee that the evidence received from the Commission involved vast volumes of data which required a lot of time to process. Investigators had to verify evidence received as well. There was a plan to migrate capacity from the Commission to the Investigative Directorate after the Commission completed its work, which was obviously contingent on it completing its work.

Adv Doctor Mashabane, Director-General, DOJCD, noted that the Department had hoped that the two disciplinary matters including Ms Rossouw and Mr Singh would have been concluded in February. However, due to sickness of their legal representative and a change of legal representative, there had had to be postponements. The matter was set down for the 17th of May. He hoped for finalisation by mid-June.

Adv Batohi touched on the timeframe for the Investigative Directorate, noting the creation of a framework which provided for a single anti-corruption body in future. The temporary nature of the Investigative Directorate made capacitation difficult. She saw the ID as setting the groundwork for a future anti-corruption entity. The ID would not have sufficient time in its remaining 3 years to finalise all cases. However, it could lay the groundwork for future entities.

The Minister replied that the Litchburg and Burgersfoort programmes had been finalised but tender processes had been delayed by Covid-19. Refurbishments at Emthonjeni was underway and Brandvlei had been handed over to the department. Over 2.6m documents had been uploaded to the IJS hub. The work of the Commission continued longer than planned, and some of the black advocates and senior counsel had expected finalisation at an earlier date and had returned to their practices. A sizeable number of black advocates remained at the Commission. The Minister could not speak for why white advocates would remain and black advocates leave. The Minister thought the self-sustainability model for Correctional Services was revolutionary.

The Chairperson noted that Correctional Services produced high quality office furniture and could make a business out of this.

The Minister and Deputy Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development departed.

JICS 2021/22 APP

Justice Edwin Cameron, Inspecting Judge, JICS, encouraged members to contact him directly for issues relating to JICS. He proposed that a meeting between JICS, the DM, National Commissioner’s Health Team and the American CDC had yielded a breakthrough in how the DCS approached health.

He clarified that he had sent the letter and JICS’ response regarding the folding of JICS into the SAHRC. Minister Mboweni had taken the view that given human rights were indivisible, there should be a single home for human rights. JICS supported Minister Lamola’s view that the specificity of JICS’ mandate meant that there should be an independent and autonomous institution focused on correctional services.

He noted reception from the National Commissioner of an expansive briefing on the parole system. JICS sought to build a system that rightly released those who had earned parole and kept interned those who had not. JICS was engaging the Commissioner on facilities maintenance and upgrading. JICS was still seeking appropriate accommodation and would keep the Committee apprised this regard.

The Chairperson commented that it was not acceptable for the JICS presentation to only be sent the night before. The CEO and Inspecting Judge apologised for the delayed arrival of the presentation.

Mr Vick Misser, CEO, JICS, noted that JICS only had one indicator in DCS. JICS attempted to inspect 136 centres per year, which it had achieved in the previous performance cycle. In the 2021/22 FY, JICS sought to inspect 136 centres again across the correctional regions. JICS had managed to achieve all of its inspections despite staff shortages and the Covid-19 pandemic. Only 8 inspectors were employed to do inspections, who also did investigations (54 in the previous FY).

JICS’ previous budget was R76.1m. Compensation made up R63m, goods and services R11m and other expenditure made up the remaining amounts. The 2020/21 performance cycle had seen a downwards adjustment in compensation from R71m. During the current budget cycle, the compensation budget would again be adjusted down. The staff complement at JICS was 83 with some contract employees. The downwards adjustment in compensation would harm the filling of key posts.  
 

Discussion
Mr Dyantyi formulated a set of questions he wanted all entities to reply to: what represented an improvement on the previous APP? What was being foregone as a result of Covid-19 or failure to spend? What were the capacity risks that could stall APP implementation?

Adv Breytenbach wished the Inspecting Judge well on his recovery to health. She proposed that the Committee should look seriously at JICS becoming an independent institution and saw serious issues with merging with the SAHRC. She proposed that JICS was an essential component of constitutional democracy and had to be as efficient as possible. South African prisons were dismal and an indictment of the country.

Ms Maseko-Jele asked JICS how inspections impacted progress at correctional centres in terms of treatment and the lives of inmates. She asked JICS for its view on the lives of officials, who were also subject to abuse and violence by inmates.

Mr Nqola proposed it was common cause that South African correctional facilities faced challenges. When JICS set out a target of inspections for a year, what proportion of the total correctional centres were included? Did budget cuts stop JICS from covering more ground? How did JICS decide which correctional centres to visit?

Justice Cameron requested the Committee to hold off on intervening in the debate on JICS and the HRC. JICS was stating its case, and would argue that there were compelling internationally recognised reasons for it remain an independent institution.

A glitch in lockdown regulations in March 2020 caused JICS personnel not to be declared essential, and JICS lost 10 weeks of inspections in 2020 because of this.

Justice Cameron said he was proud of its investigators and their performance in the past year in recovering from the setback.

Capacity risks were most evident in downwards budgetary adjustments. JICS was a tightly run organisation with no budgetary fat, and the majority of the budget went to independent centre visitors. JICS risked losing some of this capacity. 

Justice Cameron agreed that correctional officials had a difficult job. He argued this was because the former Chairperson of the Committee, Mr Jonny De Lange, had created minimum sentence requirements, which he saw as an evil. Overcrowding in prisons was partly due to this. Mandatory life sentences also caused overcrowding, as over 16000 people were currently in jail for life sentences.

Justice Cameron raised the example of a prisoner placed in segregation who had appealed. The prisoner was placed in solitary confinement due to the use of the k-word cross-racially against a corrections official. Justice Cameron had found that the prisoner’s appeal was invalid given the gravity of his offence against the official.

Mr Misser noted that in the past 3 years, JICS had gone from inspecting one third of correctional centres a year to over half every year. JICS had built in ratings of centres into its reports in recent years, from Good to Satisfactory to Unsatisfactory, which included multiple factors to determine how suitable centres were.

Mr Misser echoed Justice Cameron’s lament that budget cuts would reduce the capacity of JICS to conduct independent visits.

Regarding Ms Maseko-Jele’s question on correctional officials, gang-related violence had erupted in the past year that JICS had had to conduct special investigations at Mangaung and St Albans on the use of force. JICS would be holding webinars on the use of force. Prominent, large centres were assessed annually.

DCS APP

Mr Arthur Fraser, DCS National Commissioner, conveyed his condolences on the passing of Ms Mofokeng, who had always challenged DCS to do better. He welcomed the recoveries of Mr Selfe and Justice Cameron.

Mr KJ Katenga, Chief Deputy Commissioner for Strategic Management, DCS, presented the DCS APP. He noted the plan was finalised in the context of an economic recession occasioning budget cuts. From a performance and risk approach, the current economic environment, should it persist, could give rise to increased crimes of “need and greed”, which could increase the innate population. Serious crimes had increased in 2019 even as all crimes decreased. Minimum sentencing laws meant more people serving longer sentences.

Having considered this, there were opportunities for improvement. Corrections was a societal matter, and government and civil society had to come together in rehabilitation of offenders and addressing the root causes for crime. DCS had a framework which would advance this. Alternative sentencing regimes could also alleviate pressures on the correctional system and assist social reintegration. A societal-wide intervention was sought.

DCS had also identified opportunities to contribute to economic development through the productive and agriculture assets of the department.

Other factors impacting planning included health, internal performance and the hard lockdown. Given that DCS’ interventions were mostly tactile, which hampered performance in the previous FY. The 2020/21 performance level had dropped to 63% due to issues around Covid-19 restrictions. Targeting had taken this into account.

DCS had developed standard operating procedures to constrain the spread of the virus among officials and inmates. 11434 cases had been recorded, with 246 fatalities. Whilst every fatality was regrettable, the total population of officials and inmates of 174 000 meant that the DCS’ strategy had yielded results. DCS would look at increasing the use of technology not only to manage the pandemic but onwards.

The 2020/21 FY had focused on self-sustainability and social reintegration. The spirit of the former was to ensure the use of productive capacity to satisfy departmental needs and drive economic development in the department’s sphere of influence. The latter spoke to partnering better across society to ensure everyone played a role in reducing repeat offending. Implementation of these frameworks would begin in 2021/22.

The DCS core targets in self sustainability and social reintegration remained relatively similar. DCS was aligning its management areas with districts as part of the District Development Model. The business case for the revenue retention mechanism as part of the self-sustainability model would be completed in 2021/22. DCS was also focused on improvement of network infrastructure to allow for the rollout of modern technology across all correctional centres.

Mr Nicodemus Ligege, CFO, DCS, presented the Annual Financial Statements. Due to the sluggish economy and impact of Covid-19, DCS had experienced budget cuts. The budget for 2021/22 would remain roughly the same as 2020/21 at R25.2bn, growing to R25.6bn by 2023/24. 67.4% of expenditure of the MTEF was earmarked for compensation of employees, given the DCS’ labour-intensive mission. The reduction in compensation budgets would require termination of non-essential contracts and natural attrition, targeting 1027 fewer DCS employees by 2023/24. This would limit the Department’s capacity. The majority of the R11bn DCS budget cuts over the MTEF were against the compensation classification.

Discussion
Mr Selfe noted that Parliament passed the Correctional Matters Amendment Bill in 2011, which compelled DCS to release remand detainees automatically after 2 years. The section providing for this was yet to be promulgated – he asked when it would be promulgated and what impact this would have on overcrowding.

Mr Selfe asked how figures regarding overcrowding were arrived at. Regarding facilitation of economic opportunity for parolees and discharged inmates by the DCS, he asked how successful this had been. He asked why there had been a reduction in targets on escapes, assaults and unnatural deaths. He requested clarification of the nature of Long and Short Occupational Skills Programmes. He asked how reliable the target compliance of 99% by remand detainees and parolees was.

Dr Newhoudt-Druchen asked DCS for solutions on the problems it identified with the Strategic Risk Register. She applauded DCS’ testing for Covid-19, but asked whether TB testing took place, given its contagious nature. She asked why all incoming inmates were not screened for high blood pressure and diabetes. She requested an explanation for reductions in victim empowerment targets. She noted the increase in travel and subsistence budgets under the Rehabilitation programme and asked what necessitated this. She wanted to know the estimated costs for improvement of a youth centre, and what the future plan for this centre was.

Ms Maseko-Jele was frustrated about the lack of progress on plans and proposed a need to work together to maximise resources and implement plans. Regarding social cohesion, she asked whether DCS had a target addressing social cohesion. She asked whether it was possible for DCS to do away with leases and use unused government buildings instead, given the large number of vacant government buildings across the country. She asked what DCS was doing to limit the prevalence of corruption. In terms of the Auditor-General’s report on DCS, AGSA had found an issue with ineffective compliance monitoring at DCS. She noted AGSA findings on fruitless and wasteful expenditure and lack of disciplinary steps taken against officials involved in irregular expenditure. She asked DCS how it would deal with these problems.

Adv Breytenbach had received complaints from inmates in the Boksburg prison over lack of feeding and asked for an explanation.

Ms Anna Molepo, Chief Deputy Commissioner: Community Corrections, DCS, answered that the creation of economic opportunities for parolees and probationers had been challenging due to stigmatisation and criminal record expungement delays. DCS partnered with employers to give parolees skills training.

Ms Cynthia Ramulifho, Chief Deputy Commissioner: Remand Detention, DCS, answered Mr Selfe’s question on promulgation of the Correctional Services regulations, which had been promulgated in 2011. Further to this, the Department had been ensuring that S49(b) read with the regulations was implemented through the remand detention tool, to ensure that referrals were submitted to court on a monthly basis. This was assisting DCS with easing overcrowding. However, DCS was dependent on the court outcome in terms of bail, case withdrawal and sentence reductions.

The learner programme had suffered negatively from the reduction in DCS’ compensation budget. However, DCS planned to onboard 2064 learners in 2021/22.

Mr Samuel Thobakgale, Chief Deputy Commissioner: Incarceration and Corrections, DCS, answered that long term skills development programmes were delivered in partnership with TVETs and were based at the workshops, farms and bakeries based at correctional centres. These locations were used as sites for training. For instance, DCS farms had a component focused on dairy, and inmates were allowed to be involved in the dairy process to learn skills. Similar practices were executed across the DCS’ enterprises. These programmes were reflected in the APP.

Regarding TB testing, DCS was measuring the recovery rate which stood at 95.2%, above the 90% target set by the Department of Health. DCS also screened for high blood pressure on inmate admission to design a profile for new inmates.

Ms Molepo expalined that Covid-19 had impeded the implementation of restorative justice processes. Targets for restorative justice were reduced because of this and because of a lack of a permanent structure focused on restorative justice in DCS, which hired social auxiliary workers on contract to implement. DCS was working on rehiring auxiliary workers and hiring more youth auxiliary workers. DCS was also working with DSD on restorative justice. DCS would attempt to provide economic opportunities for victims.

Mr Katenga addressed Mr Selfe’s question on overcrowding, replying that the inmate population had declined from over 155 000 to just above 140 000. Bed space capacity was roughly 120 000, which meant overcrowding of 17%. In terms of parolee and probationer adherence, this was done through measuring revocations on monitoring records.

Contribution to social cohesion was measured through parolees and probationers without issues and number of offenders taking part in restorative justice programmes.

Mr Ligege explained that the Rehabilitation programme had been protected from budget cuts. Production workshops and agriculture would enable self-sufficiency and thus had been allocated increasing amounts over the MTEF. During the year a number of projects would be implemented requiring budget allocations.

DCS attempted to use available government buildings but was often told to vacate offices to make way for other departments, mainly in the justice cluster. DCS highlighted that the Department of Public Works was negotiating to reduce lease rates for DCS, and DCS was also attempting to cancel external leases where possible. DCS was attempting to reduce expenditure in Community Corrections by cooperating with other spheres of government.

DCS was finalising a compliance framework to ensure proper consequence management and would devolve disciplinary investigations from head office to the source level, which should shorten turnaround times.

Mr Fraser replied regarding security incidents at DCS. The missing of the target in 2020/21 was due to a reduction in staff deployments and the major inmate escape at Malmesbury Prison. In Boksburg, the Area Commissioner had replied that there had been no shortage of inmate rations. The matter would nevertheless be indicated. DCS was in the process of finalising a security strategy for the department linked to the gang reduction strategy, counter corruption strategy and the reviewed standard operating procedures for inmate management. DCS wanted all centres to be contraband-free zones and was assessing centre heads for compliance. Mr Fraser announced the development of a master infrastructure plan for DCS looking at facilities across the country in line with the National Spatial Development Framework.

The Chairperson asked about the plan for two PPP correctional facilities whose contracts expired in 2026 and 2027, and what DCS had learned from those facilities. He asked for the inmate-official ratio at DCS and how far this was from the acceptable ratio. He noted the increase in the communications and computer service budgets and asked what these increases were targeted at. He also asked whether DCS was able to recover from over and underspending.

Mr Ligege answered that the Commissioner had appointed a team looking at taking over the PPP facilities when contracts expired and ensuring that the infrastructure was in a good state. The state would take over the running of the facilities.

Reductions in certain budgets over the years were due to budget cuts. Increases in communications and computer services were targeted at increased use of technology at DCS.

The underspending in 2020/21 was at 3%, as roughly 97% of the budget was spent. This was partly due to lockdowns interfering in procurement processes. 

The Chairperson asked DCS to address Mr Dyantyi’s earlier question on how the APP represented a leap forward, what changes were caused by Covid and a failure to spend, and what the risks were to DCS plans.

Ms Maseko-Jele asked about DCS’ conducting of Covid-19 awareness sessions, and why these were only targeted at officials.

Commissioner Fraser answered Ms Newhoudt Druchen’s question on the youth centre, replying that it would remain a youth centre and be completed in 2021/22. DCS did Covid-19 awareness for offenders and officials. The number of awareness sessions remaining were targeted at addressing all officials in the department.

The Chairperson asked how DCS got value for money in its infrastructure projects.

Mr Fraser replied that DCS onboarded project management and engineering capacity and co-managed infrastructure projects. The

Deputy Minister Holomisa thanked the portfolio committee for its role in preventing complacency. He noted the PC’s inputs on the implementation of plans and delivery on the departmental mandate. The Ministry wanted to ensure that DCS made a leap forward and was self-sustainable, ensuring that the inmates looked after their facilities and their own needs in terms of food and uniforms. He wanted to finalise the matter of JICS’ institutional home. The conditions of employees at the parole board were unacceptable and their contracts had to be amended to allow for these employees to take leave. 

The Chairperson thanked the Deputy Minister and delegation. He noted his shock some time ago that DCS did not have a legal or drafting unit, and his concern that the Department had not addressed this during the budgetary process. At the very least the Chairperson wanted to know that the Department was fully supported with legal advice and drafting capacity, even if this was shared with the DOJCD.

The Chairperson noted the DCS should find its place in the industrialisation of the country through involvement in value chains and strategic use of inmate labour. He noted that there was no reason that the department could not participate in the office furniture market given the quality of the products made by inmates. He proposed the department should think big with its labour productive capacity and how this could feed into the economy. He also proposed the use of existing state capacity for the building of state infrastructure. He argued that the state was not using its capacity to its full extent and lacked creativity.

The meeting was adjourned.