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THE PRESIDENCY: REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Private Bag X1000, Pretoria, 0001
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO. 2116
DATE PUBLISHED: 06 November 2009
DATE SUBMITTED: 24 November 2009
2116. Ms A Mda (Cope) to ask the President of the Republic:
(1) Whether he will instruct the Minister of Correctional Services to
investigate the recent developments of a certain person (name furnished) on
having been seen shopping and playing golf while on medical parole; if not,
why not; if so, when;
(2) What (a) steps will he take to fulfill his commitment of rooting out
corruption and (b) have been the successes in resolving problems
encountered by the public in respect of the various departments since the
launch of the presidential hotline on 14 September 2009?
NW2775E
REPLY:
1) As the Honourable Member should be aware the Correctional
Services Act (Act No 111 of 1998) sets out the procedures to be
followed where there are allegations of non compliance by a
parolee with his or her parole conditions. In terms of the Act
the National Commissioner of Correctional Services must
investigate any non compliance and based on the seriousness of
the non compliance a parolee may be reprimanded or instructed to
appear before the Parole Board to have their parole conditions
altered.
I am informed that the Department of Correctional Services has not received
any formal complaint alleging non compliance by the person referred to.
The Minister of Correctional Services has requested the National Council
for Correctional Services (chaired by Judge Siraj Desai) to review the
legislative provisions of medical parole. This request has been made
because a number of problems exist with regard to the implementation of the
current medical parole system. The National Council is expected to submit
their report to the Minister by the end of November 2009.
2) (a) The government will continue to strengthen the strategies
that are in place to fight corruption.
At its meeting of 18 November 2009, Cabinet decided to set up an
Anti-Corruption Inter-Ministerial Committee to effectively deal
with all incidence of corruption in the public service.
This Inter-Ministerial Committee will study the report and
recommendations on corruption issued by the Public Service
Commission and other reports.
The Inter-Ministerial Committee will ensure that action is taken against
all persons who are involved in corrupt practices involving public
finances.
The Anti-Corruption Inter-Ministerial Committee, which will be chaired by
Minister in the Presidency, Mr Collins Chabane, will present its report and
action plan at the Cabinet Lekgotla in January 2010.
Other steps that have been taken include the establishment of a new
National Treasury unit to monitor and investigate corruption in public
procurement processes.
As I have said before, we will not tolerate or condone the misuse of public
resources by any public official. Where transgressions are found to have
been committed, the required remedial action will be taken, including
instituting legal proceedings against the officials concerned.
(b) Since the Presidential Hotline was established, there have been
numerous successes in resolving problems encountered by the public. A
report on the Hotline will be tabled in Parliament in due course.