Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members of this House, leaders of the Department of Correctional Services, comrades and friends, I thank the one who saluted me and said "traditional leader". Chairperson, I rise in support of the thoroughly considered Budget Vote of the Department of Correctional Services, tailored to confront the immense challenges of the department.
This is with particular reference to places of custody holding those of our fellow citizens who fall foul of the law, for which centres the ANC government has taken full responsibility to transform from conditions of squalor and mere concentration camps, as they were in the previous regime, into centres of correction, rehabilitation and reform so that we can ultimately reintegrate into normal societal life, as good citizens, those that have been involved in an antisocial way of life.
When the ANC struggled for and accepted the mandate conferred on it by the vast majority of the people of this country, black and white, it did so conscious and aware that it was accepting a mandate with untold and enormous responsibilities, given the legacy of the successive uncaring and inhumane regimes that controlled every aspect of the lives of South African society, which implemented such laws as the separate amenities Act that denied decent facilities to the majority of the people.
Prisons were not to be uncontaminated by this act of neglect by those regimes. My colleague from the Eastern Cape is perfectly correct when he says that this overcrowding has been there for ages, maybe for centuries, and that by now we should be pulling up our socks.
He is quite right because when the hon Carl Niehaus, as the chairperson of the committee on correctional services, at some stage visited some of those prisons that were neglected by the previous regimes, he could not believe it and he decided to close down a prison because it was not fit for human habitation. Now the Minister and his department are trying to correct those things. When looking at the issues of overcrowding in our correctional centres, the ANC government consistently reminds itself that, long before it came into power, it had the perspective that the law should not be there to oppress and dehumanise the people but to ensure their survival and therefore to promote human rights for all and not to deny some. The President of the Republic of South Africa, and indeed many a Minister, have committed themselves to address such challenges as overcrowding with the resources available to the government.
The Department of Correctional Services has made every effort to ensure compliance with the Constitution of which section 35 of the Bill of Rights states in part that everyone who is detained, including every sentenced prisoner, has the right to conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity, including adequate accommodation, recreation and healthy conditions. It is clear that the department, from the reports that it has been giving us and from the documents that we have at hand, is determined to actually deliver to that effect. With this budget it strives to detain inmates in safe custody while maintaining their human dignity and developing a sense of social responsibility.
Let me now turn to the very important issue of the reintegration of offenders and the efforts of the ANC government to transform our society into a humane society with responsible citizens. I am convinced and confident, through interactions with the department, that the department is making every effort to devise constructive strategies to return inmates to their communities through its social reintegration programme.
This is being done precisely because offenders hail from and are groomed by communities. Because the ANC also understands that criminality is a product of social dislocation resulting from apartheid, illiteracy resulting from apartheid, economic inequality resulting from apartheid, unemployment resulting from apartheid, poverty resulting from apartheid and other legacies of authoritarian rule, it becomes of paramount importance to prepare sentenced prisoners for reintegration into society through, amongst other strategies, training and skilling and, again, the Constitution, in the section I earlier mentioned, enjoins the department to comply with this.
Let me hasten to say that on its own the department can scarcely achieve this without a co-ordinated structure that involves other departments, the private sector and communities, the DA and other parties - I often forget them. Together they should be developing approaches that are rooted in a sound analysis of what can effectively work to achieve the goal of reintegration.
On corruption, one of the most horrible things that has permeated and bedevilled our society is the scourge of corruption. It has more to do with greed and moral decay than any other factor. It gives one hope and encouragement to note that in line with the policy statement of the ANC government - in which it commits itself to fight corruption in all its forms to the bitter end within state and private institutions for effective service delivery and the betterment of the lives of all the people of South Africa - the department has adopted a zero-tolerance stance towards corruption and committed itself to participate fully within the government- wide anticorruption framework for the eradication of corruption within state institutions.
In conclusion, as I indicated earlier, I have been instructed to support the budget as it is. [Laughter.]