Yes, and Pollsmoor. Any takers? Please write down your names and give them to Kgoshi. I would like to take you in June to do coalface work with us so that you understand what we are talking about.
Kgoshi, about understaffing and the turnaround of vacancies, you are quite correct. Corporate Services in my department is very, very weak. We have started to look at that with the commissioner by pulling down some of the delegations so that when we get to a centre like Barberton, whoever is in charge is not going to say they can't appoint because it is national. That is coming to an end so that people right at the coalface take responsibility and don't say "Headquarters, headquarters!" all the time. There is a problem; we need to get Corporate Services working.
We have been dealing with the issue of suspended officials, pushing the area commissioners and regional commissioners to get to these people. If it is a minor issue, let the person come back to work rather than spend money on a person who is sitting at home. And sometimes we do not gauge cases, we just suspend, suspend, suspend without even looking at whether the case deserves that.
I have offered that we will do food production everywhere we go. Unfortunately, as an ANC member, I cannot point a finger at another department of the ANC. I will never do that because the Department of Public Works, DPW, is a department of the ANC and therefore we work together. There will be times when there will be an imbalance here and there. As Correctional Services we are not alone in the business of building prisons. We have to depend on other departments to assist us and we are trying our best to make things work there.
Our relationship with the DPW is good. The two commissioners get on well and the two Ministers get on well. As for the issue of alternative sentencing, we have been crowing and crying about people who don't deserve to be in jail. There is a young lady who has been sentenced to 30 months for stealing R304 and she has two babies.
Why are we doing this? Now we can't do anything about it; we would have to take those cases back to the courts and sometimes presiding offices say to us that it is not a priority, they have their case flow and we bring all these people so let them stay there. I mean, for R304 we will be paying so much more for keeping this lady inside. It's just crazy and unbelievable and these are cases that shouldn't come close to where we are. We are paying for that one offender who could have been sent back to work and told to repay the money three times over and do correctional supervision and everything else. I do not understand sometimes and yet we as a department are struggling.
As for the vetting of officials, they are being vetted, trust me. But I want more of them vetted so that we can take some of the top staff from headquarters. Headquarters, to me, is growing bigger and bigger but the work is not at the headquarters; it is at the centres in Barberton, Nelspruit, Ixopo or Port Shepstone. We need people there to take decisions, not people sitting and taking political decisions in an air-conditioned office and then telling people who are working in dangerous positions, "No, you shouldn't complain." No, that should come to an end.
The issue of the security bargaining council has been raised many times. I know that the commissioner knows that and it's not the Ministers' responsibility only, we've got to talk to the Department of Public Service and Administration, the DPSA. The labour unions also have to insist that they've got to move from where they are; it can't be left up to the Minister as I don't take that decision on my own but I hear when officials talk about it. Bab' uMzizi, ndigqibile. [Mr Mzizi, I'm done.]
Rehabilitation and integration is going very well and that young lady that we have just appointed is going to make sure that that works, otherwise why would I have appointed her if this thing doesn't work?
With regard to the ORP and that kind of thing, monitoring machines and putting cameras in cells are still a problem. We get challenged by the human rights committee but we are still talking to them about those issues.
When it comes to changing the juvenile age, I think I tend to agree with that. There are young children that you see in these juvenile centres. With the programme for children in conflict with the law, which we presented last week through the commissioner, we need the Department of Social Development to work closely with us. We've been pushing for that. We have been talking about this, that we have to move the little ones into a place of safety, because once they go into a prison, it's downhill for every child and we don't want that.
I myself am a father. My son is 15 years old and I don't have time to do homework with Joshua. I do it over the phone because I have to work for the people of this country and I have to do that as a father. When he writes exams, as is the case right now, I don't even know what he is writing today and I have to phone him later to find out. So when you see the plight of children in these places it touches you as a father and sometimes people think because you're a politician you don't feel anything. That is why I will dedicate this speech to Nosiphiwo, that is my daughter whom I don't see often, and Sbongile - we call her Ubhombhom. The third one is Sinalisiwe and my last-born is uJoshua. I dedicate this budget speech to them. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.