Madam Chair, Minister, Deputy Minister and colleagues, the purpose of the Department of Correctional Services is to correct offending behaviour, rehabilitate offenders and reintegrate them into society. Therefore, the only meaningful indicator of the success or failure of the Department of Correctional Services in carrying out its core mandate must be the extent to which offenders reoffend, and how quickly they do so after their release.
The department told us during the budget hearings that it does not currently measure this, but that it is working towards developing such a measure, in conjunction with other role-players in the criminal justice sector.
Even if we cannot measure reoffending rates accurately, we all know that they are frighteningly high. The chief operating officer of the department was quoted as saying that this rate was somewhere between 64% and 94% of offenders.
It is clear then that the department is not delivering on its core mandate. It is not making South Africa safer. Indeed just the reverse is true, as most offenders emerge from imprisonment more criminalised than when they were admitted, by virtue of their exposure to the "university of real crime".
The reasons for this have repeatedly been stated in this House over the years. The prisons are overcrowded. Rehabilitation programmes as they exist are superficial and available only to offenders serving sentences of over two years. There are severe shortages of specialist staff such as educators and psychologists.
The staff of the department is overworked. They work in very dangerous circumstances and in many cases are poorly managed and demoralised. There is no integrated information management system tracking inmates. Corruption is pervasive and deep-rooted, seemingly with very few consequences, either for the gang members or the officials who allow it to flourish in the cells and the sections.
Every year the department comes up with excuses regarding these problems that have not been overcome. In 2005, they produced a White Paper - a very commendable White Paper it was too. However, when we asked why the activities of the department weren't aligned with it, it said that it was a 20-year plan. When we asked why more offenders weren't successfully reintegrated, the department said that corrections is "a societal responsibility".
When we asked, in an attempt to stop the self-evident collusion between officials and inmates, why officials weren't subject to security clearances, we were told that the State Security Agency was overwhelmed and couldn't process them. Therefore, in the 2011-12 financial year, only 8,94% of officials of the Department of Correctional Services had been given security clearance.
When we asked why it was not possible to instal jamming devices, when it was clear that the department was unable to stop cellphones from being smuggled into prisons, we were told that it was impossible because you require the permission of the Independent Communications Authority of SA, Icasa.
When we insisted that the Department of Correctional Services should instal CCTV cameras in the cells to limit illicit activities, we were told it was against the human rights of inmates.
Then, of course, the department perpetually changes direction. First, the Department of Correctional Services outsourced catering to Bosasa. Then it committed itself to insourcing catering. It failed deliberately, in our view, to be ready to insource catering, and then decided to outsource it again. [Interjections.]
In 2005 and 2006, President Mbeki announced the construction of eight new public-private-partnership prisons. Then they were put on hold, despite the advice of the National Treasury that this was the most cost-effective way to procure such facilities.
The Department of Correctional Services then announced a new procurement model. Three new prisons were then built by the Department of Correctional Services under the hugely inept management of the Department of Public Works, all of which were delivered at least two years behind schedule.
Minister Balfour believed that he could rehabilitate offenders by mass participation in sport. Minister Ndebele believes that mass literacy is the key to rehabilitation. Each time there is a change of policy, the Department of Correctional Services must reorientate itself; and that takes time, resources and the adaptation of systems.
The lack of policy consistency has been compounded by lack of stability and continuity in the senior management of the department. Since 2007, there have been four national commissioners, and two lengthy periods during which Jenny Schreiner acted as national commissioner. During the same time, there have been three chief financial officers; one is awaiting trial for bribery, fraud and corruption, the second one lasted a couple of months, and the last one departed with the previous Minister. [Interjections.]
The post of chief financial officer is currently vacant. How can there be clarity of vision and purpose of leadership with this sort of turnover?