Hon Chair and hon Minister, in challenging the rotten-egg theory, ... [Laughter.] ... the ACDP is concerned that important services to prisons are being unnecessarily lost; services such as those previously provided by Prison Broadcasting Network, PBN, for example.
The Prison Broadcasting Network provided 15 years of daily services in radio, video, music production and broadcasting, as well as trauma and general counselling. These services provided offenders with some of the most technologically advanced training and skills development in the country.
Trinity Broadcasting Network, TBN, the only organisation of its kind in the world, won two awards last year for a television commercial filmed by ex- offender students. These services were shut down in July 2011, when the former Area Commissioner of Pollsmoor Prison made what seemed to be a unilateral decision to do so without any prior warning.
In August 2011, a unanimous decision was taken by the Quality Assurance Board of Pollsmoor to retain and expand TBN's services. The former Minister of Correctional Services issued a statement, which was broadcast on all national SABC news channels in February 2012, that TBN services would be reinstated and rolled out in all prisons in the country.
However, the situation remained the same. TBN spent two years imploring the highest levels of correctional services, and even the President, to reinstate TBN, to no avail.
Two other major rehabilitation projects, the Bird Project and Ambassadors in Sport, were also shut down at Pollsmoor by the same area commissioner. These were both highly successful projects which brought international acclaim to Correctional Services, and had been running for years. I will forward the information that I have to your office, hon Minister.
We cannot claim to be prioritising rehabilitation of offenders when individuals are allowed to shut down successful rehabilitation and job- creation projects, which provide excellent services at no cost to the state. It would also be beneficial to employ competent, skilled people to do better work and facilitate the numerous NGOs, which provide much needed services in prisons.
Exorbitant sums of money - we are told - are being wasted on contracts for new fencing and equipment, instead of enforcing certain criteria for installations at prisons and maintaining existing equipment. More money should go into maintenance instead of purchases.
Potential installation projects should include a minimum five-year maintenance contract, with an option which cannot be discontinued without valid reasons. Irregularities that favour new installations by new contractors, rather than maintenance, must be scrutinised.
Hon Minister, why do you need Bosasa Service Company, or anyone else, to supply food to the department when there are more than enough human resources to cook the food required? This could and should be another invaluable skills development or job creation project, as ex-offenders are far more likely to make a living from cooking than from flower-arranging or leather crafts.
Correctional services should also be growing their own vegetables and producing their own meat. A farm employing ex-inmates would save huge amounts of money on the cost of produce and provide countless jobs and skills. The ACDP will be supporting this budget. [Time expired.] [Applause.]