FRIDAY, 30 MAY 2003 __

                PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
                                ____

The House met at 09:03.

The Speaker took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS - see col 000.

                      CAPE TOWN UNICITY BUDGET

                        (Member's Statement)

Mrs R R JOEMAT (ANC): Madam Speaker, Cape Town mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo, announced average rate and tariff increases of 9% in her budget speech on 28 May 2003. A large portion of this percentage will be redirected towards upgrading informal settlements. The council has also set aside R344 million to address the housing backlog, and a further R45 million will be used to convert same-sex hostels into family units. A further R105 million has been set aside to build proper access roads, and to deliver water, sanitation and electricity.

The ANC welcomes the Cape Town unicity budget. We believe that this budget marks a decisive leap forward towards integrated communities. [Applause.]

                  THE ANC GOVERNMENT'S PERFORMANCE

                        (Member's Statement)

Mnr S E OPPERMAN (DA): Mevrou die Speaker, die jongste kapingsvoorval en moord op ‘n inwoner van Mitchell’s Plain in AZ Berman Rylaan is nie ‘n uitsonderlike voorval nie. Kapings, moorde en verkragtings het endemies geword.

Misdadigers ontvang, met die komplimente van die staat, en by implikasie van die slagoffers, toegang tot die beste regshulp. Halssnoermoordenaars en verkragters ontvang die beste maatskaplike berading, die beste mediese versorging, die beste studiemateriaal van hulle keuse - alles ten koste van wetsgehoorsame burgers. Hulle hoef geen hande-arbeid te verrig nie. Hulle hoef nie slagoffers te vergoed nie. Hulle ly nooit honger nie. Hulle het toegang tot die media en tot die beste ontspanningsfasiliteite. Sommige het selfs toegang tot hulle seksmaats buite die gevangenis.

Waarom is ons verbaas dat tronke oorvol is? As ons die voordele van misdadigers in hierdie land vergelyk met dié van miljoene spartelende, wetsgehoorsame burgers, is dit duidelik dat die waardesisteme van die huidige Regering in totale chaos verkeer. Geen wonder Afrika staan op sy kop in die voorportaal van ons Parlement nie. Noord is Suid en Suid is Noord, Oos is Wes en Wes is Oos. Ons aardbolle draai in allerhande windrigtings. Elkeen is met die wind gepla. Geen wonder dat daar geen rigting is in die hantering van krisisse waarmee ons land gekonfronteer word nie.

Daar heers totale verwarring in ons land, waar losbandigheid sinoniem met vryheid geword het. Die ANC Regering het die wetlike reg en verantwoordelikheid om die land, vir wie se vryheid baie van ons baie hard geveg het, reeds verloor. Die skrif is aan die muur. Hierdie Regering is geweeg en te lig bevind. [Tussenwerpsels.] [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans member’s statement follows.)

[Mr S E OPPERMAN (DA): Madam Speaker, the most recent hijacking and murder of a resident of Mitchell’s Plain in AZ Berman Drive is not an isolated incident. Hijackings, murders and rapes have become endemic.

Criminals receive, with the compliments of the state and by implication the victims, access to the best legal aid. Necklace-murderers and rapists receive the best counselling, the best medical care, the best study materials of their choice - all at the expense of law-abiding citizens. They do not need to perform any manual labour. They do not need to compensate victims. They never go hungry. They have access to the media and the best recreational facilities. Some of them even have access to their sexual partners outside prison.

Why are we surprised that prisons are overcrowded? If we compare the benefits of criminals in this country with those of millions of struggling, law-abiding citizens, it is clear that the value systems of the present Government is in total chaos. No wonder Africa is standing on its head in the entrance hall of our Parliament. North is South and South is North, East is West and West is East. Our globes rotate in every direction imaginable. Everybody is plagued by the wind. No wonder there is no guidance with regard to coping with crises that confront our country.

Total confusion prevails in our country, where permissiveness has become synonymous with freedom. The ANC Government has already lost the legal right to and responsibility towards the country, for whose freedom many of us have fought very hard. The writing is on the wall. This Government has been weighed and found wanting. [Interjections.] [Applause.]]

                 SIX-MEMBER PANEL OF EMINENT PERSONS

                        (Member's Statement)

Mrs I MARS (IFP): Madam Speaker, the formal establishment of the African Union in 2002 brought with it a new optimism that the continent of Africa would finally be able to effectively address its myriad of problems that have historically bedevilled peace, stability, economic growth and social development. One of the cornerstones of the new African Union is that it is expected to play a much more proactive role in promoting peace, security and good governance. Furthermore, in conjunction with the creation of the African Union, African leaders have drawn up a comprehensive plan to address the continent’s problems.

Nepad essentially contains the promises and commitments of African leaders to the developed world in order to gain access to developmental funding, donor funding and other forms of assistance. But global reality determines that the most developed and rich countries in the world will not provide a massive injection of finance into Africa if it is not met by a commitment on the part of African leaders to move rapidly towards good governance and respect for human rights.

In this respect the AU peer review mechanism will prove vital in exerting pressure on African leaders to implement and sustain good governance. The IFP, therefore, welcomes the appointment this week of the six-member panel of eminent persons that will be charged with quietly monitoring and pressurising African leaders. We also welcome the fact that a South African, Dr Chris Stals, former Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, was included in the panel, as well as Graça Machel, wife of former President Nelson Mandela. The other members are from Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Cameroon and the United Nations.

We hope that the establishment of this panel of eminent persons will send a clear signal to G8 states that Africa is serious about turning the corner and closing the book on war, conflict and authoritarian dictatorship.

                           STREET JUSTICE

                        (Member's Statement)

Mr M S BOOI (ANC): Madam Speaker, the ANC notes with grave concern the alleged necklacing of two people at Bram Fischerville in Johannesburg. The two brothers were suspected of being criminals involved in car hijacking and armed robbery activities.

While we as the ANC share the view held by the overwhelming majority of South Africans that the demon of crime needs to be rooted out of our society, we, however, believe that in doing so, the law that we as a people have instituted must at all times be respected. We, as communities, should not take the law into our own hands. We should, instead, work closely with the bodies to ensure that the due process of the law is followed and criminals are subsequently put behind bars.

This we must do in reconstructing our country and to strengthen the beacon of justice and democracy our Constitution provides for. [Applause.]

                      THE SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY

                        (Member's Statement)

Dr W A ODENDAAL (Nuwe NP): Geagte Speaker, die Nuwe NP doen ‘n beroep op die Reserwe Bank om so gou doenlik ‘n rentekoersverlaging aan te bring. Mnr Tito Mboweni moet gelukgewens word met die welkome afname in die produsenteprysindeks na 3,3% in April, maar dit is ontstellend dat Suid- Afrika se ekonomiese groeikoers van 2,4% in die eerste kwartaal, na 1,5% in April afgeneem het. Hierdie afname in die groeikoers moet dien as ‘n waarskuwingssein aan die Regering dat sneller ekonomiese groei nie noodwendig op ‘n verlaging in die inflasiekoers volg nie. Daarom is ‘n rentekoersverlaging nou noodsaaklik om die weg te baan vir ‘n hoër ekonomiese groeikoers, vir snelle werkskepping en die beter bekamping van armoede in Suid-Afrika.

Die Nuwe NP sien uit na die aankondiging van die jongste verbruikersprysindeks later vandag, veral in die lig daarvan dat dit waarskynlik die afgelope tyd foutief bereken is. Suid-Afrika kan hierdie soort foute nie bekostig nie, en die Minister van Finansies sal moet toesien dat so-iets nie weer gebeur nie. Indien die indeks ‘n betekenisvolle verlaging toon, sal dit beteken dat die land en lede van die publiek die afgelope paar maande onnodig miljoene rande verloor het, om nie eers te praat van die negatiewe effek wat dit op beleggervertroue sal hê nie. (Translation of Afrikaans member’s statement follows.)

[Dr W A ODENDAAL (New NP): Hon Speaker, the New NP appeals to the Reserve Bank to effect an interest rate reduction as soon as possible. Mr Tito Mboweni is to be congratulated on the welcome decrease in the producer price index to 3,3% in April, but it is disconcerting that South Africa’s economic growth rate decreased from 2,4% in the first quarter to 1,5% in April. This decrease in the growth rate should serve as a warning to the Government that more rapid economic growth does not necessarily follow on a reduction in the inflation rate. That is why a reduction in the interest rate is now vital to pave the way for a higher economic growth rate, rapid job creation and the more effective combating of poverty in South Africa.

The New NP looks forward to the announcement later today of the latest consumer price index, especially in the light of the fact that it has probably been incorrectly calculated in recent times. South Africa cannot afford these kinds of mistakes, and the Minister of Finance will have to see to it that this does not happen again. If the index demonstrates a significant reduction, this will mean that the country and members of the public have unnecessarily lost millions of rands during the past few months, not to mention the negative effect that this will have on investor confidence.]

              EXPEDITING FINALISATION OF CRIMINAL CASES

                        (Member's Statement)

Mr S N SWART (ACDP): Madam Speaker, the ACDP recently participated in a successful oversight visit by the joint committee, comprising members of both the Justice and Correctional Services Portfolio committees to various provinces. One of the most prominent aspects of the visit related to frustrations experienced in the finalisation of criminal cases by the criminal courts.

The domino effect of court delays results in the public losing confidence in our criminal justice system. Additionally, large numbers of awaiting- trial prisoners are kept in custody at great state expense, pending the finalisation of their trials. The joint committee spent a large portion of its time discussing ways of reducing delays in court. However, interdepartmental discussions with the members were most useful and resulted in immediate solutions, such as Saturday courts at St Alban’s Prison, with public defenders acting for inmates. The various Government departments involved in the Business Against Crime integrated justice system project at Port Elizabeth courts are also to be commended on the success of that particular project, as well as the success of the pretrial services project. Both served to finalise matters more quickly, and to reduce the number of awaiting-trial prisoners considerably.

The ACDP is, however, concerned to hear that similar projects in other provinces have not been continued due to a lack of donor funding. We trust that the positive attitude displayed by officials in the Port Elizabeth region will be emulated in other provinces, and that particular the integrated justice system and pretrial services projects will be rolled out nationwide.

Finally, the ACDP also welcomes the announcement that Adv Frank Kahn has been appointed to address unacceptably long delays in the High Court rolls, and the possibility that criminal cases are to be heard all year round.

    CALL ON GOVERNMENT TO SPEED UP ISSUING OF IDENTITY DOCUMENTS

                        (Member's Statement)

Mr P H CHAUKE (ANC): Madam Speaker, the Department of Home Affairs was recently taken to Durban High Court by Rwandese refugees, who had been granted refugee status, who were unable to obtain their refugee identity documents. The court ruled in favour of the refugees and instructed the department to urgently issue them with the required documents. Without the required documents these refugees cannot access services which are available to people with refugee status, like institutions of learning, international aid, and so on.

Furthermore, being a signatory to various protocols relating to treatment of refugees, slow delivery on such matters would impact negative on our country’s image. We, therefore, call upon Government to speed up the process of issuing identity documents. These contribute to pushing back the frontiers of poverty through improving the level of access to service delivery. [Applause.]

                      APPEAL FOR NATIONAL UNITY

                        (Member's Statement)

Dr M S MOGOBA (PAC): Madam Speaker, I appeal for national unity. There remains one piece of unfinished business in the liberation struggle, the issue of national unity. This is surprising because we have overcome apartheid and have a much-acclaimed constitutional democracy. It has been said that apartheid is dead, but it is not yet buried and its corpse stinks.

It is also ironic that we have just celebrated 40 years of existence of the Organisation of African Unity. The African Union was launched in our country and our President is the present head of the AU. As we travel the length and breadth of our continent preaching African unity, Nepad and African Renaissance, our credibility is greatly undermined when we do not raise a finger to bring about African and national unity here at home.

It is simplistic and naive to imagine that the PAC, Azapo, IFP, UDM, UCDP, AEB and so on, will evaporate or melt in the African sun. The Afrikaners, who were united in and by apartheid and were monolithic, are now fragmented into the New NP, FF, NA and so on. [Interjections.] There is also the ugly resurgence of white conservatism and the ugly threat of an Afrikaner war of liberation or war for the revival of Afrikaner oppression and domination.

We have just had the circus of floor-crossing, the most undemocratic transformation, the gaining of seats without the approval of the electorate and the result has been that 17 parties are now in existence. We need to be more open about the problem of African and national unity in order to arrest the cancer of political fragmentation and national disunity, otherwise our lofty dream of African unity, African Renaissance and Nepad will turn out to be an expensive mirage. CONDEMNATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN SCHOOL SPORT

                        (Member's Statement)

Mr N B FIHLA (ANC): Madam Speaker, an Afrikaner organisation circulated a letter to schools announcing rugby, hockey and netball trials for a tournament that is open to white Afrikaner pupils only.

The ANC very strongly condemns sporting activities which perpetuate racial division in our country. We strongly believe that organising sporting activities along racial lines, serves only to predispose innocent children to the seeds of the evil and barbaric white supremacist ideology.

The ANC believes that the Government and the people of South Africa have made strides in building national unity and a stable democratic society. We believe that sport and other cultural activities should be used to promote unity and national reconciliation amongst our people. We call on the people of South Africa to stay away from these activities and isolate those elements that seek to sow racial division in our beloved country. [Applause.]

              CAPE FLORISTIC REGION CONSERVATION GRANTS

                        (Member's Statement)

Mr E K MOORCROFT (DA): Madam Speaker, the DA welcomes the news that the Washington-based Global Environment Facility, has approved two grants totalling US$14,55 million in support of the first six years of a 20-year programme to promote the globally important Cape floristic region. This programme targets the conservation of all ecosystems in the fynbos region including rivers, estuaries and marine protected areas.

Other projects to benefit would be the development of the Tankwa Karoo- Cedarberg mega reserve, the Baviaanskloof mega reserve in the Eastern Cape and the Gouritz River-Swartberg mega reserve in the Southern Cape. This initiative, which involves more than R110 million, will be of inestimable value in conserving our incomparable environmental heritage and will be welcomed by all who understand its importance.

   CONCERNS REGARDING THE ROLE OF THE SANDF IN BURUNDI AND THE DRC

                        (Member's Statement)

Mr T E VEZI (IFP): Madam Speaker, earlier this week the IFP warned against the consequences of deploying South African military personnel on peacekeeping missions on the African continent in the absence of a very clear mission mandate and rules of engagement that would allow our soldiers to protect themselves. Our warning could scarcely have been more prescient as, the day before yesterday, it came to light that the Burundian rebel group, Forces for the Defence of Democracy, had warned that it would attack and kill South African soldiers who form part of the African Union peacekeeping force in Burundi.

The warning bells should have rung a long time ago. When South African soldiers were first deployed to Burundi, in 2001, they were sent as a protection force for returning politicians. In taking this limited role, our forces would not have been seen as a threat by any of the combatant groups. Our forces were also permanently stationed around Bujumbura which limited their exposure to danger.

However, it now appears that the focus has shifted from the protection of leaders to active peacekeeping efforts. Our soldiers plus an additional advance component are tasked with disarming the remaining rebel groups. Any military person worth his or her salt would immediately tell one that there is clear daylight between acting as a bodyguard and disarming active combatant forces. There can be no comparison in the threat level these two very different missions represent.

The crucial question then is whether the South African force has been issued with a clear mandate to conduct a more risky mission in Burundi and whether the rules of engagement have been set at a level where our soldiers will be able to protect themselves by acting in self-defence.

Furthermore, this question has serious implications for the South African battalion deployed in the DRC in the light of the far more volatile situation in that country. Taken in conjunction with recent pronouncements by Government officials, that more battalions of South African soldiers could be deployed in the DRC, the IFP has to reiterate its call: Give our soldiers a very clear mandate for their mission and the tools to protect themselves.

                        CHILD PROTECTION WEEK

                        (Member's Statement)

Mrs T J TSHIVHASE (ANC): Madam Speaker, seeing this is children’s week …

… nga mvelelo ya Tshirema, tsumbo, Tshivenḓa, ṅwana wa musidzana o vha a sa tendelwi u funzeswa u fhira wa mutukana. Ho vha hu tshi pfi u ḓo penga. Tshiṱalula tsho vha tsho tou temmbela zwauri vhasidzana vha songo guda thero dzine dza nga sa Maths', Science’ na dzi elanaho na zwa vhubindudzi ngauri vho vha vho tea u wanala tshiṱangani na u lindela u malwa fhedzi. Vho vha vha tshi tea u guda thero dzine dza sa vha ise fhethu.

Musidzana - Booi Ndivhudzannyi Thinavhuyo wa Khwevha Commercial School ngei Venḓa - Shayandima, hune nda dzula hone, o wana simbolo dzi tevhelaho kha Gireidi ya 12 nga 2002: Tshivenḓa Gireidi ya u thoma, B ya Gireidi ya nṱha; Afrikaans luambo lwa vhuvhili, C ya Gireidi ya nṱha; English luambo lwa vhuvhili, A ya Gireidi ya nṱha; Economics, A ya Gireidi ya nṱha; Accounting, A ya Gireidi ya nṱha; Business Economic, C ya Gireidi ya nṱha; Maths, C ya Gireidi ya nṱha; Mercantile Law, A ya Gireidi ya fhasi.

Mutshudeni uyu o ḓo pfufhiwa nga khaphu sa ane a vha nṱhesa kha vhaṅwe vhagudiswa kha Business Economics, musi o wana maraga dza 378 kha dza 400. Zwa zwino u khou dzhena Wits University a tshi khou ita digirii ya Khomese. Ri khou fhululedza Muhasho wa Pfunzo wo rangwaho phanḓa nga Muhulisei Minisiṱa Vho-Kader Asmal, wo rangwa phanḓa nga ANC, na Freedom Charter ye ya vhea pfunzo i linganaho kha vhoṱhe. Izwo zwo tikiwa nga ndugelo dza vhuthu kha Mulayotewa, zwi sa sedzi mbeu. [U vhanda zwanḓa.] (Translation of Venḓa paragraphs follows.)

[… in our African culture - Tshivenda, for example - a girl was not allowed to be more educated than a boy. It was said that she would become mad. Apartheid worsened the matter by not allowing girls to learn subjects such as maths, science and business-related subjects because they were only supposed to work in the kitchen and get married. They were only allowed to study subjects that would get them nowhere.

A girl named Booi Ndivhudzannyi Thinavhuyo of Khwevha Commercial School at Shayandima, Venda, where I live, managed to obtain the following symbols in Grade 12 in 2002 - Tshivenda First Language Higher Grade, B; Afrikaans Second Language Higher Grade, C; English Second Language Higher Grade, A; Economics Higher Grade, A; Accounting Higher Grade, A; Business Economics Higher Grade, C; Maths Higher Grade, C; Mercantile Law Standard Grade, A.

This student was awarded a trophy for surpassing other students in Business Economics by obtaining 378 marks out of 400. At the moment she is pursuing her studies at Wits University, doing a commerce degree. We congratulate the Department of Education, which is led by the hon Minister Kader Asmal and which is supported by the ANC and the Freedom Charter, which implemented equal educational opportunities for all. This is supported by human rights as enshrined in the Constitution, not looking at gender. [Applause.]]

                           HIV IN PRISONS

                        (Member's Statement)

Mr J DURAND (New NP): Madam Speaker, the New NP was alarmed on Wednesday when the Minister of Correctional Services stated in this House that HIV- positive and HIV-negative prisoners are not being kept in separate cells. Therefore, we once again renew our demands for an urgent and extensive investigation into how many people have been infected with HIV in prisons.

The latest figures from the Institute for Security Studies which indicate that 41% of the South African prison population is HIV-positive confirm the disturbing figures released by Inspecting Judge Fagan in May 2002, that more than 4 000 of the 10 000 prisoners released monthly are HIV-positive. This situation is a great danger to the HIV-negative person in detention. Therefore, the New NP, once again, suggests that all prisoners who request to be tested should freely undergo HIV testing and can insist on separate detention.

A recent court settlement involving a person who alleged that he was infected with HIV in prison confirms the New NP’s position that it is only a matter of time before the Department of Correctional Services will have to defend similar claims which can cost millions of rands. It is indeed the right of any HIV-negative person to stay HIV-negative. The necessary protection and provision must be created in the correctional services system because the circumstances are outside the control of the detainee. [Applause.]

         ALLOCATION OF ADDITIONAL CHILD PROTECTION OFFICERS

                        (Member's Statement)

Mr N J CLELLAND-STOKES (DA): Madam Speaker, yesterday the Deputy Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development said that additional child protection officers had been allocated and would be placed in seriously understaffed police units as soon as they were trained. This still leaves a shortage of 248 child protection officers in a country where children are the most vulnerable victims. It is not enough that we merely do a little more to protect our children. The DA believes that we must do everything possible to protect our children.

Only when there are no longer any children who are being raped, beaten and abused can we say that we are doing enough. Given that the Government is not prepared to do everything necessary to eradicate child rape and abuse in South Africa, we are forced to accept that the ANC believes that some level of child abuse is inevitable. Perhaps the Deputy Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development will inform us as to when all these vital positions will be filled.

                ARMED FORCES IN PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS

                        (Minister's Response)

The MINISTER OF DEFENCE: Madam Speaker, I would like to say to the members, in response to the statement regarding the armed forces in peacekeeping, that it is important that they should always feel free to access the mission mandate documents which indicate the conditions under which our members of the National Defence Force are deployed. It will be seen that, in the SA Protection Support Detachment mandate to Burundi, it is provided that members of the SA National Defence Force are allowed to arm themselves to the extent that they are able to defend themselves in the circumstances.

Similarly, now that the SA Protection Support Detachment mandate that was protecting the leaders has been expanded to be the mandate of the African mission in Burundi, that mandate increases their capacity to be able to defend themselves. Therefore, they carry equipment commensurate with the capacity that the combatants are likely to use against themselves. There is no way in which we could deploy members of the SA National Defence Force without enabling them to defend themselves.

However, for the record, I should also like to say to the members that we have now completed 18 months of deployment in Burundi, which was the first phase of the transitional government. To date, there has not been a single attack by any of the armed combatants on the SA National Defence Force deployees there. And, at the time, there were four armed groups which were fighting the Government. At the present time, three of them have signed the ceasefire. The remaining one - FNL Rwasa - is on its way to the talks with its commanders. We expect that, at this time, the probability of them also signing that ceasefire is very high.

The situation in Burundi, rather than worsening, has in fact been improving immensely. I would like to assure the House, therefore, that there is no way in which we will expose, and nor have we unduly exposed members of the National Defence Force, to danger. A similar situation prevails in the DRC and elsewhere, for instance in Ethiopia and Eritrea where we have deployed our people. I do not think that there is cause for alarm. Members of the House are free to approach my office or the department for the mandates which will give them accurate information regarding the conditions under which the forces are deployed. [Applause.]

                   HIV/AIDS PREVALENCE IN PRISONS

                        (Minister's Response)

The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Madam Speaker, I will try to respond to three statements. I am not sure how much time I have for that.

The SPEAKER: After this, I think you will have a lot of time in your debate. [Laughter.]

The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Madam Speaker, the first statement from the hon member from the DA to me is very difficult to respond to because its a prophecy of doom, which condemns the entire criminal justice system and the whole Government. But I must say that last week I did say that there would be deliberations on the criminal justice cluster this week and next week. Members will be free to engage those issues with those departments.

In response to the hon member from the ACDP, I think that the statement is quite encouraging because he precisely pointed out those areas which the criminal justice system needs to emphasise. I think we all heard that and we will try to look at that statement more positively. With regard to HIV/Aids and non-segregation of sufferers, I have made it abundantly clear that this is not only Government policy, but also an international law derived from the World Health Organisation. I have also made it very clear that I am not averse to amending and changing policies, but we do have the legislative process in this country. There are portfolio committees, Parliament and Cabinet. If the shocked member wants to unshock himself, those are the processes that he can follow.

                   CHILDREN UNDER THREAT OF ABUSE

                        (Minister's Response)

The DEPUTY MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Madam Speaker, in response to some of the observations made by members, I pointed out yesterday that the information brought to us by the DP - through the hon Waters - was not information which we did not already have. His efforts in that area of work are laudable, but we have invited him in the past to become part of the solution and not to keep restating a problem of which we are aware.

The whole process in response to children under the threat of abuse is an integrated one. We have increased our Sexual Offences Courts to 39 - an unprecedented increase. The Child Protection Units are being rearmed and reinforced in our efforts to increase them in a sustainable manner. We are also responding through social development. It is an integrated response.

We invite the hon Waters, once again, to join our integrated response to solve the problems and stop his gratuitous carpings. His response is absolute rubbish. Our response has been entirely integrated. We are spending more money on our response against the abuse of women and children than ever before. We have, in fact, ringfenced money in the Justice budget for the protection of women’s and children’s rights. We will continue to do this. We use the information that we get from all parties and role-players.

I have to make it quite clear that this is, as I said yesterday, simply a cursory inventory of our response to the issue of violence and abuse. It has been extraordinary. We named them yesterday. If the hon member thinks that he can carry on standing up and pretending that this does not make a difference, he is wrong. [Applause.]

      CONSIDERATION OF COMPLAINT AGAINST MINISTER M G P LEKOTA

 (Consideration of Report of Joint Committee on Ethics and Members'
                             Interests)

Mr L T LANDERS: Madam Speaker, in presenting this report to you I wish, firstly, to express my appreciation for the diligence and commitment displayed by hon members of the joint committee in addressing matters such as the one before this House today.

The report before this House speaks for itself and contains enough detail for hon members. I therefore beg your indulgence and that of the House as I wish to address one or two points emanating from this case. Regardless of one’s views about this case, the most significant aspect of the report before us is that our system of ethics works. Our system has proved that even our most senior members of Parliament and the most powerful amongst us are bound by the provisions of our code and can be held accountable.

The second important point I wish to place before you is that the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests is constrained by the provisions of the code and the Joint Rules of Parliament, which include the penalty provisions and the rules of procedure for conducting investigations. We can only do what is in the Joint Rules and what is is the code. We can only impose the sanctions that are provided for in the Joint Rules.

Given some of the adverse comments and criticisms following the committee’s findings, it is important to note that the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests is not a court of law. It is also important to note that the Office of the Registrar of Members’ Interests is not a police station, and neither is the joint committee Parliament’s equivalent of the Scorpions.

I want to reiterate what we said in our statement to the media on 22 May

1. After careful consideration of all the facts and evidence placed before us, the members of the committee unanimously and, let me add, enthusiastically agreed to the findings and sanctions contained in this report.

On behalf of the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests I therefore ask this honourable House to accept this report, its findings and recommended sanctions, and I ask that these sanctions be implemented promptly. [Applause.]

The SPEAKER: By agreement I will now recognise parties to make declarations of vote.

Declarations of vote:

Mr M J ELLIS: Madam Speaker, the purpose of the parliamentary code of ethics, and all other codes applying to politicians, is to help ensure a clean and corruption-free government in our country.

Virtually every newspaper of significance in South Africa has criticised the sentence passed on Minister Lekota. Numerous cartoons and acres of editorial space depicted the findings of the ethics committee as a mere slap on the wrist. The implication of all this is that the media, at least, believe the Minister’s conduct was more serious than the parliamentary committee has found.

What needs to be understood is that the ethics committee has to confine itself to the breaches of the code of conduct applying to MPs. However, there are other avenues that can and must be followed regarding the Minister’s conduct in his capacity as a Minister. My party has already referred the ministerial aspects to the Public Protector for investigation.

I believe that the public find it very worrying when the people who are sent to Parliament to make the rules begin to believe that they are above them. This is one such case. It is our view that Minister Lekota can stay on as an MP having been chastised and fined, but that he should either resign or be fired as a Minister. [Interjections.] [Applause.]

Mr J DURAND: Madam Speaker, the New NP welcomes the fact that Minister Lekota, in complete honesty, admitted that he had omitted to declare his business interests to Parliament. He, however, co-operated fully with the ethics committee, acknowledging its authority. He has apologised. The member acted honourably by apologising publicly. However, it is a serious matter and must be dealt with in that light.

The ANC is also to be congratulated on not trying to engage in a cover-up and the fact that the ethics committee was unanimous in its decision. The New NP supports the committee’s decision.

In conclusion, many of us are new to Parliament and to business. Parliament should consider holding a workshop at which all the aspects of ethics and members’ interests are discussed so that all members will realise the gravity of the situation. [Applause.]

Mr L M GREEN: Madam Speaker, hon Ministers and members, the ACDP feels that the confession made by the Minister in the ethics committee is commendable

• that he confessed that what he did was wrong. That is always a start - if something one did was wrong to admit that it was wrong. However, we feel, as far as the verdict and the confession that was made in the committee are concerned, that maybe it would have been more appropriate for the Minister to make the confession in the House and to make it publicly.

Secondly, as far as the role of the Speaker is concerned, we feel that a precedent has been set in which if a member of Parliament has erred, the Speaker, in her position as Speaker, has the authority to reprimand such a member publicly. We feel that in this instance it is also important for Madam Speaker to have the authority and the right to be able to do that. As far as the recommendation is concerned, we would agree with the interpretation of the DA in that we also feel that it is a slap on the wrist - maybe the penalty should have been harsher. However, we also admit and accept that the Minister had the courage to make a public apology in the committee.

We feel that the role of the Speaker, however, has been omitted, and we think that it would have been appropriate for the Speaker to say something on this. [Interjections.]

Mrs L R MBUYAZI: Madam Speaker, hon Ministers and hon members, the IFP notes the report.

Mnr C AUCAMP: Agb Speaker, ek wil graag die lede van hierdie Huis daaraan herinner dat ons luister na die verslag van die Etiekkomitee en nie die Gestapo nie. In die boek Ester in die Bybel lees ons van Hamman wat ‘n galg gebou het waaraan Mordegai moes hang. Op die ou end was dit Hamman self wat aan daardie galg gehang het.

Ons moet oppas dat ons nie op hierdie manier optree nie. Ons moet waak teen ‘n heksejag en nie die kwessie van etiek en ledebelange wat hierdie Huis en sy gehalte moet uitbou, misbruik om soos honde op mekaar te gluur nie. Enige persoon met die mees basiese kennis van die reg sal vir jou sê daar is ‘n wesenlike verskil tussen oortredings met opset en oortredings uit nalatigheid.

Ek wil dit duidelik sê: as daar die geringste bewys is van onregmatige bevoordeling, sou die Nasionale Aksie ook vir baie ernstige optrede gevra het. Maar ons moet ook weet - ons is almal menslik, ons moet ook so teenoor mekaar optree. Die reëls van die Parlement maak voorsiening vir ‘n bepaalde prosedure, ‘n prosedure wat deur hierdie Huis voorgeskryf is en waaroor ons almal ooreengekom het. Die Nasionale Aksie wil waarsku teen mediaverhore deur parlementslede oor sake wanneer ons oor ‘n prosedure ooreengekom het.

Die prosedure is gevolg, die komitee het sy uitspraak gegee, en die Nasionale Aksie steun dit van harte. [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans declaration of vote follows.)

[Mr C AUCUMP: Hon Speaker, I would like to remind the members of this House that we are listening to the report of the Ethics Committee and not the Gestapo. In the book of Esther in the Bible we read about Haman who built a gallows on which Mordecai was to be hanged. In the end it was Haman himself who was hanged on those gallows.

We must guard against acting in this manner. We must guard against a witch- hunt and not misuse the issue of ethics and members’ interests, which are intended to develop this House and its quality, to glare at one another like dogs. Any person with the most basic knowledge of the law will tell you that there is a fundamental difference between premeditated offences and offences committed as a result of negligence.

I want to state this clearly: If there had been the slightest proof of wrongful favouring, the National Action would also have asked for very serious action. But we must also know - we are all human, we must also treat one another as such. The rules of Parliament make provision for a specific procedure, a procedure which was laid down by this House and to which we all agreed. The National Action wants to warn against media hearings by members of Parliament about matters when we have agreed on a procedure.

The procedure was followed, the committee gave its judgment, and the National Action supports it whole-heartedly. [Applause.]]

The SPEAKER: The PAC is up next. No, sorry, Mrs de Lille. My apologies. Old habits die hard.

Mrs P DE LILLE: Madam Speaker, the code of ethics has been abused so often that I think it is time we re-examined the code of ethics. I have always held the view that we need an Act of Parliament that would make any of us violating the code a crime. We need a code that has teeth and a code that could be a deterrent. Where a member has benefited, the money must be recovered. The Constitution is now more democratic than the drafters of the Constitution. The Constitution is also more democratic than most of our people in this country. We need to protect the Constitution.

Cabinet should not become a revolving door through which Ministers enter and thereafter leave to go into business and get rich. We also call on the President now to invoke and implement the Executive Members’ Ethics Act, failing which he would also be in contempt of an Act of Parliament. I thank you. [Interjections.]

Ms T E MILLIN: Madam Speaker, notwithstanding hon Minister Lekota’s commendable admission before the ethics committee, the Independent African Movement, the IAM, fully endorses the sentiments expressed by the hon Ellis on behalf of the official opposition. [Interjections.]

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Madam Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, since the advent of democracy in 1994 the ANC has sponsored a number of initiatives in this country aimed at encouraging clean and transparent governance.

The code of ethics, for instance, was initiated by the ANC as part of the broader effort to develop a new culture of transparency and accountability in public life. As we introduced these measures while cognisant of the need to tackle, in a cohesive manner, the kind of corruption that was endemic under apartheid, there have been those among us who have always opposed them. They, to this day, are consistently opposed to a law-governed society. They make extremely loud noises, trying to persuade the people of this country to disregard due process and act outside our constitutional and legal provisions.

However, we have remained confident of the proven ability of structures, such as the joint ethics committee, to do their work without fear or favour. In this regard, we congratulate the joint ethics committee on sterling work done.

We remain, also, fully cognisant of the reality that these measures constitute new and relatively uncharted waters in the life of this nation and in the international context. For these measures to work, our nation needs to broaden its understanding of due process. It needs to continue, as it has in the past, to strengthen its political will to implement both the letter and the spirit of such.

Despite their relative newness, the ANC is, of course, happy that these mechanisms are working, are supported by all well-meaning South Africans and that our democracy is being strengthened and consolidated on an ongoing basis.

We move for the adoption of this report. [Applause.]

Motion agreed to.

Report accordingly adopted.

The SPEAKER: Hon members, the sanctions, as approved, will be applied immediately. I want to draw attention to the fact that the Speaker cannot go beyond the decision of the House. The sanctions, which were recommended unanimously by the committee, are a written reprimand from the Speaker of the National Assembly and a fine equivalent to one week’s salary - seven days’ salary. These are the sanctions that will be implemented promptly.

          FILLING OF VACANCIES ON NATIONAL YOUTH COMMISSION

(Consideration of Report of Joint Monitoring Committee on Improvement of Quality of Life and Status of Children, Youth and Disabled Persons)

There was no debate.

Report adopted (Democratic Alliance abstaining).

                         APPROPRIATION BILL

            Debate on Vote No 21 - Correctional Services:

The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Madam Speaker, hon members of the House, members and officials of Correctional Services who are in the gallery, ladies and gentlemen, and visitors who have come to hear our Vote this morning, I must say that various societies the world over hold divergent views about the purpose of a correctional system. This is necessarily so because of their different historical and cultural experiences. Prisons in many ways have become the dumping ground for society’s unwanted members and for those that we believe to be untamed.

Research shows that a significant number of prisoners enter prisons with mental health and other medical problems. A high proportion of prisoners lack even basic literacy skills. Owing to a lack of resources, many of these problems are not adequately tackled within the prison environment.

In an attempt to find answers to questions on the concept and philosophy of corrections, authors such as Richard Terrill found that the importance of the juxtaposition of penal theory and the architectural design of correctional institutions is a notion that emerged in England during the late 18th century. At roughly the same time, police practitioners began in earnest to support improvements in law enforcement. People were questioning some of the basic assumptions behind the administration of justice, just as they were questioning many of the established political, religious, scientific and social assumptions on which society was based.

Many of these basic tenets were introduced originally during the Middle Ages, a period that some have referred to as the Age of Faith. The 18th century was a markedly different period, known by contemporaries as the Enlightenment - the Age of Reason - espousing a belief that the individual was a free, rational and equal member of society. Such notions were obviously at cross-purposes with established custom and authority.

The 18th century serves as a useful benchmark for the emergence of the modern development of English corrections. It was during this time that people consciously and rationally attempted to study the purpose of and the conditions for incarcerating law violators. In order to appreciate the contributions of Enlightenment thinkers, it is useful to examine the state of corrections at earlier points in time. Anglo-Saxon dooms and medieval statutes enable us to piece together this history.

Following the Norman Conquest of 1066, the use of imprisonment appears to have declined somewhat. Two possible explanations have been offered for this development. On the one hand, imprisoning people was a costly enterprise for the captor. On the other hand, alternatives to incarceration did exist. For example, death, mutilation and outlawry had long been established methods of punishing serious offenders, while compensation was considered an appropriate sanction for less serious offences. However, a trend has developed over the years, which we also subscribe to as South Africa, that a need exists to place more emphasis on the rehabilitation of those who are serving sentences imposed by the courts and referred to our facilities.

Our transition to a constitutional democracy, which has been aimed at making a break with the arduous years marked by oppression, violation of the basic rights of citizens, policies of racial discrimination and general misrule directed at the African people, demanded that we engaged in radical reform programmes of our prison system. Since the promulgation of the Correctional Services Act, Act 111 of 1998, efforts have been made to ensure that the correctional system operates in the spirit of our Constitution and international conventions and treaties.

The Act attempts to address, among other things, the entrenchment of the fundamental rights of offenders, placing special emphasis on the rights of special groups of offenders, such as women, young offenders and children in prison; developing a transparent disciplinary system for offenders; establishing various safeguards regarding the use of segregation and force; creating a framework for the treatment, development and support of offenders; establishing a correctional supervision and parole system that involves the community, partners in the criminal justice system and the victim or representative of the victim; and the establishment of extensive external monitoring mechanisms such as the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons and the National Council for Correctional Services.

We remain committed to our vision of being among the first in the world to deliver Correctional Services with integrity and commitment. This we shall attain by placing rehabilitation at the centre of our activities in safe and secure environments, and by strengthening our partnerships with the people of South Africa and our global partners, particularly the people of our continent, Africa, in the true spirit of the African Renaissance under the programme of Nepad, or the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

To intensify our involvement in the region, Cabinet approved a meeting of Ministers responsible for Correctional Services and prisons in the Southern African Development Community, SADC, which I requested. This meeting will take place in Pretoria on 3 July this year.

In our attempt to contribute to international developments in the field of corrections and management of prisons, the commissioner, with some senior managers and myself, undertook some visits overseas and in Africa. We attended conferences and presented papers at some of these forums. In recognition of our contribution to these global initiatives, I, as the Minister of Correctional Services of South Africa, was elected vice president of the International Relations Committee of the American Correctional Association, the ACA. [Applause.] This, I must say, is the biggest organisation in the field of corrections in the world at which service providers, intellectuals and practitioners in corrections and prisons meet to share best practices and developments in correctional services and prison reform.

South Africa’s approach to prison management and community correctional supervision is based on the principles of restorative justice, unit management, direct supervision, and secure and safe humane custody of offenders. This approach is, as far as is practicable, in line with international standards. As Government we believe that correction, both as self-correction and correction of others, is inherent in good citizenship.

All citizens should contribute to maintaining and protecting a just, peaceful and safe society in our country by upholding the law and justice, and by promoting the social responsibility and human development of all citizens. Correction is thus not merely the responsibility of the Department of Correctional Services, but a shared responsibility of all social institutions and individuals. The family, educational, religious, sporting and cultural institutions, as well as a range of Government departments. In cases where these institutions and society have failed, the criminal justice system and the Department of Correctional Services take up a bigger role in the performance of their responsibilities.

I am talking about families because when I was asked about the segregation of Aids sufferers, somebody wrote me a note and said I should ask the member whether, if one has an Aids sufferer in one’s house, one provides separate rooms and separate facilities, kitchens and so on. It just shows how people think.

At this tertiary level of correction, rehabilitation and the prevention of recidivism are best achieved through a person correcting their offending behaviour, and developing themselves, and not through punishment. While it is true that the responsibility is primarily that of the offender, correctional agencies, the community and the household to which the offender returns also have a great deal of influence on whether or not that change will occur.

We view this approach as a medium to long-term plan and a visionary strategy in turning the tide against crime in the country. The role of these institutions and individuals can therefore not be overemphasised. In the context of dysfunctional families, combined with the discrepancy between the social values that are enshrined in the Constitution and the society that we have inherited, the other social institutions take on more significant importance in the development of a correcting environment for children and young people.

It is, therefore, a disturbing factor and a cause for concern that we are experiencing a high influx of young people in our system. Statistics indicate that we have 29 951 young people in our system, of whom 14 573 are awaiting trial while 15 378 have been sentenced. This is apart from the 208 children or infants who live with their mothers in prison. Today we are still in the process of observing Child Protection week throughout the country. Every child is entitled to protection, and we as a department believe that no child belongs in prison.

However, if they are in the circumstances in which they find themselves, all of us have the responsibility to ensure that they too are reserved a place in the sun. Despite the challenges that we face as a department, we can proudly report on the advances made in the reforms that the system went through and the gains made through the assistance and support of members of this House and social partners in society within the limited resources at our disposal.

We are happy and proud to note that our efforts at achieving greater heights have not gone unnoticed since our department was recently recognised and nominated as one of the top performers in the public sector, by the well-known Impumelelo group of companies. This is a source of tremendous encouragement to us.

In pushing back the frontiers of poverty, Correctional Services engaged in a number of poverty alleviation projects to the value of about R496 239 in the past financial year. However, the biggest value that we achieved was to engage offenders in projects that had a direct benefit to the community, through agricultural and building projects. We also wish to thank community leaders, that is, makgosi, amakhosi, marena, who supported our efforts in the various communities. We believe that the sustainability of these projects depends on the continued collaboration between communities, community-based institutions and ourselves.

In the past financial year, the Department of Correctional Services endeavoured to develop a common understanding of rehabilitation in the context of corrections, and to develop the process through which it can be achieved. It is expected that these initiatives will be delivered within these MTEF budget allocations, starting from the 2003-04 financial year. Over the medium term the growth of the programme has slowed down, owing to the pressure on the Vote by a rising prisoner population.

Most of the pressure is due to administrative expenditure, which will nearly double from R14,6 million in 2002-03 to R27,9 million in 2003-04, and it is expected to increase further to R31,5 million in 2005-06. The budget allocation to our department for the 2003-04 financial year amounts to R7,6 billion, and provides for an establishment of 36 320 personnel posts and operational costs for a daily average offender population of 183 000 prisoners and 70 000 probationers and parolees. This represents a total increase of 9,25% on the total adjusted allocation of R7,2 billion for the 2002-03 financial year.

The department estimates that it will receive income and miscellaneous receipts of about R80,2 million during 2003-04 and that these revenues will grow at an annual average of 4,5%, generated largely by the sale of products from prison workshops, hiring out prison labour and renting out official personnel accommodation. All income generated is deposited into the National Revenue Fund. Of this amount 22,9% is generated through the sale of goods and services provided by offenders.

The budget for rehabilitation has increased by an average of 8,3% per annum from R264,8 million in 1999-2000 to R427,5 million in 2005-06. A total of about 22 360 offenders were trained during 2002 in a variety of skills related to the workshop, building and agricultural fields. The establishment of 12 of the planned 14 training centres has already been completed. These centres are aimed at the promotion of occupational skills training, in which artisan status cannot be obtained but specialised training is provided. This training is aimed at equipping offenders with the basic technical skills in a variety of fields such as brick making, bricklaying, woodwork, welding, garment making, etc. Business skills training is also provided in order to equip individuals with skills to operate their own small businesses. I would like, at this point in time, to thank the Department of Labour for their assistance and financial support in this regard.

The President’s Award Programme, a self-development programme which is available to young offenders and equips them with life skills to make a difference to themselves, their communities and their world, forms part of rehabilitation programmes for young offenders in the department. It is a holistic programme that aims to promote the social, psychological and physical wellbeing of young people in South Africa. A Gold President’s Awards ceremony was hosted in Grahamstown on 7 July

1. During this prestigious event, the former President, Dr Nelson Mandela, who is the patron-in-chief, accompanied the Earl of Wessex and his wife and Commissioner Linda Mti. They handed Gold Awards to 110 young offenders who successfully participated in the programme.

The involvement of the President’s Awards in young offender programmes has played a significant role in seeing young people in conflict with the law being successfully reintegrated into society. This programme was founded by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Phillip, in England, but grew to be an international programme running in a number of countries around the world. In South Africa, it started at St Albans prison in Port Elizabeth, in 1994, with 14 offenders. To date some 20 000 young offenders have been through the programme.

Let me take this opportunity, Madam Speaker, to thank the Speaker of this House, that is yourself Madam, the hon Dr Frene Ginwala, on the role she played as the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the President’s Award. In the same breath I wish to welcome and congratulate the hon Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, as the incoming chairperson. I must also add that we remain indebted to our former President, Dr Nelson Mandela, for the excellent support and leadership he has provided to date to the programme as the patron-in-chief.

The Department has made enormous gains in developing a better understanding of its role in the implementation of restorative justice. This led to a joint conference on restorative justice, titled “From theory to implementation”. It was led by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, and there were various activities which included joint training sessions conducted by officials from Canada who are regarded as leaders in the implementation of this approach.

Our poverty alleviation programmes and the inclusion of victims or their representatives in our parole system are at the forefront of our initiatives which seek to promote and operationalise this concept and facilitate the process of healing and restitution. The Moral Regeneration Movement and the work of the social cluster of Government in strengthening social cohesion and promoting social justice, will make a major contribution to the Department’s rehabilitation and correction efforts, both through teaching ethical values to those already convicted and ensuring the revival of the South African ethos and ethic of ubuntu/botho in our communities.

The R3,5 billion allocated for incarceration provides for the humane detention of prisoners in safe custody until they are lawfully released. The programme also covers the health care and physical needs of prisoners in order to comply with national and international norms and standards regarding the treatment of offenders. These account for 43% of the total budget over the MTEF period. It is also projected that the expenditure will increase due to the envisaged increases in operating costs, including the appointment of additional personnel caused by projected increases in the prisoner population. Health and physical care expenditure is also expected to increase due to an increased provision for prisoner primary health and dental care to counter the spread of opportunistic infections in prisons, including HIV/Aids. We, however, welcome the initiatives from our partners, that is the Medical Research Council, and Emory University of the USA. These organisations recently completed a survey on health issues in prisons in the postapartheid era. Their report is awaited.

Government is equally anxious to get the planned HIV/Aids prevalence and attitude survey to be undertaken by the department off the ground. This information will be valuable in aiding decision-making and facilitating the implementation of our HIV/Aids strategy amongst our own personnel and offenders. It is also envisaged that this will be completed in 12 months.

As a result of the successful implementation of unit management, which is an effective strategy to reduce prison violence and control gang activity, we have succeeded in managing incidents of violence and unnatural deaths in prison. Over and above the safety of offenders, the department is also committed to reinforce delivery on secure facilities and the prevention of escapes. This is an integral part of the purpose of the correctional system, but it is also a prerequisite for the rehabilitation process.

In general, the department is quite successful in bringing down the numbers of escapes, compared to previous years. However, due to one unfortunate incident at Bizana prison, in the Eastern Cape, in December 2002, where 98 offenders escaped during an evacuation operation as a result of a serious fire threat, there was an increase in the number of escapes from 223 to about 281. Spending on community corrections will grow on average by only 3,9% from R258,8 million in 2002-03 to about R290,5 million in 2005-06. This has the potential to relieve some of the pressure on incarceration and overcrowding, as well as reducing the cost of the Vote.

Correctional Services is encouraging alternative sentencing options within the justice, crime prevention and security cluster, and the enhancement of service delivery to parolees and probationers which will have a major impact on expenditure in the future. The challenge that faces the department in relation to community corrections is to enhance the rehabilitation, correction and development aspects of correctional supervision in order for it to be seen as a viable alternative sentencing option.

The Department’s approach to the extension of correction of offending behaviour, promotion of social responsibility and development of a human being in community-based supervision has been to ensure that there is an integrated support system. This is complemented by a system of referral and networking that supports the offenders in their residential area and facilitates their reintegration into the community from which they have come.

The problem of overcrowding in our prisons remains one of the biggest challenges facing the department. Overcrowding has a negative effect on our operations as it impacts on staff morale due to unacceptable working conditions, the health of offenders, effective safe custody and ability of the department to allocate resources effectively for rehabilitation of offenders and results in abnormally high maintenance costs of prison facilities. The latest available figures indicate that our prison population stands at about 187 748. Our capacity remains at 110 874 and this means that we are overpopulated by 78 874 or 71,1%.

South Africa, I must say, was last year classified as the fourth most aggressive jailer in the world after the US, Russia and Belarus. However, we are encouraged by the allocation of R900,6 million for our capital works projects. This figure provides for the construction of four new facilities with a capacity of 3 000 each within this MTEF period. These projects are expected to begin later this year and it is envisaged that they will be operational by the 2005-06 financial year. This will be the first batch of prisons that would be in accordance the new generation low-cost affordable prison designs which I unveiled in August 2002.

Repairs and renovations are continuing in 12 prisons in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the North West province and accommodation will be available for about 863 more offenders. The department continues to address the maintenance of its fixed assets and the improvement of the quality of the prison facilities. Contracts have been awarded for the repair and maintenance of 33 prisons, of which 14 have been completed and the remainder will be completed during the current financial year. A further 146 prisons have been identified for the awarding of contracts for repair and maintenance, that is the Ramp programme.

It is therefore imperative that we involve prisoners in undertaking most of the repairs as part of the training programme. Because most officials are here I want to re-emphasise that it is imperative that we involve prisoners in undertaking most of the repairs as part of their training programme. Forget about people from outside.

The budget allocation provides for an amount of R492,9 million, which is 6,4% of the total budget, for financing of the operational costs of the two privately-operated prisons which have a capacity of 5 952 beds and are managed under the Asset Procurement and Operating Partnership Systems as a public-private enterprise. We continue to receive positive and encouraging reports from the two facilities which are Mangaung Prison in the Free State and Kutama Sinthumule Prison in Limpopo province.

Flowing from the process of gearing the department for rehabilitation, as well as the restructuring and transformation of the Public Service, the department agreed on a new range of services to be provided to offenders in carrying out our mandate. These services will form the basis of our budget as soon as National Treasury approval has been obtained to recognise them as programmes. However, the strategic plan tabled in Parliament already provides for these programmes, namely, corrections, development, care, security, facilities and aftercare.

To promote the effective governance and administration of the department, the budget allocation provides for a personnel expenditure which amounts to R4,9 billion for salaries. Over the medium term, this category of expenditure will continue to dominate due to the labour-intensive nature of our operations. Our people, correctional officials and management, are a valuable resource in the delivery of our services. Correctional Services is a people business. We therefore need people in order for us to be effective.

The department has asserted that every member is a rehabilitator, and has shown that the manner in which each and every staff member performs his or her task either contributes to creating an environment which promotes rehabilitation or militates against rehabilitation and correction of offending behaviour. The ideal correctional official should be a person who finds a high degree of compatibility and synergy with the code of ethics and the conduct adopted by the department. Moreover, the ideal correctional official should embody the values that the department hopes to instil in the offender as it is this same member who is to assist and facilitate the rehabilitation process of the offenders and treat them with decency, humaneness and fairness. A lack of or limited international best practices that is relevant and comparable to our situation presents a further challenge when considering staff training and development needs for the realisation of the new paradigm. Correctional Services has not been adequately recognised as a field of professional practice - a challenge that is now unavoidable. The limited university-based programmes in the field of corrections contribute to the low development of corrections as a profession.

Consequently, the bulk of the capacity that the department requires to deliver services has to be developed internally and is hence a major challenge for human resource development. The department must also develop a human resource provisioning strategy that would attract the relevant knowledge and skills required to deliver on this mandate while doing its best to retain those who are in its employ. These challenges brought about by renewed paradigm emphasis on correction and rehabilitation mean that the department needs, more than ever before, to poise itself for extensive staff training, for recruitment of new personnel and for the retention of existing staff.

It is appropriate for me to restate our commitment as a department to good governance and ensuring compliance with Government and departmental policies. The work of the Jali Commission, the investigations of the Special Investigative Unit, SIU, and the anti-corruption campaign I undertook are beginning to bear fruit in the establishment of a clean and transparent administration. The Correctional Services Act also provides for the establishment of a judicial inspectorate headed by the Inspecting Judge.

In our case the good work done by the hon Justice Fagan leaves us with no shadow of doubt that we are on the right track regarding the treatment of offenders. He has succeeded in pointing out the pressures we are facing as a result of overcrowding in our facilities. This and other organs of state keep us on our toes in ensuring compliance. NGOs and even ordinary citizens, family and friends of offenders share their concerns and perceptions with us and enable the department’s management to redress noncompliance with policy.

I also wish to express my gratitude to the National Council for Correctional Services, which is chaired by Justice Siraj Desai, that was also established in terms of the Correctional Services Act to advise me, as the Minister of Correctional Services, as well as the President, on any matter pertaining to Correctional Services. It is with sadness that this formidable body that consists of professors, criminologists, lawyers, social workers, psychologists, magistrates, prosecutors and police officers lost one of their members, viz Dr Mzinyathi, who was a clinical psychologist serving in the council, and we have extended our condolences to his family on behalf of the department and Government.

In concluding this contribution to Vote No 21, I must emphasise that while we have not been able to deliver everything that we hoped to achieve in the past financial year, there have been successes that were achieved on our programmes. The updated strategic plan, the new organisational structure, the White Paper process that is under way and the commitment of dedicated personnel in the department bode well for the development of a more effective and focused administration of the department, and facilitate more effective delivery on key services to offenders.

Let me take this opportunity also to thank the commissioner Linda Mti and the management and staff of this department for the hard work they put in in the process of rewriting the story of corrections in the transformation of our country. These men and women work under difficult and trying conditions, I must say. They need to be commended for a job well done. [Applause.] I also wish to express all the NGOs, the faith-based organisations, community-based organisations, tertiary and other educational institutions and parastatals that are always available to assist us in the delivery of our services. I am sure that most of them are here. [Applause.]

I also wish to express our greatest thanks and admiration to the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services, which is under the leadership of the hon member Mashimbye. Their support and guidance has been extremely valuable for us and we shall rely on the support of all other stakeholders in meeting the challenges that lie ahead, such as the completion of the White Paper on Correctional Services, the establishment of a parole board, the implementation of rehabilitation programmes that would require the training and retraining of personnel, carrying out the HIV/Aids prevalence survey and the construction of new-generation prisons.

The challenge to develop a scientifically-based approach to correcting offending behaviour will not be met overnight. The challenges are vast, I must say, but we are up to the challenge.

Lastly I must say, Modimo, Mvelinqangi, Thixo, Allah, God, bless this House, bless Correctional Services and bless South Africa. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Minister, your message will be conveyed to the Speaker, but I also hope that she was actually listening and watching on the screen in her office to your kinds words about her in particular.

Mr J N MASHIMBYE: Madam Deputy Speaker, my name is Ntsiki Mashimbye. That was for the Minister. Hon Minister, Deputy Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development, Chief Whip, ladies and gentlemen, rehabilitation officers, Justice Fagan, the hon Nyami Booi from the Western Cape asked me to say something to the rehabilitation officers who are in the public gallery. He is very worried that they are here in numbers and he is worried about people escaping while they are here. [Laughter.] But I have assured him that in the recent past, about two or three weeks ago, we had over a thousand prisoners coming from all parts of the Republic competing in a national choir competition. Many people would have thought that that would be a security nightmare. But, I tell you, we sat in that hall with well over a thousand prisoners. That indicated to me that that was rehabilitation at work. There was not a single attempted escape. Nobody escaped. [Applause.]

Do not worry about rehabilitation officers being here. Note that I am calling them rehabilitation officers. That is what they will be called from today. To indicate that the department is very serious about rehabilitation there has been an 8,3% increase per annum for the work of rehabilitation. The Minister has indicated that the amount has increased from R264,8 million to the current 2005-06 amount of R427,5 million. That shows the department’s serious focus on rehabilitation and the reintegration of prisoners into society.

As mentioned earlier, the Department of Correctional Services has as one of its key goals the placing of rehabilitation at the centre of all its activities in partnership with all external stakeholders. One of the ways in which it seeks to do this is by progressive, ethical management and staff practices within which every correctional official performs an effective correcting and encouraging role.

It is common knowledge that prison staff need systematic knowledge if they are to do their jobs effectively, ethically and sensitively. The Department of Correctional Services has thus embarked upon orientation and training programmes for all departmental employees and a correctional approach. The challenges faced by the correctional staff are indeed critical and taxing challenges, such as the growing privatisation of institutional corrections, rapid expansion in the numbers of prisons, prison staff and prisoners, and dealing with more sophisticated drug use patterns within prison, gang cultures and new policies.

Consequently, correctional officials have often displayed high levels of stress. The job of correctional official is not an enviable one. For those of us on the outside looking in, we need to acknowledge that those committed officials deserve our gratitude and encouragement. Just as there are those dedicated and committed individuals, there are also those who openly flout the rules of law and engage in corrupt activities. Much has been reported on the levels of corruption uncovered by the Jali Commission. Both the President and hon Minister Skhosana are to be commended for their pursuance of transparency and accountability by appointing the Jali Commission to investigate corruption and irregularities within our prison system.

The department has already begun with the implementation of the commission’s recommendations. The department has committed itself to keeping Government abreast of developments regarding the work of the Jali Commission through the relevant structures, and will ensure that the South African public is kept informed of all developments. The department has a three-pronged anticorruption strategy aimed at investigating mismanagement within itself, together with the judicial inspectorate whose mandate it is to deal with prisoner complaints and devise further strategies to reduce overcrowding. The department appears quite determined to create a culture of good governance and that is very commendable.

The Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services and the Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Affairs can assure Minister Skhosana that we will offer all support, assistance and guidance in tackling the challenges that the department currently faces. We acknowledge that the current White Paper on Correctional Services is inadequate and fails to decisively address the central problem of the correctional system in the Republic. A welcome solution to this is the formation of a task team which will work towards the development of the Green Paper. Already that task team has covered quite considerable ground and we commend them. Relevant policy components to be included here such as the rehabilitation policy, unit management policy, policy on aged prisoners, gender and youth policy will ensure that a single coherent policy document may be achieved.

Having said this, allow me to vehemently state that Correctional Services is but one department within the Peace and Security Cluster, and I was pleased that the Deputy Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development was here. I had hoped that they would be here. I am saying that because correctional or penal reform is an all-embracing and inclusive process. Our present criminal justice process encompasses four core departments, namely Correctional Services, the SA Police Service, Social Development, and Justice and Constitutional Development, with Correctional Services not merely being the last outpost for criminal justice, but rather very much a part of it.

We all need to be aware that penal reform cannot proceed without changes to the criminal justice system as a whole. Crime prevention in and by civil society is essential to the success of penal reform. There needs to be a determination to make sure that everyone, especially the poor and marginalised, has equal access to the justice system, and that we recognise that drug abuse is better dealt with inside the health or social welfare care system rather than the criminal justice system.

It is imperative that people understand how courts and criminal justice system operate, and that there is openness and accountability in all aspects of the operation of the criminal justice system. Most importantly, there needs to be insistence that imprisonment should be used by courts as an exception rather than a first option, and that we cultivate a non- elitist criminal justice system which treats people equally.

In acknowledgement of that assertion, I wish to report that, in the recent past, during the parliamentary constituency period the Portfolio Committees on Justice and Correctional Services, and some members of the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security, spent two weeks visiting areas, centres and institutions of the criminal justice system. We visited courts, prisons, police stations, detective units, forensic units, Legal Aid Board, institutions of social development which are relevant to our work, and we also met with the prosecuting authority.

This cluster’s oversight work of parliamentary committees was conducted by the three delegations in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Eastern Cape province. I wish to thank all members of Parliament who participated in this venture. I say thank you to hon Johnny de Lange, hon Luwellyn Landers and Sheila Camerer. A report of this visit will soon find its way to this august House. Preliminary, however, I am able to report that it was most rewarding to see the criminal justice system in action.

By the time we left the provinces, it was clear to those men and women who lead the criminal justice system at that level that those in the system have to speak to each other. When the systems fail to co-operate and communicate, no single component of that cluster will prosper.

Some of the challenges we observed are the following: In dealing with overcrowding in our prisons we would need to implement more efficiently the Acts that are already in place, namely section 63(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act, which allows for amendment of the bail conditions of certain prisoners. In some circumstances we may need to delete the requirement of bail and substitute it with the provision that offenders may be placed under the supervision of a correctional official in terms of section 62(f).

We also note that the magistrate must make use, when appropriate, of the alternative means of sentencing ie community correctional supervision. May I also recommend that at the provincial and regional levels, it will be appropriate to establish co-ordinating forums of the criminal justice system.

The purpose of these forums, may I suggest, should be to do the following: firstly, to filter down policy decisions at all levels; secondly, to analyse the statistics that they have collected - we have noted that these statistics that they gather are just figures that are not analysed to inform future action; thirdly, to utilise the co-ordinating forums which will not be of a decision-making nature to interact with the public and inform it on the achievements and challenges faced by the criminal justice system; and fourthly - I would recommend - to offer incentives such as rewards, like the detective, prosecutor, magistrate and correctional officer of the month. An incentive such as this will see court rolls that move faster and police dockets that do not get lost. We will see police dockets that are thoroughly investigated and ready for court.

As we discuss Correctional Services in the context of the criminal justice cluster, let me proceed to make further recommendations. Firstly, we must urgently design a policy on national norms and standards for secure care facilities for each province. The role of the Department of Social Development will be important in this regard. Social development will need a heavy budget for these secure care facilities, Mr Salojee. Secondly, may I recommend that we need to urgently answer the question: Who is responsible for the welfare and education of awaiting-trial prisoners? A policy that is adequate to resolve all these issues must be urgently designed. Thirdly, we recommend that the court orderlies and security need to be reviewed.

Fourthly, the Department of Correctional Services must seriously consider employing more trained staff for correctional supervision. This is an area on which we have to focus, so we need personnel for that. I am aware of the budgetary implications.

Fifthly, the integrated justice system has to be implemented more enthusiastically. In most parts within the Gauteng province, the integrated justice system has not been implemented. May we further recommend that a senior policeman or woman be deployed in an integrated justice system office to make sure that dockets are ready for trial.

Finally, the last recommendation that needs the attention of the Police Service is an urgent review of the structure of the detective units. Our view is that the detective structure must be designed in such a way that it can retain the best detectives, and that detectives can grow within the structures. The detectives should not run to greener pastures in the uniformed police units.

The biggest challenge that our nation faces is to reconcile itself with the fact that offenders are human. Offenders are our sons and daughters and we have the responsibility to make certain that when they leave our prisons they do not come back.

In conclusion, it is obvious by now that the dimensions of a proper penal policy depend on an intricate blend of value judgement and empirical information. Most importantly, the penal policy adopted by society is perhaps the most telling indication of the integrity of society itself. A prominent researcher once noted that it should be the objective of a civilised and progressive society to devise methods of punishment which do not deny the human qualities of the offender, because a denial of his humanity carries with it a denial of society itself. [Applause.]

Mr F J VAN DEVENTER: Deputy Speaker, the Department of Correctional Services is different from other state departments. When judging the performance of this department, there are a few facts that cannot be ignored. In the first place, the customers of this department are not there because they are role models who uphold the acceptable norms and values of a normal, disciplined society. On the contrary, they are there because they are in conflict with those norms and values. Secondly, they are not there at the invitation of the department or because they have a sincere desire to undergo rehabilitation programmes to help them adapt to a normal law- abiding life.

Dit is ‘n algemene gebruik by langtermyn- en gewoontemisdadigers om hul eie sosiale orde binne gevangenisse te vorm met ‘n eie gesagstruktuur. Die doel hiervan is nie om gevangenisowerhede te help nie, maar eerder om hulle taak so moeilik as moontlik te maak, want statutêre gesagstrukture word dan deur die gesagstrukture wat gevangenes self skep, uitgedaag. Terwyl die statutêre gesagstrukture onderhewig is aan grondwetlike, wetlike en departementele voorskrifte wat gedrag en optrede van personeel bepaal, is daar niks wat die gesagstruktuur wat gevangenes self skep, kontroleer nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[It is a general practice for long-term and habitual criminals to form their own social order, with its own structure of authority, in prisons. The aim of this is not to help prison authorities, but rather to make their task as difficult as possible, because structures of statutory authority are then challenged by the structures of authority created by the prisoners themselves. Whereas the structures of statutory authority are subject to constitutional, statutory and departmental regulations to determine the behaviour and conduct of staff, there is nothing to control the structure of authority created by the prisoners themselves.]

Against this background, a better understanding of the enormous task of this department may arise. The serious overcrowding in South African prisons - whose capacity is 110 874 while they must handle 187 748 prisoners, of whom 131 604 are convicted and 58 144 awaiting trial - amounts to overcrowding of 71,1% and puts an unbearable burden on the Department of Correctional Services.

The overcrowding in South African prisons is of such a serious nature, especially when the circumstances arising from it are taken into consideration, that it can be seen as a contravention of the Bill of Rights. I believe that all of us in this Parliament are serious and honest in our efforts to protect human dignity and individual rights. If that is true, there is no way in which we can defend the conditions in our prisons which result from overcrowding.

What is even more serious, whatever the reasons may be, is to put a state department in a position that makes it nearly impossible for it to uphold the Bill of Rights. Furthermore, it puts enormous pressure on the budget of the Department of Correctional Services. As a labour-intensive department, R4,9 billion or 64% of the R7,6 billion budget goes towards the payment of salaries of employees; and with the remaining 36% it is expected of the department to build prisons, provide health care and other professional services, feed people properly, and pay for electricity, water and so forth.

The Department of Correctional Services cannot take the blame for this by itself. The other two departments in the peace and security cluster, namely Justice and Safety and Security are stakeholders in this mess. Unless the three Ministers get their act together, no problems will be solved and we will be listing the same concerns in this House next year. Perhaps the time has come for the three Ministers to visit prisons together to see what is going on. Mr Minister, I think you must send an invitation to your colleagues in the judicial cluster to go with you and see for themselves what the situation in South African prisons is.

The talkative Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development - it is a pity he is not here, but that shows his interest in this debate; I saw him on Wednesday, and he likes to watch his own performance on the television screen to my left when he talks from his bench - cannot just sweep this issue from the table as if he has nothing to do with it. Since his appointment as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development he has bombarded this Parliament with promises on how he would transform the Department of Justice, especially the courts, in order to cope with the huge backlog of awaiting-trial prisoners.

Despite all these promises and transformation, more than 52,5% of the available prison capacity is occupied by persons awaiting trial. If the Government and this Parliament want to keep South Africa on the front pages of the written media and out of the news headlines as a country that breaches its own Bill of Rights, then, surely, the allocation of funds to the three departments in that cluster must be revised. The alternative is that the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development gets himself and his department in gear to cope with their responsibilities.

The Inspecting Judge, Justice Fagan, referred in a press statement to a possible general amnesty or mass presidential pardon to relieve the problem of overcrowding. The DA cannot support such a wide suggestion. It sends the wrong message to intended evildoers and it creates a perception that the Government is not serious about fighting crime. Justice Fagan also referred to the mass release of minor offenders who cannot pay bail under section 65(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act which was passed in Parliament in 2001. Mr Minister, why is the department not using this Act to relieve the pressure of overcrowding, and if it is not your department’s responsibility, whose it is and when will it come into operation?

Daar is sekerlik talle ander sake waaroor gepraat kan word, soos byvoorbeeld die behandeling van MIV-positiewe gevangenes, kinders in gevangenisse, korrupsie, misdaad, bendes, terminaal siekes, mediese en sielkundige versorging, vrouegevangenes met klein kindertjies en vele meer. Ek is egter daarvan oortuig dat as die departement nie daarin kan slaag om watter rede ookal om die gevangenisbevolking binne perke te bring, dan kan hy nie sy opgelegte verpligting behoorlik nakom nie.

Dit is eenvoudig nie moontlik om sinvolle rehabilitasie te doen, wanneer mense op mekaar se tone moet trap as hulle van hul beddens afklim, as gevolg van oorbevolking in hul verblyfplekke nie. Die Departement van Justisie en waar ter sake, Veiligheid en Sekuriteit, sal eenvoudig ‘n groter verantwoordelikheid moet aanvaar ten opsigte van die kostes verbonde aan verhoorafwagtende gevangenes. Diesulkes is en sal die verantwoordelikheid bly van al die departemente wat deel van die strafregstelsel uitmaak.

Ek wil kortliks ‘n baie ernstige saak aanraak en dit is die implementering van resolusie 7. En ek bring dit hier te berde, omdat dit te doen het met personeel van Korrektiewe dienste, asook van ander departemente. Ek wil ‘n baie ernstige beroep op die Minister doen om indringend ondersoek te doen, veral in die Oos-Kaap, oor die toepassing van resolusie 7. Volgens wat ek meegedeel is, word dit op ‘n uiters ontwrigtende manier toegepas. Huisgesinne word benadeel, kinders en eiendom en in sommige gevalle selfs huwelike word nie in ag geneem nie. Eers was dit lede van die SA Polisiedienste in die Oos-Kaap en nou is dit personeel van Korrektiewe Dienste wat onder hierdie ongevoelige toepassing van resolusie 7 gebuk gaan. Dit is ernstig. Dit is ‘n ernstige knou vir die moraliteit van die personeel en ek wil regtig dringend vra dat daar baie vinnig na hierdie situasie gekyk word. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[There are certainly many other matters that can be discussed, for instance the treatment of HIV-positive prisoners, children in prisons, corruption, crime, gangs, terminal illnesses, medical and psychological care, female prisoners with small children, and many more. I am, however, convinced that if the department cannot succeed in limiting the prison population, for whatever reason, then it cannot meet the obligation entrusted to it properly.

It is simply not possible to engage in meaningful rehabilitation when people literally have to tread on one another’s toes when they get out of bed as a result of overcrowding in their dwelling-places. The Department of Justice and, where relevant, Safety and Security, will simply have to accept greater responsibility regarding the costs associated with awaiting- trial prisoners. People like these are and will remain the responsibility of all the departments which form part of the judicial system.

I want to touch briefly on a very serious matter, and that is the implementation of resolution 7. And I am raising it here because it involves the staff of Correctional Services, as well as of other departments. I want to make a very urgent appeal to the Minister to undertake an in-depth investigation, especially in the Eastern Cape, into the implementation of resolution 7. According to what I have been told, it is being implemented in an extremely disruptive manner. Families are being prejudiced, children and property and in some cases even marriages are not taken into consideration. At first it was the members of the SA Police Service in the Eastern Cape and now it is staff of Correctional Services who are being adversely affected by this insensitive implementation of resolution 7. This is serious. It is a serious blow to staff morale, and I want to ask really urgently that this situation should be looked at very quickly.]

The way in which the Department of Correctional Services is treated by the Government creates the impression that this department is a necessary and affordable waste. Any intelligent person with a sense of good judgement will agree that the department cannot function properly under such circumstances. Therefore, the DA will object to this Vote, not because of the Minister or the Director-General or the staff of this department but because it is impossible for us to deliver a quality service to the public of South Africa due to the uncaring attitude of Government towards this very complex department. [Applause.]

Mr N B FIHLA: Hon Deputy Speaker, hon Minister of Correctional Services, hon members, the argument that prisoners are sent to prison as punishment and not for punishment has been repeated quite often in recent years. What we can categorically state, is that although imprisonment is enforced by containment of an individual in a closed environment, it should not contribute to damaging effects on the health and human rights of those persons.

However, it is unfortunate that this is indeed the case in many of the world’s prisons. All human beings, prisoners included, have certain inalienable rights which are recognised and acknowledged by internationally recognised instruments. Human rights treaties make states accountable for the way they act and fail to act.

The history of prisons in South Africa has been notorious for the kind of punishment it meted out to inmates. Under the rules of apartheid, prisons were managed along military lines and were closed institutions. During the struggle years, incarceration of political detainees and sentenced political prisoners became a central feature of South African prisons. Gross human rights violations were frequent and brutal. Physical assaults, particularly of political prisoners, were common and warders who inflicted these types of punishment were not prevented from doing so. At the height of the struggle, detainees were held for up to two years or more without being charged.

Overcrowding compounded the dehumanising conditions of imprisonment and in August 1992 the Human Rights Watch found that Pollsmoor Prison was 97% overcrowded. There were no beds and most prisoners slept on the floormats. There were reports of torture and ill-treatment in police custody and in prisons. Between January and December 1992 more than 100 deaths in custody were reported.

After the release of Comrade Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the ANC in the early 1990s, a decision was taken to restructure and reform the department. The significant name change from the Department of Prisons to the Department of Correctional Services implied that the transformation of the department, from a merely punitive institution to one that sought to be accountable, restorative and transparent, was indeed a step forward.

The democratic elections in 1994 highlighted the ANCs commitment to transform South African society at all levels. The RDP document, in addition to focusing on nonracism and nonsexism, emphasised human rights, the rehabilitation of offenders as well as the effective implementation of demilitarisation. Demilitarisation was seen as one further aid in advancing rehabilitation. It involved changing the structure, ranks system and mode of address of prison officers, removal of insignia, and halting daily military parades.

During 1997, the national Parliament passed a number of laws with significance for human rights. The Correctional Services Act of 1998 also addressed representivity and equity, shifts to a balance between secure, human custody and rehabilitation; and the adoption of unit management of prisons and a code of conduct. However, despite such laudable changes, the department still faces enormous challenges. The increase in the number of awaiting-trial prisoners has meant that there are twice the number of prisoners in any given communal cell.

Illegal drug trafficking amongst inmates and in some instances warders, gang proliferation, violent acts such as sodomy, prisoner on prisoner violence, decaying physical infrastructure, guard abuse, corruption and lack of medical care have continued unabated within the Department of Correctional Services. The current budget attempts to make inroads to contain these dilemmas by making financial provision for 36 189 personnel, 183 000 prisoners and 70 000 probationers. Yet, despite these very courageous efforts, we are faced with the situation of the total prisoner population reaching approximately 209 000 in 2003-04, with 78 000 probationers and parolees.

Overcrowding is set to increase to 85,4% in 2003-04, 99,74% in 2004-05, and 93,37% in 2005-06 - an alarming situation for any society to be faced with. With overcrowding comes the inevitable accompanying factor of the spreading of diseases. Risky lifestyles can lead to the transmission of diseases from prisoner to prisoner and pose a serious public health risk if unchecked. Contracting any disease in prison is not part of a prisoner’s sentence. This fact becomes even more significant when the disease is potentially fatal, as is the case with HIV/Aids. This leads us to consider the basic rights of the prisoner.

In comparison to offender control expenditure, health and physical care will grow slowly. On average, the allocation for health and physical care will increase by 4,8% annually over the medium term, which is almost half of the spending allocated to incarceration. According to the Department of Correctional Services, while there has been some improvement in the provision of health care services to prisoners, it is still difficult for prisoners to gain access to overstretched provincial health facilities.

The department also faces the challenge of the increased impact of HIV/Aids on health care delivery. This is made all the more critical when prison gangs have resorted to a new technique to punish members who break their rules: HIV infection by rape. It is a terrifying prospect where an HIV- infected prisoner is used to infect another because of the latter’s nonco- operation. This is termed ``the slow puncture’’. This practice, although not yet widespread, will only make matters worse.

In democratic societies such as ours the law underpins and protects the fundamental values of society. The most important of these is respect for the inherent dignity of all human beings, whatever their personal and social status. One of the greatest tests of this respect for humanity lies in the way in which a society treats those who have broken or are accused of having broken the law. These are people who themselves may well have shown a lack of respect for the dignity and rights of others. Thus it falls on prison staff who, on behalf of the rest of society, play a special role in respecting the dignity of criminal offenders, despite the severity of any crime they may have committed.

This principle of respect for all human beings, whatever the wrongs they might have committed, was articulated by our former President and once famous prisoner, Comrade Nelson Mandela. He said and I quote:

… no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside the jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.

His words should be the basis for the ethical and professional conduct of prison management and prison staff and all those who are responsible for the administration of prisons. Without an ethical framework and context, our prisons will become more like concentration camps than an environment of rehabilitation. We paid a visit to Port Elizabeth and we were led by Comrade De Lange. I think that that was a very revealing and interesting visit because he was able to identify the problems of overcrowding and was able to effectively address them immediately on the spot by applying sections 63 and 62(f) of the Act. And it was very interesting how he was able to apply the law on the spot and deal with the magistrates and the prosecutors. I think if that can be applied throughout the country and if the justice system is able to do that, as we are doing in these cluster visits to various areas, it is going to be very effective. [Applause.]

Mr E T FERREIRA: Madam Speaker, the Minister and the Department of Correctional Services should be congratulated on the good work that they have been doing in difficult conditions and with the limited resources available to them. We are especially pleased with the progress that is being made in the effort to root out corruption and corrupt officials in the department. We hope that they keep up the good work and abolish the corrupt element within the department. We know that Government is very sensitive as regards making public news that portrays it in a negative light, as they do not want to create any negative perceptions about the country. We do, however, urge the Minister and the department to give as much publicity as possible to the way in which they are rooting out the bad apples in their midst. This will give the general public more confidence in the department as they see corrupt officials being removed and it will indicate to potentially corrupt officials that they should rather seek employment elsewhere.

An amount of R7,6 billion has been allocated to the department in this budget. This is an increase of 9,27% on last year’s allocation. The budget of the department has grown at an annual average of 9,9% over the seven- year period from 1999-2000 to 2005-06. If one considers that the inflation rate for this particular period is likely to be below 9,9%, then we must acknowledge that there will be a real growth in the Correctional Services’ budget, albeit a small growth. Even though Government may not be spending enough on the Department of Correctional Services, and I think we are all agreed on that, they need to be praised for at least moving in the right direction, albeit slowly. The allocations to the department have, thus far, mostly been slightly ahead of the inflation rate and we hope that this trend will at least continue.

The overcrowding of prisons has a major effect on the department’s costs and performance. We have almost 188 000 people in our prisons, whereas our capacity is for just over 110 000 prisoners - that is a well known fact. The major overcrowding problem needs to be addressed as a matter of extreme urgency and we seem to talk about it year after year but when one looks at the figures every year, it does not really seem like we are getting there.

We hope that the co-operation with other departments involved in the integrated justice system regarding awaiting-trial prisoners and Saturday court projects will achieve their stated aim of reducing the number of awaiting-trial and presentenced prisoners. We simply have to bring the figure of almost 60 000 awaiting-trial prisoners down quite dramatically.

The idea of releasing people on bail of R1 000 or less is not necessarily a bad one, because if these people were not poor and at the bottom end of society like most of them are they would, in any case, not be in jail, as the bail amount is easily payable in respect of middle and upper class people. One would, however, hope that a problem will not arise afterwards where a large percentage of these people do not turn up for their court cases. One always has that risk factor, of course, when one releases people on low bail.

We in South Africa have two options. We can either keep on building more jails, as is the case in the United States, or we can find alternative sentencing methods to keep up with the ever-increasing prison population. In principle, the IFP is not opposed to alternative sentencing. Our problem is with the implementation of alternative sentencing methods. A large number of prisoners have been sentenced because they have committed very serious crimes such as murder, rape and robbery. It is highly debatable whether people like that should ever be considered as far as alternative sentencing is concerned.

We understand that prisoners are also human beings and should be treated as such. So, the issue has to be looked at in a very humane way. The question has to be asked, though, whether it will be cheaper and more practical to use alternative sentencing methods as opposed to incarceration. Alternative sentencing could, in any case, only work if done effectively from the outset. One cannot get away with, for example, understaffing in alternative sentencing, as is the case in incarceration. Now, we all agree that prison cells should not be overcrowded and one has understaffing. But, at least if people are incarcerated and one has understaffing, the people are at least still in prison and being punished for what they have done.

The moment one runs into staff shortages and things like that as far as alternative sentencing is concerned, then one runs into the problem that one is not really punishing people. For instance, I know of a case in Port Elizabeth where a man was caught for drunken driving on a number of occasions, and I think that the last time he was caught was the fifth time. He is under correctional supervision and this includes house arrest, where he has to be at home between six in the evening and six the next morning. Because there are not enough parole officers and correctional officers to check on him, he basically gets checked on once in six or eight weeks. One then starts asking the question: ``Is this man really serving any kind of a sentence or not?’’

It was reported recently that there was an incident where only one permanent social worker dealt with 800 offenders. In cases like that, if it is true, a large number of offenders are left unsupervised and unrehabilitated and could in future, of course, commit similar offences.

If alternative sentencing is not properly staffed, supervised and controlled, it could cause more harm than good. A great deal of thought should be given to finding a suitable solution to the overcrowding of our prisons, either through building additional prisons, alternative sentencing or a combination of the two - which is probably the way we need to go.

The early release of prisoners on special days or on special occasions is practised in countries all around the world. Now, we know that when that happens next year there is probably going to be a big hullabaloo about it but it is only because it is South Africa. If presidents from other countries buy planes it is not a big problem because it is acceptable and normal. But if the South African President buys a plane then there is hell to pay. In any case, we, as the IFP, are not opposed to this practise, but the manner in which it is conducted and the prisoners that are selected for early release are, of course, of utmost importance. We must not be confronted with a similar situation to that of last year or earlier where a prisoner who was granted a presidential pardon committed a murder soon after his release. The way in which the whole process is conducted has to be dealt with very carefully. We have no problem if women with children, the aged and the sick are considered favourably with regard to their early release. This does not, however, mean that they must be treated any differently, with regard to sentencing, from other criminals who have committed similar crimes. Any person who commits a crime must pay for their transgressions. That must be non-negotiable. Whether a person is fat or thin, young or old, male or female, if he commits a horrendous crime he must pay for it and not come along with sob stories afterwards.

There are many problems that the department has to deal with and many obstacles to be overcome. We believe that the department is on the right track and is doing a good job and the many obstacles and problems facing it can and will be overcome. [Applause.]

Ms E NGALEKA: Chairperson, hon Ministers, comrades and friends, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to quote from the Freedom Charter, as follows:

No one shall be imprisoned, deported or restricted without a fair trial. No one shall be condemned by the order of any Government official.

South Africa has the highest proportion of prisoners of any state in the world. This is because there are so many petty infringements to which the penalty of imprisonment is attached. In a new South Africa imprisonment will only be for serious crimes against the people and will be aimed at re- education, not vengeance.

Flowing from the Freedom Charter, the Bill of Rights came into being and emphasised human dignity and respect for human rights. The ANC supports this Vote.

Correctional Services, as the last destination of the criminal justice system, has very little control over its intake. The Department of Correctional Services is charged with receiving offenders who have been or are going through the criminal justice system. But the decision regarding sentencing, which determines how long they will be in prison, rests with the magistrates and the judges. What is of concern is that there seems to be very little regard by some members of the judiciary for the consequences of their decisions, regarding prisons.

The cause of overcrowding is the unprecedented growth in the number of unsentenced prisoners. The average period that an unsentenced prisoner remains in prison has increased even more dramatically. The current capacity of South African prisons is approximately 111 000 prisoners, but presently we have a prison population of close to 188 000. This translates into overcrowding by approximately 79 000, of which 58 000 are awaiting- trial prisoners and cost taxpayers R94 per person per day.

Overcrowding in itself results in low staff morale, unbearable working conditions, unbearable living conditions for prisoners, prisoners having to sleep in shifts, prisoners not being provided with three meals per day and the collapse of infrastructure. It is also a health hazard because at some prisons one toilet is being shared by 60 prisoners, which is a breeding ground for numerous infectious diseases.

This also has an effect on the rehabilitation programme, as a result of the lack of space and shortage of professional staff to assess and rehabilitate prisoners. The department is charged with the responsibility to create conditions for a prisoner to take full responsibility for his or her life, develop self-respect, self-confidence and actively strive for a life free of crime.

In line with our democratic and human rights culture, one is assumed to be innocent until proven guilty. The huge number of awaiting-trial prisoners in our prisons is of great concern. Approximately 19 000 prisoners are awaiting trial in prisons because they cannot afford bail which ranges from R50 to R1 000. Because these people are poor, they are left there and sometimes forgotten.

The Bill of Rights states that every child has a right not to be detained, except as a measure of last resort, in which case, in addition to the rights a child enjoys under sections 12 and 35, the child may be detained only for the shortest appropriate period of time and has a right to be kept separate from detained persons over the age of eighteen years and be treated in a manner that takes into account the child’s age.

Is our justice system equipped to realise these objectives? Currently we have a large number of children in prison. There are a number of reasons for this. Among other reasons are, that some of the children in detention have no fixed address, they have no means to pay bail, they have no parents or guardians to take custody of them, and some parents do not even have money to pay taxi or bus fare to go to court.

These factors demonstrate that children in prison are not the responsibility of Correctional Services only, but also a societal responsibility. In our efforts to achieve moral regeneration children should be the highest priority.

I want to dedicate a poem by Ingrid Jonker to all mothers who have children in prison. The poem is called Ma'', which meansMother’’.

Ma, ek skryf vir jou ‘n gedig sonder fensie leestekens sonder bywoorde net sommer ‘n kaalvoet gedig -

want jy maak my groot in jou krom klein handjies jy beitel my met jou swart oë en spits woorde jy draai jou leiklipkop jy lag en breek my tente op maar jy offer my elke aand vir jou Here God. jou moesie-oor is my enigste telefoon jou huis my enigste bybel jou naam my breekwater teen die lewe

ek is so jammer mamma dat ek nie is wat ek graag vir jou wil wees nie. Abazali abanabantwana ezintolongweni mabangabalahli abantwana, kwaye bangaphelelwa lithemba. URhulumente we-ANC uzimisele ukuncedisana nabantu abangakwaziyo ukuhlawulela amagqwetha. (Translation of Xhosa paragraph follows.)

[Parents who have children in prison, should not abandon them, they should not lose hope. The ANC-led Government is committed to assisting those people who cannot afford legal fees.]

The Departments of Justice and Constitutional Development, Correctional Services and SA Police Service are moving towards a fully integrated system. However, this integration takes place only at ministerial and senior official levels. It has not yet filtered down to lower levels. Our recent trip to KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Gauteng demonstrated this fact. It also highlighted the need for the system to be fully integrated even at local level. The benefits of having a fully integrated justice system have been mentioned by a few of my colleagues, so I will not dwell on them.

It was a historic event when three portfolio committees went on a joint visit in this cluster. Because of the joint visit, the cluster will be able to address overcrowding successfully. Before this joint visit we had a situation in which one department blamed the other, with no one taking responsibility for overcrowding.

Overcrowding is counterproductive for everyone because huge sums of money are spent on keeping unsentenced prisoners in jail. These resources can be spent on rehabilitation, education and service improvement. To reduce crime, we are accountable to the public and state in order to render an accessible, fair, speedy and cost-effective system of justice in the interests of a safer and more secure South Africa. We will achieve this by integrating the management of cases and offenders through the four departments, supported by the necessary enabling technology.

There are two ways of reducing the number of awaiting-trial prisoners to an acceptable 20 000. Firstly, we need to reduce the inflow of prisoners from the courts and, secondly, to get those prisoners who are in prison out. This can be done by implementing legislation and methods provided, such as pretrial diversion - especially for juveniles - and through greater use by police of their powers to release arrested persons on bail.

Parole is the release of a prisoner after serving a specific portion of his or her sentence under continued monitoring by the state in conditions that permit limited freedom in the community. We want to urge the Department of Correctional Services to ensure that the parole boards are inclusive of all identified role-players, especially community representatives.

Conditions of overcrowding, gangsterism, staff who are not adequately trained to deal effectively with the transformation process and low job satisfaction necessitated the introduction of a more effective tool to manage prisoners, that is unit management. In many ways, unit management is therefore a shift from a depersonalised and centralised approach.

Former President, Comrade Mandela, had this to say about the department, and I quote:

The way society treats its prisoners is one of the sharpest reflections of its character. In the prisons of apartheid the inhumanity of that system was starkly evident. We have inherited a system ill-equipped to serve the needs of a democratic society founded on a culture of human rights.

We recall these facts, not to dwell on the past, but to underline the fact that as we transform our society, the Department of Correctional Services faces a great challenge.

I thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]

Mr J DURAND: Chairperson, right at the outset I would like to congratulate the Minister and the national commissioner. The Department of Correctional Services that we experience today is not the department that I first experienced when I was elected by my party to the committee on correctional services in 1999. It was then a department paralysed, to a certain extent, by corruption and maladministration.

What has been exposed by the Jali Commission now is to a large extent because of the work the Minister has done with the assistance of the national commissioner. For that, I think the country owes the Minister our greatest appreciation and also wishes him well in implementing the recommendations and dealing with the findings of the Jali Commission. [Applause.]

To Justice Fagan, we say thank you very much for what he is doing. Not only does he react to complaints promptly, but he also comes forward with very innovative suggestions on how to solve them and for that we are greatly and tremendously grateful. [Applause.]

The booklet, The Department of Correctional Services Strategic Plan for 2003/2004, 2005/2006, has an inscription on its front cover which reads, and I quote: From every official becoming a rehabilitator to every prison becoming a correctional centre, a place of new beginning; every offender becoming a nation server through correction.

By stating this the department has set itself higher goals than that of minders of criminals. It commits itself to the continuous efforts to assist in the moral regeneration of South Africa. It pledges to the people of this country that it will investigate and root out corruption in our midst - corruption and maladministration which were so clearly exposed by the Jali Commission.

It must place rehabilitation in the centre of its activities by envisioning a department that will ensure care and development, and give guarantees to the nation that offenders will never return to prison. The department must thus focus its activities to ensure that through constant training and renewal it will equip its personnel with the right mix of skills to achieve the goal of rehabilitation and not of cruel and inhumane custody. The offenders should become rehabilitators and the officials should not become offenders.

The department must assist in the creation of a collective sense of social responsibility. In the words of Minister Ben Skosana: ``The department does not create offenders. They come from society.’’ I agree with you, Mr Minister. They visit their antisocial behaviour on our innocent victims who are mostly women and children who suffer because of this. We need a social compact. We must build quality and lasting partnerships with business, communities, NGOs, CBOs and other Government departments to enable us as a nation to deal with the issue of crime.

Overcrowding in our prisons is a serious problem that impacts on the department’s ability to achieve its goals of safe custody and rehabilitation. The advice of Justice Fagan, the Inspecting Judge of Prisons, is correct and should be taken to heart.

Volgens Regter Fagan het oorbevolking, wat tans op 70% staan, kritieke afmetings begin aanneem. Van Suid-Afrika se meer as 190 000 gevangenes is ongeveer 60 000 verhoorafwagtend. Sedert Maart vanjaar was daar ongeveer 20 000 aan wie daar borgtog toegestaan is, maar wat dit nie kon bekostig nie.

Dit is duidelik dat die situasie nou desperaat genoeg is om noodmaatreëls in te stel. Die publiek betaal ten duurste om geweldsmisdadigers van kos en verblyf te voorsien terwyl hulle in aanhouding is. Hierdie groep van 20 000 gevangenes wat nie borgtog kan bekostig nie, kan mos op parool of onder korrektiewe toesig vrygelaat word. Dit sal die druk van oorbevolking verlig. Rehabilitasie en beheer in gevangenisse is nie moontlik in die huidige omstandighede nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[According to Justice Fagan, overcrowding, which at present amounts to 70%, has started to assume critical proportions. Approximately 60 000 of the more than 190 000 prisoners in South Africa are awaiting trial. Since March this year approximately 20 000 prisoners were granted bail but could not afford to pay it.

It is clear that the situation is now desperate enough to institute emergency measures. The public is paying a very high price to provide food and accommodation for violent prisoners while they are in custody. Surely this group of 20 000 prisoners who cannot afford to pay bail, can be paroled or released under correctional supervision. This will ease the pressure of overcrowding. Rehabilitation and control in prisons are not possible under the present circumstances.]

Under these conditions, petty criminals become hardened criminals in prisons which have become the universities of crime. The public pays twice. It first pays when criminal acts are visited on them and secondly when they have to finance the board and lodging of these antisocial criminals. The death penalty should be brought back for certain serious violent crimes. Years after the April 1994 elections, the conditions in our prisons still fell far short of the stated aims. Some prisoners endured dreadful treatment due to overcrowded and understaffed prisons.

On April 2000, the 236 prisons built to accommodate more than 100 000 prisoners were accommodating over 172 000 prisoners. That meant that about 72 000 prisoners were being kept in prison without the necessary infrastructure such as toilets, beds, showers, etc being available to them. This was worsened by the uneven distribution of prisoners which resulted from the need for separate facilities for gender and other categories. While a few prisons were less than 100% occupied, many were over 200% and one was almost 400% occupied.

The latest report of the Inspecting judge says that our prisons hold 188 000 prisoners, 70% more than the 120 000 for which they were designed. This overcrowding is costing the state R80 million a day. There are no more funds available for building more prisons. Alternative methods of correction must be sought. The gross overcrowding in prisons today has led to detention under horrendous conditions, especially for awaiting-trial prisoners.

The cause of the overcrowding was the unprecedented growth in the number of awaiting-trial prisoners. While the sentenced prison population slowly increased from over 92 000 in January 1995 to just over 108 000 in April 2000, the number of awaiting-trial prisoners almost trebled from 24 000 in January 1995 to over 60 000 in April 2000. The average period that awaiting- trial prisoners remained in prison increased even more dramatically. Over the four years preceding 30 April 2000, the number of awaiting-trial prisoners held for longer than three months increased from 4 000 to over 27

1. So, almost half of all awaiting-trial prisoners have been held for longer than three months.

Considering the enormous costs involved in building new prisons, if the number of awaiting-trial prisoners could be reduced to what it was five years before - that is 24 000 - there would be almost 40 000 fewer prisoners. The aim should be to reduce the number further to almost 20 000 awaiting-trial prisoners. Electronic monitoring offers a system that is cheap, can relieve the problem of overcrowding and provide the department with a system through which it can monitor parolees, people under correctional supervision, and the officials from Correctional Services that must monitor these people.

The list of infringements of prisoners’ basic rights caused by overcrowding is endless. Numerous reports and articles have drawn attention to the plight of prisoners. This has to be addressed without delay.

Mr S N SWART: Chairman, hon Minister, the ACDP shares the concerns regarding the Inspecting Judge’s call to grant a general amnesty to celebrate ten years of democracy. I find the reasoning as reported in the media unconvincing, in view of the high crime levels in South Africa. The question arises as to how many of the 9 000 sentenced prisoners who were released following the previous general amnesty for a specific occasion in 1998 re-offended and are again in prison.

The main cause of overcrowding in prisons, as many of the speakers have pointed out, is the high number of awaiting-trial prisoners resulting from backlogs in the criminal justice system and this should be addressed rather than offering a general amnesty for certain prisoners. In this regard I wish to commend officials in Correctional Services and other officials in the criminal justice cluster in reducing this number by applying sections 62(f) and 63(a). Much still has to be done as we know that there are approximately 19 000 awaiting-trial prisoners who cannot afford bail and who are not considered a danger to society. The social cost of locking up these persons, who are in law presumed to be innocent until proven guilty, in these universities of crime, is inestimable. I differ with Justice Fagan on one aspect and I wish to quote him in this regard, where he says:

… such prisoners sit idly without receiving instruction or attending courses, wasting their lives and, besides, losing their employment or schooling, the cost to the state is enormous.

The ACDP also wishes to commend the Minister and the department for the emphasis on restorative justice programmes which I have promoted over a number of years from this platform. We see this as being premised upon the acceptance of guilt by the offender and the payment of restitution to the victim, where appropriate, or the rendering of community service in cases where there is no danger to the public. We also, as christian democrats, would like to commend the Minister and the department for their active promotion of the Alpha prison religious programme. We fully endorse the Minister’s sentiments as expressed recently. I would like to quote him:

… that the church has a calling to visit and care for those who have gone astray to minister to them in prison and to help them on their new path of repentance and reconciliation upon release.

Faith-based rehabilitation programmes have been found, internationally, to significantly reduce the rates of reoffending and must be encouraged. This approach stands in stark contrast to that of the Minister of Education who seeks to remove all religious observances during school hours.

Whilst we appreciate the Minister’s comments earlier this morning, we, as the ACDP, continue to call for compulsory HIV testing of sentenced prisoners in particular. One of the speakers referred earlier to this horrific, “slow puncture” death sentence. We call for HIV/Aids to be declared a notifiable and communicable disease, following which section 6(5) of the Correctional Services Act will apply.

In conclusion, as the ACDP, we would wish to thank and commend the commissioner, his senior officials and all the ranking officials here for their dedicated service under very difficult conditions of overcrowding. [Applause.]

Mopishopo L J TOLO: Motlhomphegi Modulasetulo, Tona ya tša Dikgolego, maloko a Ngwako, modulasetulo wa komiti Comrade Mashimbye, maduma šeao, re le ba ANC, re thekga tekanyetšo ya Kgoro ya tša Dikgolego.

Polelong ya ka bagagešo, re le ba ANC, ke tlile go bontšha kudu ka ga bana le basadi bao ba lego ka dikgolegong. Bagešo, anke re boeleng morago, re bontšheng gore lekgotla la gešo la ANC, go tloga ka 1912 e bile lekgotla leo le bego le duma gore batho ba hwetše tokologo, ba phele ka khutšo.

Ge ke boela kua morago a ke bontšheng gore mehleng ya ge rena re lego fakhwi re gola go be go se bonolo go ka hwetša bana ba le dikgolegong. Lehono bana ba nywaga ye 13 go ya godimo, ba dikgolegong. A re lebeleleng gore ke ka lebaka la eng. Ke dumela gore mehleng ya ge rena re lego mo re gola, re be re na le batswadi bao e bego e le ngatana ye tee godimo ga bana. Ngwana yo mongwe le yo mongwe o be a tseba gore batswadi ga se fela tatagwe le mmaggwe bao ba mmelegego. Ngwana yo mongwe le yo mongwe o be a kwišiša gore motswadi yo mongwe le yo mongwe yo a lekanago le tatagwe goba mmagwe goba go feta fao ke motswadi wa gagwe. Ka gona, mehleng ya rena go be go se bonolo go ka hwetša ngwana a le kgolegong.

Bjale lehono bana ba tletše dikgolegong. Ke be ke duma gore batswadi ka moka mo Afrika-Borwa re swaraneng ka diatla, re bone gore bana ba rena ba se ke ba phela ditoronkong. Go ya ka tebelelo ya ka, ge seripa sa bana se le dikgolegong mola se sengwe seripa sa bana se le kantle, potšišo ke gore bokamoso bja bana ba rena bo ile go ba bjang.

Re tseba gabotse gore ka moka re be re arogantšwe ke kgethologanyo. E bile mošomo wo mogologolo ka tsela yeo kgethologanyo e ilego ya re aroganya ka gona. Seo se ra gore ge bana ba rena ba ka ba diripa tše pedi, ba bangwe ba phela kgolegong mola ba bangwe ba le kantle, ba phela ka khutšo, seo se ra gore nakong ya ge ba tlile go lekana le rena e tlo ba e le ditlhopha tše di sa kwanego. Ka boripana, batswadi a re lebeleleng gabotse taba ya bana ba ba rena; re lekeng ka maatla, rena re lego mo, gore mo Afrika-Borwa re be ngatana ye tee go leka go rarolla bothata bjokhwi.

Go na le bana bao ba lego dikgolegong ka melato ya go bolaya batho ka dibetša t še bogale. Ge motho a ka lebelela tšeo di diragalago, o tlo lemoga gore go tše dingwe ba somišwa bošaedi ke batho ba bagolo. Batho ba bagolo ba go utswa ba šomiša bana go utswa mola ba bangwe bana ba bolaile batho ka dibetša tše bogale ka baka la go šomišwa bosaedi ke batho ba bagolo. Motswadi, e ka ba nna goba wene, o na le sebet ša se bogale, o se lota bošaedi gomme ngwana a se tšeye a se šomise ka mokgwa wo o sa amogelegego, a fetša a le kgolegong.

Ye nngwe taba yeo e dirago gore bana ba išwe dikgolegong ke ya gore o hwetša monna a belege bana ba seswai goba ba lesome gomme a tlogetše mosadi, gomme mosadi a hlokometše bana ba nywaga ya go tloga go ye meraro go ya go ye senyane. Nako ya go šoma ga e gona gomme monna o tsene ka lenga la seloko. Ge bana ba e kwa tlala ba thoma go phšatla mabenkele gomme ba senya le metse. Mafelelong ba išwa dikgolegong. Seo se ra gore re ipopeng ngatana go bona gabotse gore re hlokomela bana ba rena gore ba se ke ba išwa dikgolegong.

Ke nyaka go bontšha seo ke se bonego. Mo go bommawešo go na le bothata. Basadi bao ba lego dikgolegong mo Afrika-Borwa ba ka lekana dikete tše nne. Dikete tše nne tša basadi di laetša gabotse gore basadi ba na le maitshwaro ao a amogelegago. A ke bontšheng gore bagolegwa ba banna e ka ba dikete tse 120 goba go feta fao - ge ke sa dire phošo. Basadi ba ba lego ditoronkong, yo mongwe o utswitše borotho; yo mongwe ke melatwana ye menyenyane mola ba bangwe ba le dikgolegong ka melato ya go bolaya banna ba bona.

Dipolao ga di amogelege. Mmušo wa rena ga o amogele dipolao. Efela tše dingwe di fela di hlolwa ke go se phele gabotse ka malapeng. Banna ka kakaretšo mo Afrika-Borwa a re rateng basadi ba rena go swana le nako yela ya ge re thoma e le kgarebe le lesogana. [Legofsi.] Ke dumela gore mekgwa ya mohuta wo e ka se tsoge e le gona. Banna, a re emeng ka maoto re swareng basadi ba rena gabotse, re ba fepeng ka lerato. Ka mehla ge o tsoga o atle mosadi wa gago ka tladimolongwana; e re ge le e ya malaong o mo atle gape ka tladimolongwana. [Legofsi.]

Seo se ra gore ga go mosadi yo a kago tsoga a le toronkong gobane go ya ka palo yeo e bontšhwago ya basadi ba dikete tse nne mo Afrika-Borwa, godimo ga batho ba dimilione tše 43 ba naga ye, go bontšha gabotse gore basadi ba leka go itshwara. Ke dumela gore ge re ka ba fa lerato leo le tseneletšego ga go le mosadi yo tee yo a kago ba toronkong.

Kgopolo ye nngwe yeo ke nyakago go e tšweletša ke ya gore go be go ka ba bjang, Tona le Mmušo wa gešo, ge mo dikgolegong go ka ba le mengwakwana ya ka thoko mo basadi bao ba golegilwego ba na le bana ba banyenyane ba kago fela ba e ba le nako ye ntšhinyana - motlhomongwe beke tše pedi go iša go tše tharo - ya go dula le bana ba bona gore bana ba kgone go hwetša lerato la mmagobona, ba se ke ba gola ba kwišiša gore mmagobona o kgolegong, ka gore ge bana ba kwišiša gore mmagobona o kgolegong, seo se tla ntšha ditlhaologanyo tša bona tseleng.

Motlhomphegi Tona Morena Skosana o swere mošomo wo boima. Ba bangwe ba bana bao ba lego dikgolegong ke bao ba tšwago mebileng. Ba na le batswadi. Batswadi ba swanetše gore ba leke go ba hlokomela. Go bolela nnete ye tletšego, go tletše bana bao ba robalago gohlegohle diterateng. Potšišo go rena batswadi ka moka mo Afrika-Borwa ke gore re reng ka taba yekhwi. Rena batswadi a re lekeng gore re se ke ra re ngwana wa ka ga a na bothata; o ya sekolong; ga a seleke; o phela gabotse.

Polelong ya ka ke thomile ka go botšiša gore ge ngwana wa gago a phela gabotse gomme go le yo mongwe yo a sa phelego gabotse, ka moswane e tlile go ba ditšhaba tse bjang. E tlile go ba 50-50 - ya bao ba se nago maitshwaro le bao ba nago le maitshwaro ao a befilego.

A ke gopotše badumedi gore puku ya Mateo 25:35 e re: `Ke be ke le kgolegong la tla la mpona’. Ka gona, ke dira boipiletšo go dikereke ka go farologana gore e be mošomo wa rena go etela dikgolego gore re thušeng Mmušo ka go sokolla batho ditlhaologanyo gore le bona ba tle ba swane le rena. [Legofsi.] Ke rata go fa molaetša wo ke gatelela gore puku ya Mareka 13:10 e bontšha gabotse gore yo a sa hlokomelego ngwana o dira molato pele ga Modimo le gore yo a sa ratego mosadi wa gagwe o dira phošo pele ga Morena.

Ke dira boipiletšo go batswadi ka moka gore re emeleleng, re se ke ra lebelela baetapele ba ba tletšego mo ba Kgoro ya tša Dikgolego; rena ka borena mo Afrika-Borwa a re tšeyeng karolo go ageng setšhaba sa ka moso gore ge re hwile se tle se kgone go phela ka khutšo. Ke a leboga motlhomphegi mosepidiši wa modiro. [Nako e fedile.] [Legofsi.] (Translation of Sepedi speech follows.)

[Bishop L J TOLO: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister of Correctional Services, hon chairperson of the portfolio committee Comrade Mashimbye, hon members, the ANC supports the Vote of the Department of Correctional Services.

My speech will focus on the thorny issue of female and juvenile prisoners. But, before I proceed, I should like to remind hon members that since its inception in 1912, the ANC has been a tireless champion of freedom and the pursuit of happiness among all the people of South Africa.

In the days when hon members and I were growing up, the incarceration of children was a rare occurrence. Yet, nowadays, children as young as 13 years of age are incarcerated. Let us find the root cause of this. I assume that all of us in this House were raised by parents who worked together very closely in providing an appropriate environment for our guidance. Each child knew that a parent was not just one’s biological father or mother, but that any man or woman in the community could play a guardian’s role in a child’s development and was therefore one’s parent too. That is why it was rare to have a child in detention in those days.

However, as I said earlier, today a growing number of children are serving prison sentences. I therefore appeal to parents, all over South Africa, to work together in finding common ground for ensuring that our children are not jailbirds. In this regard, we should seriously raise this concern: What will the future of a generation, one half of whose children suffer inside prisons whilst the other half live peacefully outside prisons, turn out to be like?

We know very well that all of us were kept apart by apartheid policies. How the policies of separation managed to keep us separated remains a big question. If our children are in two groups, one inside prisons and the other outside prisons, by the time they are our age, they will logically be in two groups that are pitted against each other. Therefore, as parents, we need to work for unity and co-operation among South Africans so that we can address this problem.

Some children are in detention because of serious crimes such as killing people with firearms. If one takes a closer look at what actually happens in some of these cases, one may rightly conclude that our children are being led astray by some adults. Some adults, faceless criminals themselves, may want to turn children into thieves and murderers by supplying them with weapons. For instance, a parent who has a firearm may fail to hide it away from his children, and a child may gain access to that weapon and use it inappropriately and end up in prison.

Another reason for juvenile incarceration may stem from instances where a heartless husband, having fathered close to ten children, deserts his family and disavows himself of any responsibility. The poor woman, now a single parent, is left with the responsibility of shouldering the burden of raising children aged from one month to ten years in absolute destitution. She has no time to fend for herself and her family. As a result of hunger and poverty, those children easily fall prey to temptations and engage in crimes such as shoplifting and burglary, and end up in prison. Therefore, as parents, we need to find ways of saving our children from incarceration.

It is quite tough with our womenfolk. The female prison population in South Africa constitutes about 4 000, which shows that women behave relatively well. In sharp contrast, the male prison population constitutes a staggering 120 000, if I am not mistaken. Most women are incarcerated as a result of offences ranging from stealing bread to murdering their spouses.

Murder is unacceptable. Our Government does not, by any means, encourage people to commit murder. But, some of the things that compel people to resort to this kind of crime may arise from family conflicts and abusive relationships. Fellow South African husbands, let us treat our wives with love and affection, just like the days when our romances first blossomed as young lovers. [Applause.] I believe that if we did that, there would be no marriages on the rocks or unhappy relationships within families. Let us stand up and feed the flames of love within our families. Each morning when you wake up, kiss your wife passionately and repeat the act each night before you go to sleep. [Applause.]

With that practice in place, I assure you, there should be no woman ending up in prison. The small proportion of 4 000 female prisoners in South Africa, within a population of 43 million, is testimony to the fact that women are trying their best to behave. I believe that if we treated them with love and happiness, none of them would end up in jail.

My proposal to you, the Minister and our Government, is that we should consider erecting some special facilities in the form of special rooms in female prisons, where incarcerated mothers can spend some time, say about two to three weeks, in the company of their babies so that they can have enough maternal care. Children should not be told about their mothers’ incarceration, because if they are told, they will experience some devastating traumas.

Hon Minister Skosana is indeed faced with an insurmountable task. Among the incarcerated juveniles are street children. They have parents. Their parents need to care for them. There are many street children in prison. We should ask ourselves what we should do about this situation. Of course, we should refrain from deceiving ourselves into thinking that our children are not problematic; that they are attending school in a normal way; that they are not that naughty and that they are well behaved.

At the start of my speech I raised a question as to how the children who are suffering inside prisons would relate in the future to those who are living happily outside prisons. As the number of incarcerated children increases, the potential number of future criminals will also increase until it is 50/50 in respect of those who are delinquents and those who are law-abiding.

May I remind Christians about the gospel contained in Matthew 25:36: ``… I was in prison and you came to visit me’’. I therefore want to remind Christians of all denominations in our country that we should make it our duty to visit prisons so that we can assist our Government in rehabilitating those who have gone astray, back into our fold. [Applause.] Equally, the message contained in Mark 10:1-14 is that he who does not care for a child is guilty before God, and that he who does not love his wife is guilty before the Lord.

I therefore appeal to parents to stand up, and not only to look for guidance from correctional services officials who are here with us today, but, on our own, to participate in building a future nation that, even long after our generation has passed, can live harmoniously and peacefully. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]]

Miss S RAJBALLY: Chairperson, the democracy of South African society has so much respect for human life that perpetrators of injustices receive protection and recognition by our supreme law, our national Constitution. This places an obligation on the department to ensure the safe custody of prisoners until they are legally released.

The country has 241 prisons, many of which are bursting at the seams. Overcrowded jails are a reflection of our crime-infested country but they are also a reflection of the strong arm of the law that brings perpetrators to book. Our system of correctional services accommodates criminals. Many civilians may feel that Government’s punishment is weak and rather to the benefit of criminals who, in prison, enjoy the luxury of a bed, sanitary conditions, food and other basic means of survival that many of our impoverished law- abiding people do not have. However, the aim of imprisonment is manifold: Firstly, the aim of imprisonment is to punish and replace the balance that has been disrupted in society. Secondly, there is the factor of reformation to which a criminal should have the right. Thirdly, there is the factor of prevention. Prevention is in two parts, namely to prevent the perpetrator from committing crime again and, also to prevent anyone else in the community from committing the same or a similar crime. Fourthly, there is the factor of retribution.

The MF is pleased to note that the department, in all its programmes, has inculcated the above. Juvenile delinquency is common in South Africa and the MF shares the concern for the reformation of the youth in these circumstances. The MF feels that the system of privileges adopted by the department would serve as a perfect incentive to persuade prisoners to be amenable to reformation. The MF supports Vote 21. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr M M Z DYANI: Chairperson and the august House, I am delighted to take part in this important debate. The debate relates to a very difficult problem, the problem of promoting and maintaining the cause of a justiciable society in our land. Speaking from the vantage point of the correctional wing of our justice system, I will speak on the core occupation of the correctional system which is rehabilitation and the problems related thereto.

In discussing rehabilitation in our correctional system, I would like to contextualise my discussion by making use of history. Since depriving people of their liberty through incarceration is a foreign phenomenon in our land, I will rely more on Europe and America for the history of imprisonment. In Europe before the 18th century, as the Minister has indicated, the idea of imprisonment as the sole punishment only was non- existent. Criminals were imprisoned so that another punitive process could be carried out. The person was imprisoned so that he or she could be hanged, whipped or exiled.

The idea of the denial of liberty and physical confinement as a form of punishment only took root in 18th century Europe. It was during that century that houses of correction were built. Criminals were sent to those houses for lengthy periods as a means of punishment. In those correctional houses inmates were housed without any regard to sex, age or type of offence. The idea behind imprisonment in Europe was the need to lock up paupers and debtors for the purpose of extracting money from them, hence the first prisons were called debtor’s correctional facilities.

I hasten to point out that even in this 21st century of massive opulence, poor people still constitute the mainstay of prison populations throughout the world. As liberators and agents of consummate freedom, we have to deal with the bold reality that poverty is the major cause of lawbreaking. We, thus, have to be more desperate in rolling back the frontiers of poverty. Rolling back the frontiers of poverty is a long-term process and a tall order. I think that the short-term strategy promoting the goal of poverty alleviation is to desperately fight for adequate and satisfactory nutrition for each and every individual citizen of the country. It is not poverty that causes our correctional facilities to be bursting at the seams with prisoners. It is not poverty that pushes our people out of the rural areas, it is the pangs of hunger in their empty stomachs.

We have to rehabilitate our society so that more and more persons are afforded alternatives to committing crimes. One of the earliest prisons Bridewell opened in London in 1557. The first state reformatory was built in Elmira New York in 1876. However, it was only in 1925 that reformatories became real reformatories designed for rehabilitation. The idea of a reformatory started with Pope Clement XI in Rome, in 1704, when he established a house of corrections for juvenile offenders only, and separated boys from hardened criminals. In 1771 a house of corrections was built in Ghent, Belgium. That house influenced the architecture and management of prisons into the 20th century. There, prisoners were classified and separated by sex and offence. They were also given training in useful trades.

In Great Britain, during the late 18th and early 19th century, John Howard, Jeremy Bentham and Elizabeth Gurney Fry were leaders in prison reform. During 18th-century England more than 200 crimes were punishable by death. But, in the 19th century imprisonment became the customary form of punishment. In 1682, in Pennsylvania, William Penn abandoned the death penalty for all offences except murder. Imprisonment was adopted as a chief punishment for crime. Pennsylvania gave us the name penitentiary when it developed the solitary and separate system, where prisoners were locked up alone in individual cells to enable them to meditate and to do penance.

I think it is proper that while discussing rehabilitation as a subject I should first of all explain the concept of rehabilitation. The Concise Oxford Dictionary states that to rehabilitate is to restore to effectiveness or normal life by training etc, especially after imprisonment or illness. The explanation indicates that the goal of the penologist is to return the prisoner to society, after his sentence has been served, as a full citizen. The work of transforming a lawbreaker to a law-respecting and law-abiding citizen is a very, very difficult exercise. The people doing the work of rehabilitating offenders deserve the utmost respect and sympathy from the society they serve.

The work of the courts is relatively easier when we look at the whole justice system. The courts only determine and pronounce punishment after weighing evidence. The penologists who man correctional centres have the onerous task of executing the court’s judgement. They have to do so strictly within the parameters of the letter and spirit of the judgement, while at the same time they are not expected to be mechanistic or crude in the execution of the judgement. Psychological, class and cultural factors have to be taken into account in dealing with inmates who have to be treated as the idiosyncratic individuals we all are.

When a person commits an offence he or she is tampering with the justice equilibrium, an equilibrium that guarantees to citizens an orderly and peaceful existence in civilized society. The equilibrium is restored when society punishes a wrongdoer with a view to deterring the lawbreaker and the like-minded from breaking the law. One of the greatest biblical personalities and a great legal philosopher, St Paul, said there is no sin without law. While this is a truism, it is also self-evident that civilized life is not possible without law; especially when class cleavages are still at the base of our social existence.

Imprisonment of a person is punishment by itself. It is just and proper that we punish lawbreakers. The important thing is that the punishment should be just, proper and fitting. I wish to emphasise that the notion of punishment does not negate rehabilitation. On the contrary it is a part of it but not a primary element. A view that propounds a rehabilitative process devoid of any element of punishment, is the one I will term the Shavian criminological option.

George Bernard Shaw, an Irish social critic and dramatist believed that punishing people by imprisonment was backward and that lawbreakers only needed clinics where they would be counselled. Bernard Shaw was an ironist but a totally serious ironist about his statements. The goal of the rehabilitating process is to make a person respond appropriately to the realities of his or her environment. A human being cannot be changed when his or her environment is not conducive to rehabilitation. There is, therefore, a need to make the environment conducive to rehabilitation, if we are to meaningfully engage in the task of rehabilitating offenders. One of the most important conditions of aiding rehabilitation is the good quality of officers in correctional centres. Good quality officers make it difficult for both rogue officers and wayward inmates to establish an ethos of vice in a correctional facility.

Officers who deal with rehabilitation as an aspect of correctional activities should be trained to have a basic understanding of criminology and human behaviour. The total lack of such knowledge causes the good efforts aimed at rehabilitation to be futile. Overcrowding undermines rehabilitation efforts in poignant and obvious ways. Overcrowding is one of the factors that dehumanises inmates. South African correctional centres combined are overburdened with prisoners to the tune of 77 000. This is clearly debilitating for both the inmate and the corrector. The high numbers need to be reduced to acceptable levels - levels that would easily facilitate rehabilitation.

To be true to our belief in rehabilitation, formal education must be the primary instrument of rehabilitation. It definitely has to be at the centre of the rehabilitatory system. Prisoners should be zealously persuaded to study for both academic and vocational achievement. Putting formal education and training at the core of rehabilitation will be quite expensive, but attempting to rehabilitate without paying for education is an exercise in astute sophistry, at best, and an exercise in futility, at worst. Realism tells us that that cannot be immediately done, while it must be seriously aimed for and programmatically so.

Mnr C AUCAMP: Mnr die Voorsitter, wanneer ons vandag praat, is dit oor die lot deur omstandighede en die vooruitsigte van 187 000 mense. Weet agb lede hoeveel is dit? So amper-amper Loftus, Ellis Park, Kings Park en Nuweland almal saam volgepak. Dis baie, en dit terwyl die departement se personeel en fasiliteite net gerat is vir 110 000. Artikel 35 van die Hoofstuk oor Menseregte in ons Grondwet handel oor die regte van hierdie mense. Dit is op papier, maar wat gebeur in die praktyk? Artikel 35(2)(f) skep die indruk dat ‘n gevangene die reg het om deur ‘n religieuse raadgewer van sy keuse besoek te word. Ek kan hier vermeld dat in die geval van ‘n besondere gevangene in die Sonderwater-gevangenis die betrokke geestelike verbied was om hierdie gevangene te besoek. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[Mr C AUCAMP: Mr Chairman, when we speak today, it is about the fate, through circumstances, and the prospects of 187 000 people. Do hon members know how many people that is? Very nearly Loftus, Ellis Park, Kings Park and Newlands all packed to capacity. That is a lot of people, and this when the department’s staff and facilities are only geared for 110 000 people. Section 35 of the Chapter on Human Rights in our Constitution deals with the rights of these people. That is on paper, but what happens in practice? Section 35(2)(f) creates the impression that a prisoner has the right to be visited by a religious adviser of his choice. I can state here that in the case of a specific prisoner in Sonderwater Prison the relevant spiritual adviser was prohibited from visiting that prisoner.]

The world is being assured, under section 35(2)(e), that conditions in detention will be humane. However, a case was brought to my attention where an offender had to sleep in a toilet because his bed was taken away from him when he refused to share fruit from outside with one of the guards. The fact is that our prisons are hopelessly overcrowded, as stated this morning. Conditions in these facilities are below the minimum standards required by the dictates of the Bill of Rights. The overall picture of conditions in South African prisons is such that the phrase ``correctional services’’ becomes a joke.

Is daar sprake van korreksie en rehabilitasie in tronke wat gemiddeld 70% oorbevolk en onderbeman is? Is rehabilitasie moontlik onder sulke omstandighede? Kan die Minister dalk vir ons verwys na navorsing oor die kumulatiewe glyskaaleffek van oorbevolking op die dissipline en beskerming van gevangenes teen bendes en medebooswigte? Ek glo 70% oorbevolking skep 200% ekstra probleme. Sodoende word korrektiewe dienste uiteindelik korruptiewe dienste.

Amper ‘n derde van ons bevolking in die tronke is verhoorafwagtend. Hierdie syfer is gans te hoog en is ‘n refleksie op die kriminele regstelsel, waarvan die Minister vanmôre nie hier is nie. ‘n Geval het onder my aandag gekom van een persoon wat na vier en ‘n half jaar van aanhouding sonder verhoor oornag vrygelaat is. Die klagte is teruggetrek. Hy was in my kantoor. In ‘n tweede geval was ‘n persoon sewe jaar in aanhouding en is na bewering losgelaat op voorwaarde dat hy sekere kriminele selle sal infiltreer.

Die groot probleem lê ook by verhoorafwagtendes. Ter voorbereiding van hierdie debat het ek met ‘n gevangeniskapelaan met 20 jaar ondervinding gaan gesels. Sy eerste reaksie was dat die situasie van verhoorafwagtendes haglik is. Dit is die tusseninmense, die halfwegstasiemense. Geen werklike rehabilitasieprogramme kan met hulle begin word nie, geen gradering nie, geen inprestering in ‘n beter kategorie nie, en dit is mense wat nog nie eens skuldig bevind is nie. Die Nasionale Aksie pleit vir ‘n ander benadering teenoor verhoorafwagtendes. Om hul getalle minder te maak is justisie se werk, maar hul daaglikse omstandighede is in hierdie departement se hande.

Daar moet vir hulle dieselfde berading en rehabilitasieprogramme beskikbaar wees soos vir reeds gevonniste gevangenes. Veel groter onderskeid moet gemaak word tussen gewelds- en ander misdadigers. Tot tyd en wyl minstens ‘n prima facie-saak teen ‘n gearresteerde uitgemaak is, moet hy of sy die reg hê om alleen aangehou te word. Daar is gevalle waar na 24 uur of ‘n hele naweek in arres uitgevind word dat die man totaal onskuldig is, maar dan is hy klaar gesodomiseer.

Die probleme waarmee hierdie departement van buite opgesaal word, moet dringend aangespreek word. Korrektiewe Dienste kan dit nie alleen doen nie. Wanneer die NA teen hierdie begrotingspos stem, is dit nie ‘n mosie van wantroue in die Minister of sy departement nie, maar ‘n protes teen die Aspoestertjie-behandeling waaraan hierdie departement onderworpe is. Op een van die plakkate in vandag se uitstalling staan, Rehabilitation - our ultimate aim''. Dit is tyd dat dit moet verander naRehabilitation - our ultimate claim’’. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Is there any suggestion of correction and rehabilitation in prisons which are on average 70% overcrowded and understaffed? Is rehabilitation possible under such circumstances? Can the Minister perhaps refer us to research about the cumulative sliding scale effect of overcrowding on the discipline and protection of prisoners against gangs and fellow criminals? I believe that 70% overcrowding creates 200% additional problems. Consequently correctional services ultimately become corruptive services.

Almost a third of our population in prisons are awaiting trial. This figure is far too high and is a reflection on the criminal justice system, and the Minister entrusted with that portfolio is not here this morning. A case came to my attention of a person who after having been in detention for four and a half years without trial was suddenly released. The charges were withdrawn. He was in my office. In a second case, a person was in detention for seven years and was allegedly released on condition that he infiltrated certain criminal cells. The major problem also lies with people awaiting trial. In preparation for this debate I spoke to a prison chaplain with 20 years’ experience. His first reaction was that the situation of awaiting-trial prisoners was dreadful. These are the in-between people, the halfway-station people. No real rehabilitation programmes can be implemented for them, no grading, no improving to get into a better category, and these are people who have not yet even been found guilty. The National Action calls for a different approach towards people awaiting trial. To decrease their numbers is the work of justice, but their day-to-day conditions are in the hands of this department.

The same counselling and rehabilitation programmes should be available to them as to those prisoners that have been sentenced. A much bigger distinction must be made between guilty of violent crimes offenders and other criminals. Until such a time as at least a prima facie case has been made against an arrested person, he or she must have the right to be detained separately. There are cases where after 24 hours or a whole weekend under arrest, it has been found that someone is completely innocent, but by then he has already been sodomised.

The problems with which this department is burdened from the outside must be addressed urgently. Correctional Services cannot do it alone. When the NA votes against this Vote, it is not a vote of no confidence in the Minister or his department, but a protest against the Cinderella treatment to which this department is subjected. On one of the placards in today’s exhibition is written: ``Rehabilitation - our ultimate aim’’. The time has come for this to be changed to “Rehabilitation - our ultimate claim”.

Mnr D V BLOEM: Mnr die Voorsitter, ek weet nie waarom ander mense so suur is nie. Dit lyk vir my of húlle in die tronk was, wat ‘n mens laat vra hoekom hulle daar was, want ons was dan daar. Hulle is suur, hulle kla oor enige ding. Ons weet nie hoekom nie. Hulle prys nie die Minister oor sy goeie werk nie, hulle het net ‘n klomp sêgoed. Hulle is suur; diep suur! [Tussenwerpsels.]

Ek wil begin deur die Minister, Mnr Skosana, geluk te wens met die suksesse wat hy in die departement behaal het sedert sy aanstelling in 1998. Ek moet vir hom sê dat hy van die ANC se kant ons volle steun en samewerking het. Ons waardeer wat hy doen en steun sy departement se begroting. Een probleem of nadeel is dat ek sien die Minister het baie gou grys geraak. [Gelag.]

Die Departement van Korrektiewe Dienste is die afgelope jaar gebombardeer met verskeie voorvalle van korrupsie en wanadministrasie. Ek hoef net te verwys na die Grootvlei-video en artikels en nuusberigte oor drank, dwelms en seksuele praktyke in gevangenisse. Daar is ook korrektiewe beamptes wat hulp verleen het by ontvlugting van gevangenes. Hulle was ook skuldig aan die misbruik van hul mediese fonds. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Mr D V BLOEM: Mr Chairman, I do not know why other people are so disgruntled. It seems to me as if they themselves have been in prison, which raises the question why they were there, because we were there. They are disgruntled, they complain about anything. We do not know why. They are not commending the Minister for his good work, they merely make a great number of wisecracks. They are disgruntled; very disgruntled! [Interjections.]

I want to start by congratulating the Minister, Mr Skosana, on the successes he has achieved in the department since his appointment in 1998. I have to tell him that he has the full support and co-operation of the ANC. We appreciate what he is doing and support his department’s budget. One problem or disadvantage is that I see the Minister’s hair has gone gray very quickly. [Laughter.]

Over the past year the Department of Correctional Services has been bombarded with various incidents of corruption and maladministration. I need only refer to the Grootvlei video and articles and news reports regarding alcohol, drugs and sexual practices in prisons. There are also correctional officers who assisted in the escape of prisoners. They were also guilty of misusing their medical aid fund.]

The question we must ask is: Why are we aware of these incidents? It is because of the Minister, who has since 1998 demonstrated that he will fight corruption and make it public knowledge. This demonstrates our Government’s policy of transparency and the eradication of corruption in order to deliver services to our communities. The Minister and the Department of Correctional Services have decided not to hide these matters, but to share them with us and the public.

When he assumed office, Minister Skosana received complaints from personnel and the public about malpractices in the correctional system. He immediately requested the Auditor-General to investigate these allegations. This led to a report to the Minister and to Scopa, which resulted, inter alia, in the resignation of the then Commissioner of Correctional Services.

Die Minister het egter nie hier opgehou nie. Hy het sy kollega die Minister vir die Staatsdiens en Administrasie genader, waarna daar ‘n bestuursoudit van die departement gedoen is. Tydens die oudit het nuwe bewerings van korrupsie en wanadministrasie na vore gekom. Beide die Departement vir die Staatsdiens and Administrasie en die Staatsdienskommissie het hierna ondersoeke geloods. Die resultate van hierdie ondersoeke het die Minister laat besluit om die President te nader om ‘n geregtelike kommissie van ondersoek aan te stel ten einde korrupte elemente en kriminele in die departement ‘n finale nekslag toe te dien. Dit het gelei tot die Jali- kommissie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[The Minister did not stop there, however. He approached his colleague, the Minister for the Public Service and Administration, after which a management audit of the department was done. During the audit new allegations of corruption and maladministration were brought to light. Both the Department for the Public Service and Administration and the Public Service Commission launched investigations into this. The results of these investigations prompted the Minister to approach the President to appoint a judicial commission of inquiry to deal a final death-blow to corrupt elements and criminals in the department. This led to the Jali Commission.]

The question now is, what have the Minister and his department done about the recommendations of these investigations and those that were received via the interim report of the Jali Commission? They did not hesitate to take action against those people who had transgressed. They also rectified the system and processes that could have assisted such illegal actions. They have now also obtained the assistance of the Scorpions and the Special Investigating Unit in cases that need further investigation to apprehend the transgressors.

With regard to Durban, one senior manager, a director and five other employees have been subjected to disciplinary hearings. The senior manager has been found guilty on charges of fraud and corruption and has been dismissed. Twenty-two employees implicated in the Grootvlei video have been subjected to disciplinary measures. To date 14 correctional officers have been dismissed following guilty verdicts in disciplinary hearings. Another correctional officer was dismissed for misconduct before the Jali Commission’s recommendations were made known and one correctional offier died of natural causes before the disciplinary hearings could commence. The remaining cases have already been scheduled.

There is an interim report which deals specifically with qualification fraud in KwaZulu-Natal, where 28 employees allegedly presented falsified qualifications to the department, either to obtain employment or to effect promotion. To date nine employees have been dismissed, one employee has resigned and one has absconded. The cases of the 17 remaining employees are still subject to investigation and verification.

The disciplinary hearings of a senior manager from the Eastern Cape will start soon. I hope that this is the last commission. As ‘n mens kyk na wat ek nou net gesê het, is dit duidelik dat nie die hele Departement van Korrektiewe Dienste korrup is nie. So word ons ingeprent met die openheid van die Minister en sy bestuur. Ek wil graag die lede bedank wat lojaal bly teenoor hul departement, ons Regering en die gemeenskappe. Daar is net ‘n paar vrot appels wat die departement se naam wil vervuil. Ek doen daarom ‘n beroep op die personeel om saam met ons regering, Minister Skosana, die Parlement en die departement se bestuur hierdie mense aan die kaak te stel.

Ek wil weer eens ‘n beroep doen op die Regering om te kyk na die salarisse van hierdie personeel. Hulle werk naamlik dag en nag met hierdie mense wat gerehabiliteer moet word. Dit kom hulle net toe dat ons toesien dat hulle die regte salarisse kry. Sodoende kan ons die korrupsie ook van daardie kant af uitroei. [Applous.] Dit kom hulle toe dat ons omsien na hulle.

In regter Fagan se verslag is daar dinge wat ander mense nie goed verstaan nie. Ek het gehoor die agb Swart verwys ook daarna, asook die een suurpruim. [Gelag.] Dis nou Mnr Van Deventer hier, wat sê mense moenie vrygelaat word nie. Dit is nie wat die regter gesê het nie. Hy het gesê dit is een voorstel. Hy het ‘n voorstel gemaak - dit is nie ‘n besluit nie. Dit is egter ook nie die eerste keer in die geskiedenis van hierdie land nie. Toe hierdie agb lid nog by die Nasionale Party was, het hulle mense vrygelaat. Nou skielik, vandat daar ‘n ANC-regering is, het hulle suur druiwe. Dit werk nie so nie. Ons het groot waardering vir die regter, wat kyk na hierdie dinge. Ons het ook …

Mnr F J VAN DEVENTER: [Onhoorbaar.]

Mr D V BLOEM: Ekskuus? [Tussenwerpsels.] Jy is suur. Jy het oorgespring na ‘n ander party en nou het jy ‘n groot mond. [Tussenwerpsels.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[When one examines what I have just said, it is clear that it is not the entire Department of Correctional Services that is corrupt. In this manner the openness of the Minister and his management is impressed on us. I would like to thank those members who remain loyal to their department, our Government and the communities. There are only a few rotten apples who want to smear the department’s name. I therefore appeal to the personnel, together with our Government, Minister Skosana, Parliament and the management of the department, to expose these people.

I once again want to appeal to the Government to look at the salaries of these personnel. They are, after all, working night and day with these people who have to be rehabilitated. Surely it is only fair that we see to it that they get the correct salaries. In this way we can eradicate corruption from that side too. [Applause.] They deserve to be looked after by us.

In Justice Fagan’s report there are things that other people do not fully grasp. I heard the hon Swart also referring to that, as well as one sour- face. [Laughter.] That is, of course, Mr Van Deventer over here, who says people should not be released. That is not what the judge said. He said that was one proposal. He made a proposal - it is not a decision. It is not the first time in the history of this country either. When this hon member was still with the National Party, they released people. Now all of a sudden, since there is an ANC Government, it is a case of sour grapes. It does not work like that. We have great admiration for the judge, who looks at these things. We also have …

Mr F J VAN DEVENTER: [Inaudible.]

Mr D V BLOEM: I beg your pardon? [Interjections.] You are disgruntled. You changed over to another party and now you have a big mouth. [Interjections.]]

The CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order, hon member. Please proceed with your speech. [Interjections.]

Mr D V BLOEM: Voorsitter, ek wil vir die Minister sê hy moenie weggetrek word van hierdie werk wat hy doen saam met die kommissaris nie. Verlede jaar het … [Chairperson, I want to say to the Minister that he should not be drawn away from this work he is doing together with the commissioner. Last year …]

Mr C M MORKEL: Mr Chairperson, is the hon member prepared to take a question?

Mr D V BLOEM: Mnr die Voorsitter, wanneer ek en daardie lid en Harksen bymekaarkom, kan hy maar die vraag vra. [Gelag.] [Mr Chairman, when that member, Harksen and I get together, he may ask the question. [Laughter.]]

Mr C M MORKEL: Is that a yes or a no? Are you prepared to take a question? That is not an answer. I would like to know.

Mr D V BLOEM: Nee, ek sal nie. Ons moet eers drie wees, ek en jy en Harksen. [Gelag.] [No, I will not. There have to be three of us first, you and Harksen and I.]

Mr C M MORKEL: What do you have to hide?

The CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order, please continue, hon Bloem.

Mnr D V BLOEM: Die kommissaris moet nooit toelaat dat negatiewe mense sy gedagtes wegvat van dit wat ons wil doen nie. Ons praat van rehabilitasie. In die verlede het al hierdie mense net rondgestaan daar in die tronke. Hier sit hulle nou, want ons weet wat ons doen. Ons is op die regte pad. ‘n Mens word nie gestraf as hy in die tronk is nie. Hy word gerehabiliteer. Ons gaan hom nie met ‘n knuppel slaan nie. Die Minister het nou die dag ‘n snaakse woord gebruik. Ons praat van knuppels. Ons praat nie weer van daardie ou naam nie. Daar is nou selfs nie meer ‘n knuppel in die tronk nie, want ons praat met hierdie mense. Ons sê vir hulle hulle gaan vrygelaat word. Hulle sal weer tussen mense wees.

Ek verneem by die Voorsitter dat ‘n koor van gevangenes vandag hier gaan kom sing. Dit is hoe ons mense rehabiliteer. Ons maak nie van hulle nog erger moordenaars nie. As hulle uitkom is hulle nie nog slegter verkragters nie. [Tussenwerpsels.] Ons waardeer die Minister se werk. Van die ANC se kant wil ek vir die kommissaris sê ons waardeer hierdie harde werk. Die departement se lede daarbo moet nie dink al die lede van die Parlement is soos die DA se lede nie. [Applous.] Die DA het nie visie nie. Ons het ‘n visie, ons het ‘n pad waarop ons beweeg. Ons wil hê dat julle ook soos mense behandel word daar in die straat. Julle moet ook kan trots wees en sê dat daardie uniform … [Tussenwerpsels.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[The Commissioner should never allow negative people to divert his thoughts from what we want to do. We are talking about rehabilitation. In the past all these people only used to stand around there in the prisons. Here they are sitting now, because we know what we are doing. We are on the right track. A person is not being punished when he is in prison. He is being rehabilitated. We are not going to hit him with a baton. The Minister used a strange word the other day. We talk about batons. We no longer use that old name. Now there are not even batons in prison any more, because we talk to these people. We tell them they are going to be released. They will be among people again.

I understand from the Chairperson that a choir of prisoners will be singing here today. That is how we rehabilitate people. We do not make even worse murderers of them. When they are released they are not even worse rapists. [Interjections.]

We appreciate the Minister’s work. I want to say to the commissioner on behalf of the ANC that we appreciate this hard work. The department’s members up there should not think that all members of Parliament are like the members of the DA. [Applause.] The DA does not have vision. We have a vision, we have a course which we are adopting. We want them also to be treated like human beings there on the street. They must also be proud and say that that uniform … [Interjections.]]

Mr S B FARROW: [Inaudible.]

Mr D V BLOEM: Nee wat, jy moet daardie tie'' gaan uittrek. [Gelag.] Dis nou 'n skooltie’’ wat jy daar dra. Jy kom dan hier met ‘n skool ``tie’’. [Applous.] [Tyd verstreke.] [Oh no, you should go and take off that tie. [Laughter.] That is a school tie you are wearing. You come here wearing a school tie. [Applause.] [Time expired.]]

The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Chairperson, I can see that my friend over there does not like striped ties. I do not know whether I should hide this one or not. [Laughter.] Lest I forget, the chairman also reminded me that he has lunch for members. All who are here are invited. He also said that there will be a choir from prison which will sing. I think that the function itself will be at the other dining hall. Everybody is invited. I am not the one to detain members. I know that members need their lunch and everybody needs their lunch. Others have told me that they want to go home now.

Firstly, let me say that I appreciate all that has been said by all those members who responded to this Vote. Starting with the hon chairperson, let me say that I think he has made very good proposals which I think we have noted, with our officials. The proposals need to be discussed by the cluster, the JCPS or IMSC, including the cluster of directors-general. I think that those are very good proposals that were made by our chairperson.

Regarding the hon Van Deventer, let me say that yes, with regards to the issue of the Eastern Cape, we are already dealing with that matter and the Commissioner has already sent a task team to that area to look into those complaints. I think that complaints will be coming as long as we are trying to implement this resolution 7. Those are implications which we need to deal with and we are dealing with them.

We have also had some representations from members of Parliament and we are dealing with those issues. So, those matters that members raised will be dealt with by the task team. But I am also saddened by his conclusion: the inference that he is not supporting this budget because the Government did not give us money. I do not understand the logic that he is punishing us for not being given the money. He said: ``It is not the Minister, it is not the staff but I am punishing them for not being given the money’’.

I appreciate the brief history on transformation which the hon Fihla brought to this House with regard to human rights and the treatment of offenders. I think that all my colleagues who are here have been listening, including our officials and friends, to the way he detailed that. I think that all of us know that this is what we ought to be doing as officials with regard to the treatment of prisoners and also the treatment of prisoners by other prisoners.

I see the point of the hon Ferreira as to why we should eradicate corruption and I think we are doing that. As to the issue of releasing those people without bail, the IMSC and JCPS clusters are dealing with that. We are processing that together with the Director of National Prosecutions. On the issue raised by Justice Fagan - I think Justice Fagan was making a proposal to the President and I think the President will respond to it, if he feels that it needs responding to. But I have said that the Judge has always assisted us in suggesting various options to deal with these matters.

I agree with the hon Ngaleka that we have a problem when it comes to sentences that are handed down by magistrates because, sometimes, when sentence is handed down by a magistrate in respect of a child, one finds that there are no probation officers or social workers present, and that nobody could sketch the background of the child. Therefore, a child ends up in prison and, as a result, we cannot ourselves say magistrates should not have done that. It is not our prerogative but I think that with the integration of the criminal justice cluster, we will be able to deal with these questions eventually because in the beginning we did not have these things but now we do have them.

I appreciate the hon Durand’s sketching the background of how we came to deal with the issue of corruption. I agree with him that we need partnership in order to reduce crime, meaning that we need to be working together with communities and civil society to reduce crime. Otherwise, we cannot do it on our own and we need these alternative incarcerations. With regard to electronic monitoring I think that if the hon member has proposals from various companies who want to deal with that matter - because I can see that it will not rest - the doors of the commissioner are open. I think the member can go to those people and discuss matters with them and we will see whether or not it is a viable proposition. Otherwise, it keeps coming up as if somebody is pressurising somebody or something.

Hon Swart, regarding this general amnesty, I did say that it is the prerogative and powers of the hon the President to look at that. But, yes, I would personally support general amnesty on humanitarian grounds because I know that there are children in there, there are infants in there, there are sick and old people in there. So, I think that even my colleagues would support me on that we need to do those things on humanitarian grounds. If the President can do that, why should we not support it?

To the hon Bishop Tolo, …

… ke leboha haholo, ntate hobane o botsa ka bana le basadi. O re na bana ba batla eng diteronkong, le hore ekare bana bana ba diteronkong hobane ha ba rutwe letho hae kwana. (Translation of Sotho paragraph follows.)

[… thank you very much, sir, for your question regarding women and children. You are concerned about the presence of children in prisons, and about the fact that it looks like these children are in prison because they are not taught anything in their homes.] The parents are not really educating or teaching their children how to respect elders, property, and even how to respect women or girl-children.

O a tjho hape, ntate Tolo hore o bona hore ha re ka ba rata haholo, basadi ba rona, ha ba na ho etsa ntho tseo bane ba keneng teronkong ba di entseng. Ke dumellana le wena, Bishopo hore ho jwalo. Re tshwanetse hore re ba rate. Ha re sa ba rate ba … [Kena hanong] … E, ke tjho jwalo. [Ditsheho]. (Translation of Sotho paragraph follows.)

[Again, Mr Tolo maintains that if we can give our wives the love they deserve, they will never do things similar to those done by women who are currently held in prisons. I agree with you, Bishop, in this regard. We must love them. If we do not, they … [Interjections.] Yes, that is exactly what I mean. [Laughter.]]

I agree with the hon Rajbally. I think that the question of overcrowding runs through most of the responses here. I agree with her on the issue of crime prevention, namely that it ought to start with the community, because the prison really is the last resort in dealing with these questions of retribution but we can start within the family.

I want to thank the hon Dyani for his brief history on incarceration, where it comes from, the meaning of rehabilitation and why these things are happening. So I am very grateful for that. That is why I said that our tertiary institutions ought to be involved in assisting the department in order to deal with some of the professional aspects of corrections.

I think Mr Aucamp is making a telling statement there when he likens the overcrowding to some of the sporting activities that we have, where the stadium is filled with people, either for rugby or soccer and so on. I always make those analogies myself, that if one sees the whole stadium full of people watching Bafana Bafana playing England, then one tells oneself that those, in fact, represent half the number of awaiting-trial prisoners and one gets a shock. Then, one wonders when the courts are going to get through those people who are sitting there in the stadium when, in fact, the police are also arresting thousands more every weekend.

Lastly, I appreciate everything that the hon Bloem said and I know that he is a friend. [Interjections.] He is not an imbongi. He is a friend of the department. He is a friend of Government. He is even your friend. So we appreciate what Mr Bloem has said and I think he also helps us a great deal in many other respects.

Let me repeat my thanks and appreciation not only to those who took part, but to all who came to listen to the debates, all officials who are here, on this side and that side, and also those who have come as visitors. I know that we have those who work with us amongst us there, and I say: keep helping us. Keep co-operating with us because the prison system is as old as man himself. Some of us will come and go and still leave it as a prison system. It will always be there as long as there are men and women. There will always be a prison system and there will always be prisoners there. Long after these fellows have gone, it will still be there, as long as humans exist. So, that is why I also liked what Mr Bloem said. [Interjections.] I thought that he was privy to something which the President may have said. He spoke as a person who was saying goodbye to me. Minister, did you hear that? [Interjections.] I thought he was saying ``Minister, bye bye. You did a good job’’, which is something that is good. I also want to say thank you to the Minister for sitting with us and spending this time with us in the House. I know that he is not well. We know very well that he is not well but I appreciate his being here. [Applause.]

Debate concluded.

The House adjourned at 12:23. ____

            ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly:

1. Membership of Joint Committees:

 (1)    The following members  have  been  appointed  to  serve  on  the
     Committee mentioned, viz:


     Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Reparations:


     African National Congress


     Chalmers, J
     De Lange, J H (Alt)
     Diale, L N
     Gumede, D M (Alt)
     Joemat, R R (Alt)
     Mabe, L L
     Masutha, M T
     Mlangeni, A
     Moloto, K A
     Mthethwa, E N
     Nene, N M (Alt)
     Newhoudt-Druchen, W S
     Ngculu, L V
     Njobe, M A A


     Democratic Alliance


     Camerer, S M
     Smuts, M


     Inkatha Freedom Party


     Seaton, S A


     Van der Merwe, J H


     New National Party


     Herandien, C B


     African Christian Democratic Party


     Madasa, Z L


     Minority Front


     Rajbally, S


     Pan Africanist Congress of Azania


     Pheko, S E


     National Action


     Aucamp, C

1. Referrals to committees of tabled papers:

 (1)    The following paper is referred to the  Portfolio  Committee  on
     Justice and Constitutional Development and to the Joint  Monitoring
     Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and  Status  of
     Women. The  Report  of  the  Auditor-General  is  referred  to  the
     Standing  Committee  on  Public  Accounts  for  consideration   and
     report:


     Report  and  Financial  Statements  of  the  Commission  on  Gender
     Equality for  2001-2002,  including  the  Report  of  the  Auditor-
     General on the Financial Statements for 2001-2002 [RP 207-2002].


 (2)    The following paper is referred to the  Portfolio  Committee  on
     Public Service  and  Administration,  the  Portfolio  Committee  on
     Provincial and Local Government and to the Portfolio  Committee  on
     Communications:


     Report of the Public  Service  Commission  on  the  Monitoring  and
     Evaluation  of  the  Provincial  Multi-Purpose  Community   Centres
     (MPCC's) [RP 24-2003].


 (3)    The following papers are referred to the Portfolio Committee  on
     Finance:


     (a)     Report of the Executive Officer of the  Financial  Services
          Board on the Road Accident Fund - combined 8th Report for 2000-
          2001 and 9th Report for 2001-2002.


     (b)      Exemption  in  terms  of  section  74  of  the   Financial
          Intelligence  Centre  Act,  2001  (Act  No  38  of  2001)  and
          Explanatory Memorandum thereto.


     (c)     Government Notice No R 552 published in Government  Gazette
          No 24770 dated 25 April 2003:  Exchange  Control  Regulations:
          Cancellation of appointment of an authorised dealer in foreign
          exchange: African  Merchant  Bank  Limited  in  terms  of  the
          Currency and Exchanges Act, 1933 (Act No 9 of 1933).


     (d)     Government Notice No 616 published  in  Government  Gazette
          No  24834  dated  30  April  2003:  Allocations  made  to  the
          provinces in terms of section 7 of  the  Division  of  Revenue
          Act, 2003 (Act No 7 of 2003).


     (e)     Government Notice No 605 published  in  Government  Gazette
          No 24830 dated 30 April 2003: Transfers to local government in
          terms of the Division of Revenue Act, 2003 (Act No 7 of 2003).


     (f)     Government Notice No 606 published  in  Government  Gazette
          No 24833 dated 30 April 2003: Statement of  the  National  and
          Provincial  Governments'  revenue,  expenditure  and  national
          borrowing as at 31 March 2003 in terms of the  Public  Finance
          Management Act, 1999 (Act  No  1  of  1999)  and  Division  of
          Revenue Act, 2002 (Act No 5 of 2002).


 (4)    The following papers are referred to the Portfolio Committee  on
     Correctional Services:


     (a)      Report  of  the  Judicial  Inspectorate  on  Prisons   and
          Prisoners for 2002-2003 [RP 41-2003].


     (b)     Strategic Plan of the Department of  Correctional  Services
          for 2003-2006.

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs:

 Report of the Commission on Restitution of Land  Rights  for  2002-2003
 [RP 48-2003].

1. The Minister for Safety and Security:

 (a)    Strategic Plan of the  Independent  Complaints  Directorate  for
     2003-2006 [RP 40-2003].


 (b)    Planning Information for the South African  Police  Service  for
     2003-2004 [RP 42-2003].

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

1. Annual Report for 2002 of the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests in terms of Joint Rule 89(2), dated 28 May 2003:

 1.     Appointments to Joint Committee of Ethics and Members' Interests


    Mr L Landers was elected Chairperson  of  the  Joint  Committee  on
     Ethics and Members' Interests on 19 February 2002, following  Sr  B
     N  Z  Ncube  resignation  as  Member  of  Parliament.  The   Deputy
     Chairperson Ms C Nkuna was elected on 15 March 2003.


 1.     Composition of the Committee
    On the 14 November 2002 the  National  Assembly  and  the  National
     Council of Provinces revised Joint Rule 122(1) on  the  Composition
     of the Committee, resulting in the  Committee  being  reduced  from
     forty to twenty seven members. The Committee was  reconstituted  on
     the 25 February 2003.


 2.     Register of Members' Interests 2002 (attached)


    All Members of Parliament have submitted disclosure forms in  2002.
     The Register  for  Members'  Interests  for  2002  was  tabled  and
     adopted by the Committee.


 3.     Matters handled by the Committee


    The Committee has considered five complaints in 2002. The Committee
     has since finalised four  complaints.  Reports  pertaining  to  Mrs
     Mandela and Mr Yengeni were tabled  in  the  National  Assembly.  A
     third complaint  was  dismissed.  The  fourth  complaint  is  being
     considered  in  terms  of  the  Committee's   Procedure   for   the
     Investigation of Complaints.


 4.     Developing standards of Ethical Conduct


    The National Assembly resolved on  26  May  2000,  that  the  Joint
     Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests "extend the  application
     of Executive Ethics Code to all Members of  Parliament,  with  such
     modifications as is appropriate, and that such code be  adopted  by
     the Joint Rules Committee of Parliament by the end  of  the  year".
     The Committee is considering a draft code of  ethical  conduct.  In
     its final report on the complaint against Mr Yengeni the  Committee
     reported to the National Assembly that it would revise  inter  alia
     the following aspects of the Code:


     (a)     Guidelines in the Code of Conduct in respect  of  discounts
          received by Members;
     (b)     Clarify rules on the acceptance of gifts  which  constitute
          a conflict of interests;
     (c)     In terms of the procedure developing  rules  to  deal  with
          non-cooperation by Members;
     (d)     Assessing the  capacity  and  powers  which  the  Committee
          requires to fulfill its mandate in terms of the Joint Rules;
     (e)     A review of the sub judice rule;
     (f)     The role and functions of the Registrar.


 5.      Advice   to   Members   concerning   the   implementation   and
     interpretation of the Code


    A booklet explaining the Code with Regard  to  Financial  Interests
     has been completed and distributed to all Members of Parliament.


 6.     Briefings on requirements of the Code
    The Committee will forward proposals to the Programme Committee for
     a series of workshops for Members on the Code of Conduct.


 Report was adopted unanimously by the Committee at its  meeting  on  27
 May 2003.