The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services has commended the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ and CD) as well as the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) on progress made on improved achievement of targets, but encouraged them to work even harder to ensure better outcomes.
The committee heard from both departments over the past few days and noted sizeable improvements in their attainment of targets for 2022/23. The committee noted that although both departments received unqualified audits, not all targets were achieved. ‘We had a bag of mixed results. We however noted that both departments have improved on the previous years,’ said Committee Chairperson Mr Bulelani Magwanishe.
This week the committee also heard from entities such as the Legal Aid South Africa, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services. ‘All these bodies have increased performances and we must welcome that.’
Mr Magwanishe said the commi
ttee raised concerns regarding what it perceived to be an ‘exodus’ of officials from the DOJ and CD. The committee heard that around 640 employees of the DOJ and CD resigned during the 2022/2023 financial year. In the previous financial year, 486 employees left the department. He went on to say that despite several challenges, the performance of the department improved in the 2022/2023 financial year. Challenges included limited to budgets, poor ICT infrastructure, professional skills required and shortage of staff. The committee heard that senior managers only left the department in exceptional circumstances when people get promotions to other departments. Some employees resign for ‘greener pastures’, while others resign to access their pensions and then come back to the department later.
The committee heard that the NPA achieved 75% of all overall targets. This improvement was attributed to the strategic priorities that resulted in impactful prosecutions instituted and asset recoveries obtained, including
state capture and corruption matters. The Independent Directorate has declared 99 investigations and enrolled 34 cases involving 205 accused people, while the Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit and Directors of Public Prosecutions in the regions have enrolled 78 cases (involving 363 accused) from the Anti-Corruption Task Team’s priority case list. The Asset Forfeiture Unit and partners have secured freezing or preservation orders to the value of R14bn and recoveries to the value of R5.4bn, inclusive of the ABB landmark case.
In terms of overcrowding, the DCS continued to implement the Overcrowding Reduction Strategy to mitigate against rising levels of overcrowding, which affect operations in a multitude of ways. The committee noted that the DCS is not winning this battle. Retiring and resignations have also raised concerns, as it leads to vacancy rates.
JICS informed the committee that it is extremely concerned about the number of remand detainee inmates, which is at its highest level ever – 50 237 males a
nd 1 834 females. JICS further raised concerns regarding the increase in the number of inmates serving life sentences. During the current financial year that number has increased by 1 268 and now stands at 18 641. This contributes to the already overcrowded correctional facilities.
Other concerns raised by JICS are the consequences of overcrowding, dysfunctional parole boards, long periods of pre-trial detention and unaffordable bail – 55 870 remandees, 4 594 cannot afford bail of less than R1 000 and state patients detained for extended periods in correctional centres. JICS is also concerned about the extended solitary confinement at super-maximum prisons, continued dysfunction in E-corrections system, JICS’s under-funding and under-capacitation, grim reports of assault and excessive violence by Emergency Support Team members and discrimination and exclusion reported by LGBTQ+ inmates.
Regarding the Information Regulator (IR), the committee heard that despite having limited resources, its performance conti
nues on an upward trajectory in this financial year. The IRs performance improved from 62% in the 2020/21 financial year and 68% in the 2021/22 financial year and rocketed to 91% in the year under review. Out of the 34 performance targets planned at the commencement of the period under review, 31 of those targets were achieved. Although the information officer of every public body in South Africa must submit a Promotion of Access to Information Act Section 32 report to the IR annually and that it compulsory, only 25% of all such bodies complied. Committee Member Werner Horn raised that as a concern and wanted to know what the committee can do to assist to ensure compliance.
Mr Magwanishe said the committee noted all the achievements, but also the work that is left to be done. ‘As this is the current Parliament’s last interaction about annual reports with these entities, we will encourage the next Parliament and committee to keep monitoring, especially the areas of concern.’
Source: Parliament of South Afric
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