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Mpho Mathabathe: Researcher Mpho Mathabathe: Researcher Portfolio Committee on Portfolio Committee on Correctional ServicesCorrectional Services

27 February 201327 February 2013

Research Analysis of SONA Research Analysis of SONA (2013)(2013)

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Introduction

• The State of the Nation Address (SONA) was delivered on the evening

of the 14th February 2013 at a Joint Sitting of both NA and NCOP.

• In his address, the President paid attention to five priorities – education,

health, fight against crime, creating decent work, as well as rural

development and land reform.

• Number of issues which cut across Departments and have relevance to

Department of Correctional Services can be identified and include:

Fight against corruption, and

Filling vacancies in the upper echelons of the Criminal Justice System

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Impact on Correctional Services

• The fight against corruption• President Zuma raised ‘the fight against corruption” as a priority of

government since 2009. This is an acknowledgement that corruption is a

problem in the country and government is taking corruption seriously.

• In the ANC January 8 Statement, President Zuma stated that “corruption is

the enemy of development. It diverts resources meant for the poor”.

• The President also urged the private sector to take the fight against

corruption seriously so that it can be tackled from all angles.

• DCS has taken a number of initiatives to fight corruption in the Department

and these include; establishment of Departmental

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Impact on Correctional Services

Investigation Unit and the implementation of the Fraud Prevention Plan

• The anti-fraud and corruption capacity of DCS has resulted in the

Department being rated as the third most efficient of 85 departments

audited by the Department of Public Services and Administration in

2009/10. This has resulted in 89.99% conviction rate of officials found

guilty of corruption and an amount of R2.5 million recovered from the

R4.5 million debts by 72 officials found guilty of defrauding the

department’s medical aid scheme.

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Impact on Correctional Services(fight against corruption Cont..)

• The graph above shows the number of corruption, fraud and bribery related cases

between 2009/10 and 2011/12

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Impact on Correctional Services(Fight against corruption Cont..)

• As mentioned previously, it is not enough to have reported cases, but it is

also significant to see how these cases have been finally disposed of.

• The JCPS Cluster Delivery Agreement of Outcome Three: “All people

in South Africa are and feel safe” states that, the anti-corruption

measures have not resulted in speedy prosecution and conviction of

corrupt persons involved in corruption and this leads to the perception

that there is a lack of will to deal with corruption.

• President Zuma on the other hand, mentioned that 107 officials working

in the criminal justice system were convicted in the past financial year.

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Impact on Correctional Services

• It is therefore important that DCS ensures that all corruption related

cases are not only handled internally, but they are also referred to

relevant authorities for further investigation and prosecution.

• The President stressed the importance of the National Development

Plan (NDP). The NDP: Vision 2030 talks about the fight against

corruption in Chapter 14. A number of areas for policy implementation are

highlighted and one of them is, “Building a resilient and independent anti-

corruption system that enjoys public and official support”.

• A number of specific actions are proposed under this policy priority:

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Impact on Correctional Services(fight against corruption Cont..)

Strengthening the multi-agency anti-corruption system

Strengthening the protection of whistle-blowers

Centralising the award of large tenders or tenders of long duration

Providing greater ‘teeth’ to the tender compliance monitoring office to

investigate both corruption and value for money aspect of tenders.

• Implications of the above recommendations for DCS

Strengthen the internal promotion of culture of whistle-blowing

Ensuring that all identified cases of corruption are forwarded to the relevant

external agencies for further investigations and prosecution

Tightening internal controls over procurement.

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LESSONS FROM THE PAST

• Filling of vacancies in the upper echelons of the Criminal Justice System

• The issue of vacancies have troubled the Department of Correctional

Services for quite some time at all levels.

• Overall vacancy rate of DCS decreased from 15.3% (2010/11) to 3.3%

(2011/12).

• At Senior Management Level, there was lack of stability since 2008 as a

result of resignations and suspensions of senior managers. In 2011/12, DCS

reported that there was improved stability within Executive and Senior

Management echelons in general. A number of vacant senior positions were

filled in 2011/12 which include:

Impact on Correctional ServicesFilling of vacancies in the upper echelons of the

Criminal Justice System

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Impact on Correctional Services(Filling of vacancies Cont..)

• Regional Commissioners: Eastern Cape, Free State/Northern Cape,

Gauteng, Limpopo/Mpumalanga/North West

• Deputy Regional Commissioners: Eastern Cape and Gauteng

• Chief Deputy Commissioners: Corporate Service and GITO

• Area Commissioners: Pretoria, Durban-

Westville,Johannesburg,Pollsmoor

• Deputy Commissioners: Human Resources Management, Employee

Relations, Communications, Internal Control and Compliance

• Chief Audit Executive

• Chief Executive Officer, Office of the Inspecting Judge.

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Impact on Correctional Services(Filling of vacancies Cont..)

• At the end of 2011/12, vacancy rate within senior management level

stood at 19.2% with 208 posts, of which 168 were filled. In addition, the

Chief Financial Officer of DCS, Mr Siphiwe Sokhela terminated his

services with the Department with effect from 30 November 2012.

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Impact on Correctional Services(Filling of Vacancies)

Males Females

Occupational band

African Coloured Indian white A C I W Total

Top man 9 0 0 1 4 0 1 1 16

Sen Man 71 18 5 11 39 5 1 2 152

Cont top Man

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Cont Sen Man

6 0 0 2 3 0 1 2 14

Impact on Correctional Services(Filling of vacancies Cont..)

• The table shows the total of full-time and contract DCS employees in

top management and senior management.

• For 2011/12, there were 16 permanent employees in top management

structure of DCS and only one person on contract at the same level.

For senior management, there were 152 permanent employees and 14

contract employees in the same level.

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Issues for considerations by the Portfolio Committee

• The following issues can be considered:

• The Committee should look at the capacity of Departmental

Investigation Unit of DCS and its structure and whether all members of

the unit are vetted or not.

• The Committee should ask DCS to report on measures in place to

increase a culture of whistle-blowing within the Department and ensure

additional protection for whistle-blowers.

• The Committee should monitor progress on all reported cases of

corruption in the Department.

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Issues for consideration by the Portfolio Committee

• The Committee should request DCS to provide the Committee with outcomes of

the finalisation of all reported cases of corruption for 2009/10, 2010/11 and

2011/12. The Committee should enquire whether there were any criminal cases

registered with the South African Police Service involving corruption.

• The Committee could request DCS to provide the Committee with the Fraud

Prevention Plan of DCS.

• The Committee should ask DCS about the positions of all contract workers at

top management as well as senior management and how long are those

contracts.

• The Committee should probe measures in place to retain top and senior

management .

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End, Thank you

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