MPs take aim at Masutha over prisons

CAPE TOWN — Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha assured Parliament yesterday that the Department of Correctional Services had turned the corner, but the opposition was not buying it, charging that the department was riddled with corruption that went unpunished.

The department has been a serial offender in financial management and corruption, with numerous negative audit reports and allegations of corruption. Recently, a tender for an electronic inmate monitoring system was referred to the Special Investigating Unit after the department accepted a R370m tender for the system that should have cost R50m.

The department has also been accused of concentrating on incarceration and not spending enough on rehabilitation and social reintegration.

Introducing the debate on his budget vote, Mr Masutha said the department had committed itself to the provision of humane custody and rehabilitating offenders, “hence, the impact of correctional and rehabilitation programmes remains the epitome of this department”.

“In the implementation of 11 correctional programmes, we have trained over 380 correctional intervention officials, which has resulted in 69,000 offenders serving more than two years, completing the intervention programmes.” He said the department had attracted negative publicity for security breaches.

“We have conducted a number of raids, cleaning our facilities of contraband items, yet more is still needed. It is for this reason that we are now installing cellphone detection technology. In addition, the Department of Health has granted us a licence to instal body cavity scanners. Installation has started in Johannesburg, St Albans, Pollsmoor and Kgosi Mampuru II.” Democratic Alliance MP James Selfe said while the legal framework regulating the department had changed since 1994, “sadly there has been no change of heart”. Corruption continued to flourish in the department with its cultures of secrecy and impunity, he said.

He also charged that no criminal charges had been brought against senior officials found in a Special Investigating Unit investigation seven years ago to have manipulated tenders so that they could only be won by a single company.

Mr Selfe said the department followed President Jacob Zuma’s lead by not ensuring accountability on corruption, a view echoed by Economic Freedom Fighters MP Sibongile Khawula, who said her party rejected the department’s budget because of Mr Zuma’s corrupt example.

We have conducted raids, cleaning our facilities of contraband