Parliament, Tuesday, 19 November 2024 – The Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services today expressed its dissatisfaction with the attitude of lack of accountability the Minister of Correctional Services, Dr Pieter Groenewald, displayed towards the committee.
Committee Chairperson Ms Kgomotso Anthea Ramolobeng said it was quite disturbing to hear the minister say it is not his annual report but rather that of his predecessor. “We are all aware of how government works. When an incumbent enters a position, he takes full responsibility for the work of the department. Obviously, the committee will be aware of when a particular minister took over and what could be put at his door,” emphasised Ms Ramolobeng.
Ms Ramolobeng elaborated to say that Minister Groenewald had indicated previously he was not ready to present the annual report, so the committee accommodated him and rescheduled the meeting. “The committee has a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight over the department. It is unacceptable that the committee is treated with such disdain.”
The committee was scheduled to receive an overview of the department’s 2023/24 Annual Report from the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA), a political overview of the 2023/24 annual report from the Minister of Correctional Services, a briefing from the department on the 2023/24 annual report and a briefing from the department on its audit action plan, including measures to address issues of exceptional litigation raised by the Auditor-General in previous reports.
The AGSA said the department achieved an unqualified audit opinion with findings. There was no material misstatements identified in the annual financial statements (AFS) and in the performance information reported in the annual performance report (APR) submitted for auditing. The department incurred material non-compliance on expenditure management, as steps were not taken timeously to prevent irregular expenditure.
According to the AG, the department is making efforts to address previous supply chain management (SCM) non-compliance issues, and this led to a reduction of irregular expenditure for 2023-24. However, irregular expenditure was not fully prevented. Consequence management was delayed but a service provider has been appointed to clear investigation backlogs related to irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Information technology (IT) projects are behind schedule, which delays their incorporation into the Integrated Justice System (IJS).
The committee heard that the root causes included the fact that the department did not timeously implement processes to ensure that contracts were awarded for goods and services above R1 000 000. The AGSA further went on to say that there is an insufficient number of investigators to deal with the large number of backlog cases of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The department did not implement adequate project management, governance and oversight to support the implementation of information systems and IT controls.
The AGSA recommended that management should finalise measures to address procurement of similar goods through competitive bidding processes as legislated to prevent irregular expenditure. There should be a concerted effort to ensure that the legal process surrounding the Integrated Inmate Management System (IIMS) project is finalised speedily.
The committee heard that the DCS incurred R641 million in unauthorised expenditure in the current year due to overspending of the compensation of employees’ budget due to the cost-of-living adjustments effected in April 2023, which the National Treasury did not allocate over the 2023 Medium-Term Economic Framework and the housing allowance adjustment effective July 2023, which is higher than the budgeted inflation. The Department of Correctional Services has a significant number of invoices that exceeded 30 days, if paid on time, these would have resulted in additional unauthorised expenditure.
The committee heard overcrowding levels escalated from 46% as of 31 March 2023 to 48% by 31 March 2024. The inmate population of 156 600 on 31 March 2024 was accommodated within the approved bed space capacity of 105 474 resulting in an excess of 51 126 inmates. Also, there has been a reduction of escapes from correctional facilities from 27 (in 2022/23) to 20 (in 2023/24).
The department said the causes and consequences of assault, physical violence and self-harm are often related to overcrowded centres, idleness of inmates, lack of support system and slow pace of criminal justice system amongst others. The number of confirmed unnatural deaths decreased from 54 (0.038%) reported during 2021/22 financial year to 48 (0.031%) during 2023/24.
The committee will continue to monitor the implementation of IIMS as well as other IJS projects. The increase in expenditure on consultants and contractors is high and the committee is concerned and hopes the department will ensure that this does not occur in the next financial year.
The committee is concerned about the lack of investigators to investigate fruitless and wasteful expenditure as well as irregular expenditure. The committee will schedule a meeting with the department to brief it on all investigations including those related to fruitless and wasteful expenditure as well as irregular expenditure.
The committee congratulated the department on receiving another unqualified audit status with some findings and urged it to work on drastically reducing those findings and ensure they receive a clean audit going forward.
The committee has also noted the increase in revenue collected by the department and believes this is a positive development as part of the Self-Sufficiency and Sustainability Model, especially in light of the continuous budget cuts the department has experienced.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MS KGOMOTSO ANTHEA RAMOLOBENG.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Rajaa Azzakani (Ms)
Cell: 081 703 9542
E-mail: razzakani@parliament.gov.za
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