As part of our commitment to rehabilitation of offenders, the ...

parole, and on the facilitation of their social reintegration into their communities.
Programme 7: Facilities
Purpose: Ensure that physical infrastructure supports safe custody, humane conditions, and the provision of corrective
services, care and development, and general administration.
2.2 Overview of the service delivery
environment for 2007/08
In 2007, National Treasury issued a new framework for
improving service delivery that was geared towards the
Government Wide Monitoring and Evaluation system.
This framework, being essentially results based, necessitated
the review of DCS performance information. DCS
was identified by National Treasury as one of the departments
to pilot the Framework for Programme Performance
Information. This work was integrated into the DCS
Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Project. During
2007/ 08, the Department spent a considerable amount
of energy in redefining performance indicators and this
process will continue into 2008/09. The finalization of this
process will ensure that DCS has developed indicators
that are measurable, achievable and time-bound and,
more importantly, that the impact of the work that the
department does can be measured.
A number of factors have a direct impact on DCS’s
operations and have a bearing on how the Department
delivers services. Increase in crime trends, particularly
increases in cash-in-transit heists, ATM bombings and
more recently the rise in xenophobic attacks has direct
impact on DCS. The attempted escapes at Pretoria
Management Area and the escapes in KwaZulu-Natal
for example, are indications that the DCS as a security
institution needs to keep abreast of developments outside
correctional centers and to develop strategies that
respond to these challenges. An obvious implication is
the tightening of security but this should not be misconstrued
to mean a reduction of rehabilitation efforts. The
DCS has started the process of reclassifying facilities
to ensure that offenders that deserve to benefit from
rehabilitation programmes are not compromised and that
rehabilitation takes place in a safe and secure environment.
There has been a notable increase of child offenders
in DCS facilities, especially between 1999 and 2004
but since then there has been a decrease of children in
correctional facilities. The concern of the Department
is that some of the children are incarcerated for serious
violent crimes and cannot therefore be accommodated
in secure care facilities as they are of high risk and that
the Department of Social Development does not have
appropriately trained staff to handle this category of child
offenders. This means that the DCS has to provide appropriate
resources to ensure security and rehabilitation
for this category of detainees. The challenge for DCS
is that international law indisputably states that children
shall not be imprisoned. However, South Africa is in a
unique situation because of the social pressures and
upheavals in its recent history and children have largely
been placed at risk.
The continuing vacancy rate plays a critical role in the
ability of the DCS to deliver. During 2007/08, the vacancy
rate stood at 11.3%. There has been a marked decrease
in the total number of psychologists in DCS compared to
the 2006/07 Annual Report. The Department employed
33 psychologists in total, 21 of whom are permanent departmental
psychologists and 12 are psychologists doing
compulsory community service. During 2007/08, 12 of
the permanent departmental psychologists resigned with
the result that the target set for delivery on psychological
services was not met. The launch of the Integrated Human
Resource Strategy and implementation of occupation
specific dispensations (OSDs) will make a marked
difference in the vacancy rate. The challenge however
lies in ensuring appropriate working conditions for
professionals, placing of personnel in places where they
can function optimally and considerations of flexi-time for
professional categories of personnel, especially those in
the medical profession.
2.3 Strategic Overview and Key Policy
Developments for the 2007/08 Financial
Year
Key policy developments
During the year under review, the Department approved
nine policies bringing the total number of policies approved
since the adoption of the White Paper in 2005
to 62. This represents a significant progress in policy
development, with 80 percent of policies aligned to
the White Paper. In 2007/08, the Department placed a
significant focus on policy implementation and monitoring
and evaluation. A total of 413 officials were trained in
policy processes to ensure capacitation of personnel in
implementing policies. In 2007/08, the Correctional Services
Amendment Bill was placed before Parliament. The
alignment of the Act to the White Paper is an important
milestone and the process will be finalised in 2008/09.
Monitoring the Correctional Services Act
The Department of Correctional Services, in partnership
with the Open Society Foundation of South Africa
(OSF-SA), is undertaking a three-year research project
to develop a tool to monitor the implementation of the
Correctional Services Act. The main aim of this study is
DCS Annual Report 2007/08 13