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The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is going all out to ensure that inmates leave correctional centres with better skills, and prospects, which will result in a second chance towards becoming ideal citizens.

Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele today (25 March 2014) officially opened South Africa’s 12th full-time correctional centre school at the Qalakabusha Correctional Centre in Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal. DCS has increased the number of full-time correctional centre schools from one in 2009 to twelve in 2013. This year, three additional schools are scheduled for accreditation including Rustenburg, Boksburg and Ekuseni Youth Centres. From 2010 to 2013, 73,881 inmates participated in education programmes.

Addressing the official opening of the Qalakabusha Correctional Centre School today (Tuesday, 25 March 2014), Minister Ndebele said: “Correctional Services has come a long way since the prison service inherited from the apartheid regime in 1994. The transformation programme of our democratic government necessitated that prisons shift from institutions of humiliation to institutions of new beginnings. From 1994 to 2014, DCS achieved a 99.97% success rate in secure custody of inmates. From 2004, the inmate population has been reduced by 31,000 resulting in a saving of more than R1.4 billion to the fiscus.

“You will recall that the Bantu Education Act (Act No. 47 of 1953), later renamed the Black Education Act of 1953, was a segregation law which legalised several aspects of the apartheid system. Its major provision was enforcing racially separated educational facilities. The Minister of Native Affairs at the time, Hendrik Verwoerd, stated that: ‘There is no place for [the Bantu] in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour ... What is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice?’

As we commemorate Human Rights Month, let us remind South Africans about the sacrifices that accompanied the struggle for the attainment of democracy in our country. Given the manner in which we were able to pull our country back from the brink of disaster, South Africa is an inspiration to peoples elsewhere in the world who are seeking the resolution of serious conflicts. We are proud of this remarkable achievement. As we celebrate 20 years of freedom and democracy, we commit ourselves to ensuring that young people in South Africa would live a better life than we did during our time - during the era of apartheid colonialism where education was used as an instrument of subjugation.

“As at March 2013, nearly a quarter (24.99%) of the sentenced offender population was youth. A number of inmates who, while not under 25, are still in the prime of their life. Children, as young as 17 years of age, have committed serious crimes. The average inmate is a young substance abuser who, has dropped out of school before high school, is functionally illiterate and, more often than not, homeless. Research shows that, at least, 95% of those incarcerated will return to society after serving their sentence.

Thus, a focus on rehabilitation, and re-orientation, of offenders is critical. When parents, the extended family, the Sunday school teacher, the school educator, the university professor and everyone else has failed, DCS steps in to remould the character, and improve the skills, of offenders so that they return to society with enhanced prospects of success. We are turning our correctional centres into centres of learning. We are making sure that offenders read, study and work. We are impacting the hearts, heads and hands of offenders so that, upon release, they are in possession of, at least, a certificate in one hand and a skill in the other.

“During 2012, R66,424 million was allocated for equipping offenders with scarce skills including welding, plumbing, bricklaying, plastering, electrical, carpentry and agricultural skills programmes. A further 416 youth offenders graduated with their International Computer Driver Licence (ICDL) certificates. Last year, we announced that, as from 1st April 2013, it is compulsory for every inmate, without a qualification equivalent to Grade 9, to complete Adult Education and Training (AET) level 1 to 4.

Between April and September 2013, 11,649 inmates registered for AET programmes. From 2012 to 2013, 559 inmates wrote Grade 9 to 11 examinations with an average pass rate of 73% in 2013. The number of inmates who wrote Grade 12 examinations doubled, and those who gained university admission also increased. In the 2013 Grade 12 examinations, inmates achieved 60 subject distinctions. Offender Trynos Mohlanga achieved 100% in Business Studies and Offender Celumusa Mhlongo achieved 90% in History. Umlatati Learning Centre, at Barberton Youth Centre in Mpumalanga, achieved a 100% pass rate despite the fact that Grade 12 offenders were only enrolled at this centre during the beginning of 2013.During the 2013 academic year, 3,889 offenders studied towards further education and training (FET) college programmes (including electrical engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering and marketing).

By the end of December 2013, 2,749 offenders were trained on various vocational and basic occupational skills development programmes (including meat cutting, welding, motor mechanics, upholstery, basic business skills training and entrepreneurship). This year, as at February 2014, 917 offenders were registered for post-matric/higher education and training qualifications and 732 offenders were participating in Computer Based Training.

“Today, in partnership with the Department of Basic Education, as we officially open the Qalakabusha Correctional Centre School, we are proud to announce that this school comprises of 10 classrooms, nine offices, one library, one computer training centre, one staff room and three store rooms. Twenty full-time Educators are employed at this school. For the 2014 academic year, 466 inmates are registered at the school. This includes 357 offenders participating in Adult Education and Training, 20 in Further Education and Training (Mainstream) and 89 in Further Education and Training (College).

With regards to the library, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has made available a qualified full-time librarian. The Qalakabusha Library received a donation of 3,820 books from Van Schaik Publishers and Booksellers, Pearson Publishers and Booksellers, Oxford Publishers and Booksellers, Vivlia Publishers and Booksellers and well as the Department of Basic Education. Offenders from the DCS Production Workshop in Pietermaritzburg are currently manufacturing school desks, and other furniture items, for the school.

“As per the National Framework on Offender Labour, DCS is increasing the number of offenders who participate in offender labour, and skills development, programmes. On 12th February 2013, we signed a MoA with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to use offender labour to build schools and supply furniture.

The obligations of DCS include:

    Manufacture and delivery of school furniture;
    Rehabilitation of school furniture;
    Construction of school infrastructure;
    Maintenance, and refurbishment, of schools; and
    Establishment of school gardens.

“Last year, we handed over hundreds of refurbished desks, as well as computers donated by business, to numerous schools. Offenders across the country are giving back to communities, and demonstrating remorse for crimes committed. Offenders, and officials, have built, and renovated, several houses, and schools, in disadvantaged communities including tiling, re-roofing, installing built-in cupboards, painting and plastering, cutting the grass and trees, clearing bushes and cleaning yards.

“As DCS, we will continue to deliver justice for victims and ensure that offenders make restitution both to society for their crimes and leave correctional centres with better skills, and prospects, which will result in a second chance towards becoming ideal citizens. However, we want to challenge our citizens to reflect on their role in promoting rehabilitation. There is no single government institution that will win the battle against crime, without society playing its part. We are grateful to our many partners, including the Department of Basic Education, for working closely with DCS. Corrections remains a societal responsibility. Play your part,” Minister Ndebele said.