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Prisons Dept spends R4.5m on parties

THE Department of Correctional Services has spent R4.5-million on parties for officials and inmates during the 2011-2012 financial year.

This despite it acknowledging that more than 4,000 cases of criminality, corruption and negligence had been levelled against its employees during the same period.

In a written reply to parliamentary questions submitted by DA MP James Selfe earlier this month, Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele said R3.7-million had been spent on the National Corrections Excellence Awards in East London.

Alongside gifts, prize money amounting to just under R30,000, sponsored by Capitec Bank, was handed over to the winning staff members.

In another reply, Ndebele said over R900,000 had been spent on 54 events held across the country in August, Women's Month, this year. "Both as inmates and offenders, women constitute a special category of our population. The unique needs of female inmates must be catered for. Female officials must also have equal opportunity in this historically male dominated environment."

Responding to the revelations, Selfe said the money could be better spent on its core mandate. "The department ... appears to be more concerned with celebration than rehabilitation," Selfe said "Although we do not disagree that excellent performance should be acknowledged and that Women's Month should be celebrated, the department should be ensuring that its core mandate receives priority."

In the 2011-2012 annual report, the department achieved 53% of its targets and received a qualified opinion from the Auditor-General.

According to the annual report, 4,171 cases of misconduct by officials had been reported, 421 of them considered serious. Of these, 183 employees had been fired. The remaining cases were still in the process of being resolved.

Correctional Services spokesman Logan Maistry has justified the money spent. He said funds for the Women's Day events equated to only 0.026% of the department's budget and had been approved through legislation.

With regard to the awards, he said these were issued annually to recognise the contributions and performance of its officials.

"We have moved away from the legacy of the past of serving solely as an instrument of retribution, to actively pursuing lasting solutions to the societal challenge that is crime by showing those in conflict with the law that there are alternatives to a life of criminality and self-destruction," Maistry said.

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