CAPE TOWN - Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said on Tuesday the Correctional Services Department was working on a plan to take over minor repairs from the Ministry of Public Works and Infrastructure.
Lamola said the plan was for offender labour to respond to minor maintenance at courts like the installation of ramps for people living with disabilities, cleaning and minor renovations.
“We will continue engaging our counterparts and pilot several projects to find innovative ways to deliver infrastructure,” he said.
Lamola announced this when delivering his political overview of the ministry’s annual performance plans before the justice and correctional services portfolio committee.
“We are fully aware that our work in correctional services will ring hollow if we do not instil a culture of consequence management in correctional services,” he said.
DA MP Werner Horn said they welcomed the take over of minor repairs from the Public Works and Infrastructure department.
“It is quite clear that the under-performance of the Department of Public works, which is historic under-performance and, in our view, accelerated in the last two years, is a looming danger for all departments, in particular justice and court infrastructure,” Horn said.
He also said engaging the Public works and Infrastructure Department around minor maintenance and use of sentenced inmates was not good enough.
“We would want to hear if he has plans to engage on a more formal basis on the absolute failure of the Public Works and Infrastructure Department over the last two to three years to embark on meaningful dire need for wholesale infrastructure maintenance at our court buildings and what his understanding faced by courts throughout the country,” Horn said.
Lamola said they have been meeting with his counterpart Patricia de Lille’s ministry, and the scheduled meeting did not sit last week.
He said they would have a meeting to receive feedback to firm up the devolution of some responsibilities and powers from the Department of Public works and Infrastructure.
“The departments are struggling to find each other. Devolution of powers must come with a budget. We are hopeful in the next meeting, we must find a solution,” Lamola said.
Doc Mashabane, director-general for Justice and Constitutional Development Department, said they were making progress on taking a financial delegation from Public works and Infrastructure, which allowed them to fix maintenance incidents of up to R100 000.
“In principle, it is agreed that the amount to be increased to R1 million per incident. It is just a few requirements to be finalised.”
Mashabane also said they were finalising having technical capacity and skills.
“We have a decision to look at possibly getting entities with capacity to assist and address infrastructure backlogs in terms of renovations and general repairs,” he said.
Makgothi Thobakgale, acting national commissioner, said they have developed and tested the model to use prisoners to repair and maintain infrastructure.
“We continue to roll it out to 42 correctional centres,” he said.
Cape Times