Pretoria – Correctional officials must be at the forefront of prison reform in the continent, says Correctional Service Minister and MCF Chairperson, Sibusiso Ndebele.
Addressing the African Correctional Services (ACSA) Ministerial Consultative Forum (MCF) Gala Dinner at the weekend, Minister Ndebele said the most important ingredient for the success of correctional services is the correctional official.
Minister Ndebele said the Department of Correctional Services in South Africa declared 2013 ‘The Year of the Correctional Official’ and they look forward to the day when as the continent, under ACSA, they will declare ‘A Decade of the Correctional Official’.
He highlighted that correctional centres may be described as the physical or hardware infrastructure and correctional officials as the software or the heart of the system of corrections.
“When society breaks down, correctional officials pick up the pieces and deal with the entirety of the human experience. When parents, extended family, Sunday school teacher, public school educator, ward councillor, the trade union representative, university professor and everyone else has failed, correctional officials step in to remould the character and improve the skills of offenders so that they return to society with enhanced prospects of success.”
He also condemned corrupt correctional officials, adding that it undermines rehabilitation and risks the lives of both inmates and offenders.
“The correctional official is the single most important person who mediates between an offender and society and is expected to be a good role model for others in her or his presence,” Minister Ndebele said.
He said creating a sustained human rights culture at all correctional centres in the continent will be a reaffirmation of Africa’s indestructible and resilient, humanity.
“It is an expression of the renaissance of the soul, and persona of Africa. This rekindling allows us to rightly claim our heritage of dignity, hope, forgiveness and reconciliation. However, our correctional officials must be at the forefront of this rebirth,” Minister Ndebele said. – SAnews.gov.za
