Cape Town - The Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services is seeking ways to strengthen the Parole Board through the Correctional Matters Amendment Bill which is about to be completed.
Currently, the parole board's decision is final and those who are not happy with its decision can either approach the Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Review Board or the inspecting judge for reviews.
Once approved, the Bill will strengthen the parole board and put in place ways to ensure that authorities responsible for reviews do their job adequately.
During a Portfolio Committee meeting with correctional services officials earlier today, committee chair Vincent Smith suggested the involvement of civil society in the review board as a way of strengthening it.
"We want a credible system. If the vehicles that are currently in place are not working optimally, we can make them work optimally," Smith said.
In response to the suggestion, advisor to Mapisa-Nqakula, Dr Lirette Louw said that such a proposal would create several problems for the department.
She said it would be "a whole difficult system" to implement as it would allow anyone to challenge a parole board decision.
Louw said that members of the public already formed part of the parole board and victims were always invited to add their voice during parole hearings.
She further said that if an inmate was not happy with a parole decision, they could always approach the inspecting judge for a review of the decision.
ANC MP Salam Abraham said he had come across people who complained that they had written "a letter to the minister or DG but they don't get a response for two years."
DA shadow minister for correctional service, Lennit Max, said that it remained expensive for poor inmates to approach the courts for parole reviews.
The meeting agreed that the review system needed to be strengthened and the public needed to be educated on what parole meant.
The committee is set to conclude its discussions next week before the Bill goes to the National Assembly.
