Pieter Groenewald, Minister of Correctional Services. (Photo: DKD/X)
If the Department of Correctional Services (DKD) had a functional electronic monitoring system in place, it would not be looking for more than 29,000 missing parolees today.
“The minister is not to blame. But this administration is responsible for correcting this with a credible outcome-based plan,” DA MP Janho Engelbrecht said in parliament this week about the parolees.
Parliament’s portfolio committee on correctional services met this week specifically to discuss this issue.
“The main reason for this meeting is the missing parolees and we have to admit that if we had a functional electronic monitoring system in place, these figures would not look nearly like this,” said Engelbrecht.
Engelbrecht wanted to know during the meeting why 15,000 archived deserters are still gone if the department has active tracking capabilities.
“My guess is that some have since died and we don’t know about them. Some may have been locked up again under other identities and we don’t know about them either. There’s no way for us to find out.
“But we have to keep track of these figures properly,” said Engelbrecht. “It’s out there and as long as it’s out there, the media is going to party.”
The issue of missing parolees has recently been put under the spotlight, after the center for investigative journalism, AmaBhungane, revealed that more than 28,000 offenders have disappeared since 1991 after being released on parole.
The figure now appears to be more than 29,000.
“We are not here to discuss everything that appeared in the newspapers,” said Dr. Pieter Groenewald, Minister of Correctional Services, told the committee.
Pieter Groenewald, Minister of Correctional Services. (Photo: DKD/X)
He was also clear that he was not brought before the committee to give an explanation about the missing parolees.
“Unfortunately, there were many comments in the media about the deserters. The fact of the matter is that deserters are not something new when it comes to parliament.”
Groenewald says the impression that no attention is paid to parolees “and everything concerning parolees” is simply factually incorrect.
Groenewald pointed out to the committee that on two occasions in 2022 specific questions regarding this subject were asked in parliament. Parliamentary questions were also asked about it in March 2023, more than a year before he was named minister of correctional services.
Several presentations have also been made to parliament regarding parolees.
“It is important that the people of South Africa understand that as far as the portfolio committee is concerned, parolees are an important topic,” said Groenewald.
“This is an important matter, not only for the department of correctional services, but also for the portfolio committee of correctional services. We do not deny that we have challenges regarding parolees.
“However, the time frames are important,” says Groenewald, since the problem already arose before his time as minister.
Question numbers
According to the AmaBhungane report, more than half of those who cannot be traced (15,860) are “archived deserters”, ie prisoners who were released on parole between 1991 and 2004 and whom the state has been unable to trace for decades.
According to AmaBhungane’s discussion with DCD sources, these sources claim that the department’s internal statistics regarding reoffending for parolees stands at around 70%.
Groenewald questions this figure.
He told the committee that he was going to write a letter to AmaBhungane about the repeat offense rate. “Not to say you were wrong or anything. I’m really interested in how they did the calculation because I have a different calculation.”
According to the minister’s calculation, this rate has stood at between 10% and 13% for the past five years.
‘Original Sins’
“I call it the original sins,” Groenewald said about the situation that has been going on since 1991.
This does not mean that the missing parolees are not his problem, he said.
“But I believe in fairness. I think it is completely unacceptable that I read that this happened under my watch. It is not true. These are original sins. The question is: What are we going to do about it?
“I don’t think the media always know what we are doing to improve the systems. But I can assure you that we will naturally deal with the problem.”
Groenewald believes that the government’s so-called integrated legal system must start working now. “It will be a big step forward.”
Groenewald reminded the committee that the system has been in place since 2008 and has cost the taxpayer billions of rands so far. However, this system as a whole is still not functional and operational.
Archive photo. (Photo: DKD/X)
The integrated justice system aims to integrate various departments, such as the Department of Correctional Services, the Police, the Department of Justice, the Department of Home Affairs and all the subdivisions of those departments’ systems.
If the system works, the DCD will immediately observe if an offender on parole is re-arrested.
Groenewald believes that electronic monitoring bracelets can also be a solution. “I think I said that in my first budget speech. Unfortunately, there is a process of litigation that needs to unfold, but there is progress.”
And if Groenewald gets his way, any offender released on parole would pay for his or her electronic tape due to the department’s current financial constraints.
“But I respect human rights.
“Chairman, we are not here to litigate the past or to blame all the untraceable parolees. And while I recognize that 15,000 of these cases are historically archived cases, the public remains vulnerable as long as any high-risk offender remains unmonitored,” Engelbrecht said in turn.
He says the DCD simply needs to start using electronic monitoring as soon as possible.
“No parole system can work without electronic monitoring. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are a lot of these things available and they’re not even expensive. We have to have a plan to get this thing off the ground as soon as possible.”
Engelbrecht believes that this will relieve much of the pressure on the DCD.
“We are now chasing people we can’t find, instead of locking people up. We also need to concentrate on those who are currently in prison and how those people are going to be rehabilitated.
“Victims cannot live in fear of repeat offenders because the system has lost touch with attackers. And that is the situation right now.”