Gaye Davis
AFRICAN National Congress MP Carl Niehaus has charged Correctional Services Minister Dr Sipo Mzimela with displaying “one-upmanship” rather than the leadership necessary to effect change in South Africa’s prisons.
In a letter to Mzimela this week, Niehaus said the “deepening crisis” in the Department of Correctional Services needed “strong, transparent and consultative leadership”. Yet recent events had left him with “the distinct impression [of] one-upmanship”.
Niehaus cited Mzimela’s announcement earlier this year that the department would be demilitarised, which came four days before the Transformation Forum on Correctional Services presented him with a document on the selfsame issue.
After Mzimela terminated the department’s participation in the forum, claiming it cost too much and was unproductive, the forum, which is funded by the Danish government, released a sheaf of documents on work it had done.
These included proposals for an independent prisons inspectorate — prompting “a hasty press statement by your office that a ‘prisons inspector’ will soon be appointed. One is left with the distinct impression that instead of leadership one is confronted by one- upmanship.”
While it was encouraging that proposals developed by the forum were being implemented, the way it is done raised “serious concerns”, Niehaus wrote.
He appealed to Mzimela to “find time” to meet a delegation from the forum. “Consultation is not a luxury in the new South Africa, it is a prerequisite for any effective ministry. The ministers who perform best are those who developed good relationships with parliamentary committees and civil society. We are not interested in challenging you — we want to work with you,” he said.
Copies of the letter were sent to Mandela, the Commissioner of Correctional Services, members of Niehaus’s portfolio committee and the forum.