his sleeve?
The Most Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane writes that Sipo Mzimela’s actions reflect a cavalier attitude to democratic government
It is common cause that South Africa has some of the most overcrowded prisons in the world. It is also common cause that this country earned a name for itself, pre-1994, as having a prison system which regularly raised the eyebrows of organisations such as Amnesty International.
Those of us who experienced such prisons know that the conditions were harsh and inhumane. Such was the treatment of prisoners that, on a pilgrimage to Robben Island in March this year, the president of the Land Claims Court, Judge Fikele Bam, could not help but show his emotion on his third visit back to the island since his release.
The words he used on that occasion struck a chord among those who had been incarcerated: ”The lion’s lair is always dangerous – even when the lion is not there.”
During that pilgrimage I called for prison reform, appealing for the authorities in our land to ensure that those who are incarcerated are employed productively and in a way that can improve the quality of life in society.
As archbishop, I made that call against the background of an experience on Robben Island in which I had, as a prisoner, stood with two medical doctors awaiting medical attention, ironically from someone with not even a basic qualification in first aid.
Little did I know at the time that lions with different temperaments were lying in wait. For that is what Minister of Correctional Services Sipo Mzimela and some of his senior officials are proving to be.
The minister’s actions and statements this year are fast earning him the reputation of having a cavalier attitude towards our Constitution, and to the government’s policy of accountability and transparency.
There was the statement by his national commissioner, Khulekani Sitole, that prisoners were worse than animals – a statement which the minister refused to repudiate.
Then there was the proposal to develop mine-shafts into maximum security prisons. Not to be outdone by the public outcry that followed that particular idea, the minister then put his plan for Pretoria’s high- security CMax prison into operation.
Now we are told that not even executive members of his department knew of the establishment of the CMax prison!
So the litany of the minister’s woeful service grows. Significantly, he says: ”The reason why we could not develop the mine- shaft prison idea was that we said it first.” And, obviously, with the storm that erupted after that in the back of his mind, he adds ominously: ”We learned from that.”
There are several frightening illustrations of the minister’s clandestine solutions to the problems of prison overcrowding, the high escape rate, violence in the prisons, and other social pathologies. The first is what now appears to be a deliberate decision by the minister and some of his officials not to consult all the stakeholders involved.
When the minister and the national commissioner made their initial announcements about using mine-shafts as prisons, an undertaking was given that all stakeholders would be consulted before further decisions were taken on the development of maximum-security prisons.
This assurance was given eight months ago. In spite of it, by Mzimela’s own admission – ”act first and apologise later” – no stakeholders were consulted.
Certainly not the church which, as the organisation that supplies spiritual services to prisoners, is a major stakeholder.
But, as is clear from the Mail & Guardian’s article, Mzimela and his commissioner don’t even trust highly placed executives in the Department of Correctional Services, with only a group of about 20 people out of 30 000 staff members being in the know up until seven days before the CMax plan was implemented.
Exit transparency; enter government opaqueness.
Second, Mzimela seems to regard himself and his department above public scrutiny. True, he had to appear before a parliamentary portfolio affairs committee; but that is a constitutional requirement. One has to wonder: what other surprises the minister has up his sleeve for South Africa’s unsuspecting public?
Thirdly, I am concerned that the secretiveness of the minister and his bureaucrats had to be flushed out by the media. While one is grateful for this and applauds the M&G for doing so, one is constrained to ask what opposition parties, particularly those who are not part of the Government of National Unity, are doing in the face of this blatant disregard for the public’s right to know.
Many fought long and hard for the right of freedom of speech and of knowledge. We expect those now in public office to advance that cause. We do not expect a Cabinet minister to fritter away these rights.
During the pilgrimage to Robben Island, many remarked on the need to ensure that South Africa never again return to the kragdadige (heavy-handed) days when no one knew what happened behind closed doors.
When I learn of Mzimela’s actions and words, my abiding fear is that we have replaced one cold-blooded prison system with an equally callous correctional- services operation.
Earlier this year I called for the dismissal of this minister and his commissioner. I have since tempered my remarks in the face of assurances that he was trying to deal constructively with the mammoth challenges facing him.
The most recent revelations, however, lead me to suspect that I was unwise to have done so. The minister and his confidants within the prison bureaucracy have no place in a democratic government to which the world looks for a lead.
— Njongonkulu Ndungane is the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town