Minister of Correctional Services Pieter Groenewald. (Photo by Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
SCORE: C+
There has been a case of new ooms sweeping clean in the prisons department, where new minister Pieter Groenewald has made significant progress. Groenewald has identified five priorities in reforming the parole system; maintenance of 243 prisons; easing overcrowding (prisons are on average 46% over capacity); food production in all prisons and improving rehabilitation programmes. By October, nearly 300 of 459 outstanding parole applications by lifers had been cleared and 2 800 new bed spaces for prisoners added, but Groenewald told parliament he needed R38 billion to create facilities to hold another 50 000 prisoners. Raids to deal with smuggling over the past 12 months have netted 1 000kg of drugs, 41 000 cellphones, 11 000 weapons and R200 000 in cash, with their frequency and intensity increasing under his tenure.