Minister of Correctional Services Pieter Groenewald
SCORE: C
In 2025, Groenewald stepped down from his leadership role in the Freedom Front Plus to focus on his ministerial duties. In June, parliament’s portfolio committee on correctional services warned of a projected R1.4 billion overspend for the department for the 2024/25 fiscal year.
It flagged food costs, a high number of inmates, rising utility tariffs and underfunded capital budgets (infrastructure, maintenance, IT upgrades) as key contributors. Groenewald has made efforts to reduce costs in the department. In July, the department said it was working to reduce its reliance on consultants and reported that consultant-related spending dropped to R29.2 million in the 2025-26 financial year, down from R119.3 million the previous year.
In August, Groenewald rolled out new prison bakery operations across multiple centres — a cost-saving and inmate-rehabilitation initiative, which aims to further reduce reliance on external suppliers. The department says the initiative saved R13 million for the April–May period and estimated R27 million of savings over the 2024/25 fiscal year due to not buying bread from external suppliers.
However, in October, the Auditor General of South Africa revealed shortcomings in parole and rehabilitation practices within the department.
Other challenges include overcrowding in correctional facilities, rampant contraband and weak internal security as well as staffing and vacancy problems which have risen from 12.5% to 13.5%. This is at 30% at senior management level.
The department’s internal management system also remains unreliable — undermining its ability to track inmates properly, manage digital infrastructure, or integrate with justice-system databases.