The Department of Correctional Services still cannot say how many court cases it lost by default because nobody appeared to defend them.
The department also refuses to disclose key documents and has failed to provide clear answers on several questions about its finances, staffing and disciplinary processes.
The failures came into focus after MPs on Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services demanded answers at a meeting on 13 October.
The department’s losses from default judgments were put at about R6.4 million.
Asked how many default judgments had been granted against the department over the past two years, what they had cost and who was responsible, spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the department was still trying to establish the facts.
“The Department is conducting an exercise to establish a comprehensive picture of litigation matters across its correctional centres and the associated legal and financial implications,” he said.
He said that the exercise has not yet been completed.
The committee proposed giving the department 14 days to produce a case-by-case report on the R6.4 million and seven working days to provide its litigation register.
But the department also refused to release a letter from National Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale to the Solicitor-General.
In the letter, Thobakgale reportedly threatened to recover the losses from the State Attorney.
“The Department is unable to release the correspondence to third parties,” Nxumalo said.
The department was equally evasive when asked about the audit firm it hired as a consultant on a R1.6 billion coal tender linked to its disclaimer audit opinion.
Thobakgale previously told MPs the firm had been appointed “because we did not want to attract negative audit findings.
But when asked to identify the firm, disclose the contract value and explain what action was being taken against it, Nxumalo offered no specifics.
“The Department is mindful of its responsibility to ensure that expenditure is properly accounted for, that contractual obligations are honoured and that any identified shortcomings are addressed through the appropriate processes,” he said.
The response did not identify the consultant, disclose the fee or clarify what action, if any, had been taken.
The department also refused to release its engagement letter with the Auditor-General, the July audit reports or a technical opinion it obtained to challenge the disclaimer audit opinion.
“We shall not share such correspondence with third parties at this stage,” Nxumalo said.
The department also failed to provide a national inmate-to-official ratio, identify the correctional facilities with the worst staffing shortages or disclose how many vacancies involved security posts.
It disputed DA MP Kabelo Kgobisa-Ngcaba’s claim that she had seen one official supervising a unit of 400 inmates at Goodwood Correctional Centre.
Nxumalo said the claim required further context and verification.
“An observation at a single point in time does not, without further information, establish the total number of officials assigned to supervise the relevant inmate population,” he said.
He acknowledged, however, that “overcrowding places considerable pressure on correctional facilities, including the deployment of security personnel.”
The department did not provide the figures needed to establish how widespread the staffing pressures are.
The department also declined to provide the dates on which four officials were suspended or explain why its chief financial officer was suspended.
“The expiry of a 60-day period does not, on its own, establish the outcome of a matter,” Nxumalo said.
The department confirmed that none of the 17 flagged food suppliers remained on its panel or continued receiving payments.
But it would not identify who ordered their removal.
“It would be misleading to reduce an institutional decision to a contest between individual officials,” Nxumalo said.
The department also failed to resolve conflicting figures on the backlog of irregular expenditure investigations.
Thobakgale had put the figure at 20%, while an MP cited 25%.
Nxumalo said the figures “must be reconciled against the underlying investigation records”.
Asked where the money went in two programmes that overspent their budgets, he replied that spending “must be understood in relation to their respective mandates, approved budgets and the activities undertaken during the financial year”.
He did not provide a breakdown of the expenditure.
Nxumalo confirmed that a criminal case had been reported in connection with “alleged extortion attempts” linked to threats against Thobakgale.
He referred further questions to the police.
Asked whether the department wanted to add anything, he replied: “No.”
