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Suspended warders cost R34m
19/09/2006 13:51 - (SA)
Cape Town - Suspended prison warders cost the taxpayer over R34 million during 2005/06, Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said on Tuesday.
In a written reply to a question in the National Assembly, Balfour said 738 officials were suspended - 555 of them for longer than 30 days.
The officials spent an average of 92.5 days on suspension.
Altogether R34 058 475 was spent paying the salaries of suspended staff.
The lion's share was in the Eastern Cape (R17 945 819), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (R6 838 053), Gauteng (R3 662 347), the Western Cape (R3 008 906), Limpopo (R1 607 330) and the Free State and Northern Cape (R996 018), Balfour said.
Commenting on the reply, James Selfe of the Democratic Alliance, who put the question to Balfour, said the figures were shocking and totally unacceptable.
"This situation is indicative of the poor state of the department, where half the personnel at any one prison operate in an acting capacity, while the other half are on suspension."
It was also unacceptable that the disciplinary process took so long to complete, while personnel continued to draw salaries for which they did no work.
Correctional services personnel were supposed to oversee the effective incarceration and rehabilitation of criminals.
How could the department fulfil its mission to rehabilitate prisoners, or its mission to be "one of the best in the world in delivering correctional services with integrity and commitment to excellence", if so many of its staff were suspended for disciplinary reasons, Selfe asked.
- SAPA
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