Minister must explain salaries totalling R1.4 million paid to suspended senior prison officials

Replies to my parliamentary questions received today reveal that R1,354 million has been paid to three senior correctional services officers who have been suspended since July 2009, September 2009 and January 2010 respectively. This effectively means that taxpayers have forked out this money with absolutely no return. (Replies are available on request)

One of these officers is the National Commissioner, Ms Xoliswa Sibeko. Ms Sibeko was suspended and charged with various cases of misconduct. Her hearing was finalised on 1 December 2009, and she was acquitted on all charges.

It seems to me that the rules of natural justice dictate that someone who has been acquitted should be reinstated. However, this did not happen. Instead, the Minister placed the National Commissioner on ‘special leave'. Had she been reinstated in December last year, the amount of fruitless expenditure on paying her salary for doing nothing would have been reduced considerably.

It now transpires that the Minister has advertised this post, apparently without informing Ms Sibeko. If true, this is discourteous at best and quite possibly unlawful.

This situation is a mess. Today I requested that the Minister be invited to the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services to explain what is going on. The Committee agreed and the date has been provisionally scheduled for 24 March 2010.

Statement issued by James Selfe, MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of correctional services, February 23 2010

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