I wish to thank you for your diverse participation today. The attendance of delegates from most SADC-PF Member Parliaments augurs well for the deliberations to follow.
As we gather here today, we are poised to address the SADC Model Law on Prison Oversight, which will be a norms setting instrument that will stand as guiding benchmarks for national Parliaments.
As I start, I wish to respond to a common question posed by interested parties concerning prison oversight, that is why has the Plenary Assembly chosen the theme of prison oversight to be the next Model law of the Forum, after the SADC Model Law on Gender Based Violence and the Model Law on Public Financial Management?
Well, the theme of prison oversight has always been on the radar of the Forum since decades. A clear example is the attention bestowed to prisoners as key populations, vulnerabilities of children who live with their mothers in prison, juveniles, pregnant women, among others in prisons under the Swedish funded SRHR Project implemented by the Forum since 2014.
The conditions applicable to prisoners have a direct impact on the overall assessment of a country’s implementation of SRHR policies. Statistics that you will find in the Concept Note circulated, abound in demonstrating that the SADC region is one of the regions of the world having the highest prison occupancy rates, which means that prisons and detention facilities are full and overcrowded.
Inhumane living conditions in prisons lead to a number of societal complications including lack of focus on rehabilitation and thus lack of integration into society after serving sentence, repeated recidivism, lack of health facilities, food and sometimes lack of basic human decency. Prisons tend to become a hub for communicable diseases, including HIV, TB and malaria whilst prisons are also known to be a place where drug trafficking and other crimes are organised as gangsters profiteer on existing shortcomings.
Sometimes, instead of prisons acting as a short shock for individuals serving sentences of less than 3 years, they represent a lifelong tag of “excon” for individuals who struggle to find work, shelter and are often marked for life. During this session, we will have the opportunity of considering the Nelson Mandela Rules (2015) which emanate from a UN resolution relating to the Minimum Standards for the treatment of prisoners. These will shed light on the desirable conditions for detainees in SADC and also constitute a basis for the drafting of the provisions in the Model Law.
Moreover, I wish to add that the state of prisons has a direct impact on democracy since arbitrary arrests by the authorities are often predicated on the impending misery which awaits the suspect in detention facilities, a burdensome punishment in itself, even before trial by the courts or whilst bail is organised for the suspect. Observers worldwide have since long indicated that the state of a society’s prison reflects directly on the individuals in society and the extent to which they subscribe to the notion of justice.
Nelson Mandela, who served sentence in the South African prison which is now the site of the South Africa’s Constitutional Court on Constitutional Hill, rightly said the following:
“ It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”
These words from Nelson Mandela sum up the need for prison oversight by Parliament which is the only entity lawfully able to exercise oversight over the Executive in the context of separation of powers. In line with the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which consecrates the need for human dignity and protection in accordance with the rule of law, it is imperative for prisons to be monitored by Parliament so that they operate as rehabilitative rather than repressive institutions.
With this background, the carceral system indeed deserves attention by Parliament, which is constituted of democratically elected representatives who are mandated to represent the interests of communities and constituents. Irrespective of the agendas and priorities of successive Governments, Parliament as a temple of democracy should be able to exercise consistent oversight over prison conditions by calling the necessary stakeholders to action, in the same vein as the Public Accounts Committee for instance calls for action on the proper management of public finances by the Executive. In this respect, it is within the rights of Parliament to call for discipline and diligence in the management of prisons by prison departments which are branches of the Executive.
Parliament, as a custodian to the Constitution under the principle of separation of powers, is ideally located to ensure that the carceral system functions efficiently for the near 400,000 individuals who are in prisons in the SADC region.
While prisoners are to be subjected to certain limitations in accordance with their lawful sentences, these limitations essentially relate to their freedom of movement. Despite this general rule, prisoners are subjected to a vast array of human rights infringements including torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, which are moreover prohibited by the Constitution of most SADC Member States.
The Model Law will thus be a novel instrument to facilitate domestication by Member Parliaments of legal norms which can improve prison conditions and enhance the oversight by Parliament on prison institutions to avoid discrimination and other forms of ill treatment.
This Joint Session is thus held for different Committees to contribute to the reflections around the provisions which should be contained in the Model Law to provide protection to prisoners from a human rights perspective and rights-based approach. Whereas the golden thread of the Model Law will be to promote parliamentary oversight, possibly through a dedicated parliamentary Committee on prison oversight, other provisions will provide for the rule- based framework, the independence of office of the Commissioner of Prisons, or a complaints system, to ensure that the carceral system is not influenced by other third parties or authorities but operates with objective independence.
During this joint session, I encourage you to interact abundantly with the presenters who are experts in their respective fields and who have vast knowledge and experience in prison legislation and norms.
I wish to end by saying that prison oversight is a cardinal theme which can significantly improve the state of democracy in the SADC region. Let us consider this theme with an open mind as we address the outline of the Model Law.
Once the provisions of the Model Law have been drafted in accordance with the guidance bequeathed by this Joint Session, they will be presented again to the HSDSP Committee before being recommended to the Plenary Assembly later in the year. We therefore expect the 58th Plenary Assembly to adopt the Model Law after the wise input and contributions of Hon. Members present today.
I wish to close by thanking our Draftspersons from the SALC, our experts who have always facilitated the model Law making process, media practitioners who have been on hand flighting our deliberations, staff of SADC PF who have made sure that we have a seamless session, Lastly Sweden, our donor, who is contributing to the Joint Session under the SRHR Project (2023-2026) as well as our partners present today that are acting as facilitators for the Forum to fulfil its mandate in prison oversight as ordained by the Plenary Assembly pursuant to the Forum’s Strategic Plan.
With these words, I thank you for your kind attention and I wish you all a pleasant Joint session today and tomorrow. I regret that, I am unable to be with you in person, but will be following deliberations online, of course, circumstance of power permitting.
Ms Boemo M.Sekgoma,
Secretary General
23rd April 2025
