The ongoing dysfunctionality of the R300-million Bhisho Child and Youth Care Centre (CYCC) has again come under the spotlight in a high court judgment.
Judge Judith Roberson last week reviewed and set aside the sentences of several teens who had originally been sentenced to serve time at the centre, but who ended up being transferred to the Mdantsane Prison.
In an unusual move, the judge ordered that her judgment be served on Social Development MEC Nancy Sihlwayi.
“The present conditions at the centre have caused a failure of justice, which must be remedied as a matter of urgency.”
The Bhisho High Court had transferred the nine teenagers, who were found guilty of crimes ranging from murder and rape to theft, to Mdantsane Prison for adult offenders at the behest of the Social Development Department.
The department had claimed the boys had been guilty of serious misconduct in the Bhisho CYCC and the centre had not been equipped to deal with it.
The Bhisho High Court heard the application ex parte, which means the children were never given an opportunity to state their case to the court.
They later maintained that conditions at the centre were shocking and they had gone hungry in the face of striking staff.
The teens have been in Mdantsane Prison since December.
Judge Roberson said the unintended effect of the transfer order was that the teenagers had to serve the remainder of their sentences in prison without their original sentences ever having been reviewed, set aside or substituted with another sentence.
When the Centre for Child Law intervened, the Social Development Department agreed in March this year to rescind the transfer orders and replace them with an order in terms of which the department was to institute a quality assurance process at the centre and, depending on the recommendations of the report, would have ensured that the teenagers returned to the centre.
But the report made it clear that the Bhisho CYCC was not caring properly for children, particularly those in conflict with the law.
It found child and youth care workers lacked training and were derelict in their duties. There was little supervision from social workers or youth care workers.
It said the centre’s functioning and upkeep was affected by poor administrative oversight, which also resulted in delays in procurement processes, poor administration and poor record management.
Security measures were affected by security services being procured on a short-term basis. It said some personnel members showed no interest in working with children.
Roberson said a serious failure of justice would be perpetrated if the teenagers had to remain in prison. She set aside their sentences and ordered that the matters be remitted to the magistrates concerned for re-sentencing.
She ordered that they be transferred to the juvenile section of the Cradock Correctional Centre in the meantime. CCL director Ann Skelton said the judgment was deeply disappointing because the children remain in prison. The judgment had not provided timelines and the sentenced could be languishing in prison for some time before anyone took the necessary action.
Skelton also slammed the CYCC system in the province, saying it was failing children generally.
Skelton welcomed the judge’s decision to refer the judgment to the MEC. She said the CCL would use this to initiate an urgent dialogue with government.