Correctional Services needs to place advertisements to explain its work because the public are ignorant and confused about it, the department said on Thursday.

The department's comments came the same day it took out a quarter-page advert in a Johannesburg daily newspaper, estimated to have cost about R27,500, defending itself against claims that certain unidentified prisoners got preferential treatment.

Within hours of the advert hitting the streets, Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour had ordered that convicted Durban businessman Schabir Shaik be immediately removed from St Augustine's Hospital in Durban and sent to Westville Prison. Balfour said he decided this after viewing the reports of two private practitioners and a departmental doctor. Shaik has been in hospital for 83 days, for high blood pressure.

He and former African National Congress chief Whip Tony Yengeni are two high-profile prisoners over whose alleged preferential treatment the department has faced continual criticism. In a lengthy statement issued late on Thursday after requests for comment on the advert, department spokesman Luphumzo Kebeni did not refer specifically to the advert but spoke generally of the department's need to explain its role.

"No amounting of political howling and whinging from the sidelines by a minority will divert us from this focus as we have a responsibility to educate and inform the majority of South Africans about our core mandate," said Kebeni. He said research showed that although 59 percent of people rated the department "progressively positively", their understanding of its core mandate was "dismal" with only 30 percent clear on this, while 41 percent confused the roles of those in the criminal justice system. The campaign began last week and includes adverts in daily newspapers and on at least 14 SABC stations.

"This step is absolutely necessary and the current levels of ignorance and confusion does more damage to the delivery of correctional services and efforts to mobilise the public to buy into the cause and participate in ensuring greater public safety, effective rehabilitation and social reintegration of offenders," said Kebeni. Kebeni said Balfour welcomed the media campaign.

"There have been many distortions and misinterpretations of the role and function of the department generated by, amongst others, lack of information and deliberate misrepresentation of our core mandate," said Balfour. He said the campaign would "eliminate fiction, myths, deliberate distortions and ignorance about the department's core mandate" and present facts so the public could judge for themselves.

The Democratic Alliance dismissed the adverts as "fatuous". DA spokesman James Selfe said that particularly regarding Yengeni, whom he called the ANC's "favourite prisoner", the case for preferential treatment was overwhelming. Yengeni was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for fraud. This was halved on appeal. He benefited from a special amnesty, although he had not started his sentence, and was released after 20 weeks.

In Pollsmoor prison, he stayed in a single cell in the hospital section. Selfe alleged that since his release, Yengeni had failed to fulfil his parole conditions of community service. The department's advert explained sentencing, parole and channels for complaint.

"Do not shout from the sidelines, submit evidence of wrongdoing to the Minister, the Inspecting Judge and the Parole Review Board for corrective action," it stated. "Recent allegations of preferential treatment of some offenders are probably due to being uninformed or motivated by other factors.

"In 2006 alone, 4,696 people were sentenced to serve one sixth (of their sentences) in custody... 3,518 of these offenders were placed under correctional supervision without any big fanfare." 

With acknowledgement to Sapa.