Durban – ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has insisted that the country’s laws should be tough on criminals and ensure that they did not enjoy a free stay at correctional facilities.
Speaking at the party’s inaugural policy conference in Gauteng on Tuesday, Mashaba decried the high levels of crime, adding that it called for a strong-willed government in order to deal with it, citing the corrections system among the areas that need attending.
He added that the issue of crime should not be a matter that should be entrusted to the current government, which he insisted was wholly dysfunctional.
He expressed a belief that the right approach is to change minimum sentencing so that violent criminals may never be released to harm another person.
“Lifetime imprisonment should mean exactly that,” said the ActionSA leader.
He noted that under the current conditions convicted criminals sometimes get away without paying for the crimes they committed, adding that there should be other ways to address the matter.
“Criminals should earn their keep and make right with society through the provision of their labour to assist to build our nation’s infrastructure and improve the communities they have harmed,” Mashaba told party delegates.
ActionSA delegates will engage in discussion this week with an aim of emerging with a policy document that will form part of their elections manifesto next year.