The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is strengthening its culture of innovation by encouraging officials to turn operational challenges into practical, cost-effective solutions that improve service delivery. This was the key message during the DCS Innovation Workshop held virtually on 27 August 2026, bringing officials together to share ideas, learn from successful innovations and explore ways of embedding innovation across the Department.
The workshop featured the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI), which has worked with government departments for the past 22 years to promote innovation and improve public service delivery. Through innovation management programmes, research, capacity building and the Public Sector Innovation Awards, CPSI supports public servants in developing and sharing solutions to challenges within government.
Director, responsible for Solution Support and Incubation at CPSI, Ms Kgatliso Hamilton, highlighted the importance of identifying innovations that can be replicated across government. She cited an in-house system developed by the Limpopo Office of the Premier to support performance management. The system integrates strategic plans, annual performance plans and quarterly reviews, demonstrating how solutions developed in one area can potentially be adapted elsewhere.
The workshop also encouraged officials to participate in innovation management and design-thinking initiatives, while emphasising needs-driven research to ensure that solutions respond to actual operational challenges.
Chief Deputy Commissioner: Strategy, Mr Joseph Katenga, emphasised that innovation should be rooted in operational requirements. “Innovation is an operational requirement. The Department needs to continuously identify ways of improving efficiency while taking into consideration financial constraints,” Mr Katenga said. He stressed that innovation does not necessarily require significant additional resources, but should focus on smarter and more cost-effective ways of working.
He also identified knowledge management as an important area of focus, noting that appropriate frameworks and principles would help DCS capture, share and apply institutional knowledge. “The ability to replicate successful innovations was further highlighted. Solutions developed in one region or management area can provide valuable lessons for others, reducing duplication and enabling successful practices to be scaled up,” he said.
The workshop also showcased innovation from the Free State and Northern Cape Regions. DCS officials Johannes Jacobus Pretorius, Etienne van Wyk and Vaughan Owen Feder were recognised through the CPSI Awards for their innovative solution.
Their automated Excel template for the DCS Annual Performance Plan (APP) emerged as third runner-up among 15 entries in the 19th Annual CPSI Awards under the category “Innovations Harnessing Technology (ICT and other Frontier Technologies)”. The template simplifies the time-consuming manual calculation of large volumes of APP data.
The workshop reinforced that innovation is not simply about technology or creating something entirely new. It is about viewing existing challenges differently, finding smarter ways of working and sharing solutions that make a meaningful difference to service delivery.