Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Hlengiwe Mkhize, will today roll-out the Imbeleko project at the Polokwane Correctional Centre in Limpopo. The project focuses on the well-being and protection of children behind bars with their incarcerated mothers.

The visit is part of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign for No Violence against Women and Children. The Deputy Minister's spokesperson, David Hlabane, says the law states that children older than two years should not stay at correctional centres.

"In most of our centres you would find children from one month old, extending up up to two years and we also have a number of children beyond the age of two. Previously, the law was that children can stay with their mothers up to the age of five, but now we have enforced the Correctional Services Amendment Act of 2008, which prescribes that the children can only stay up to two years," says Hlabane.

In June, Correctional Services statistics indicated that there were 2 489 sentenced women, and 1 070 unsentenced women in South Africa. Internationally, women constitute a smaller fraction of offender populations than males. South Africa has 3359 female offenders among its 165 000 population.