BuaNews (Tshwane)
28 October 2007
Upington — Communities should accept rehabilitated ex-prisoners back into society for their sustainable social re-integration.
During the Correctional Services ministerial Imbizo in the Northern Cape last week, Deputy Minister Loretta Jacobus appealed to the Upington embrace former prisoners to ensure that they take active part in the fight against crime "Whilst we are not promoting any breaking of the law, and definitely not making excuses for crime, we want to appeal to the communities and private companies to provide job opportunities to rehabilitated ex-offenders.
"It is very important that they are not stigmatised and marginalised by society," she said. Deputy Minister Jacobus' message follows reports of high re-offending rates in the four areas visited by Correctional Services during the Imbizo Focus Week. Those areas with a high rate of re-offending are Vanrhynsdorp, Calvinia, Springbok and Upington. Local Mayor Father Gift Van Staden acknowledged that crime is a major challenge in the area. and acknowledged that unemployment and poverty were rife in the area.
"These twin ills of society are believed to have contributed significantly to high rates of socio-economic crime like theft, as well as contact crimes like assault, rapes and murder...," he said.
A representative of the South African Police Services acknowledged that the levels of alcohol and drug abuse were very high in Upington, with even those receiving social grants being prone to use that money to buy alcohol instead of contributing to the well-being of their households. Farther Van Staden said good progress had been made in the implementation of development programmes in many areas. He said of about 80 000 residents in his municipal area, over 90% of households have access to electricity while more have access to clean water. The Mayor indicated that plans were at an advanced stage for the construction of a new hospital closer to the communities to increase hospital bed capacity from 184 to 250 - a project set for completion in 2011.
He said challenges remained in the provision of low-cost houses due to a growing urban population caused by the migration of many people from surrounding rural areas and farms.
The rural-urban divide placed a strain on the resources of the municipality, highlighting that the housing backlog is over 5000 while only 500 houses could be built from the available budget of the municipality.
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