BuaNews (Tshwane)
Gabi Khumalo
27 October 2008
Prisoners at the Ekuseni Youth Correctional Centre have been urged to use the learning programmes at the centre to better themselves so they can walk out of the facility with a bright future ahead of them.
Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour conducted a tour of the centre at the weekend, where he encouraged the young offenders to take part in the programmes on offer.
He said this would help them pick up the pieces of their lives when they are released back into society.
"We want to see all of you taking part in learning programmes, attending Further Education and Training (FET) or taking part in the available workshop. No one will sit here and do nothing, our work as officials is to help you become disciplined and become willing to change," said Mr Balfour, who was accompanied by Education Minister Naledi Pandor.
He said programmes while most programmes were compulsory, the department could not force the offenders to participate.
"Government wants to see you come out of the institutions and become better people. Don't come back, you should become a responsible citizen," he said.
The minister visited the centre to get an update on the institution's rehabilitation programme and the progress made by offenders who are in a programme. It was also an opportunity for the offenders to raise complaints with the minister as well as share the dreams and plans they have for themselves when released.
The Department of Correctional Services has aimed to make prisons institutions of rehabilitaton rather than of punishment.
Nkosinathi Mabini from Durban, who is studying electricity at the workshop, told BuaNews that poverty was no excuse for turning to crime.
"I've made a bad choice and ended up here but it has opened my eyes and made me see the way," said the 22-year-old, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence after being convicted for house breaking.
He said since he arrived in the institution in 2007, he has learned a lot including electricity, which he didn't know anything about it.
"I wanted to become a doctor but dropped out at Grade 12 when I started getting involved in bad stuff but I'm determined to use the skills I'll learn here to help me when I get out and start a new life without any criminal activities," he told BuaNews.
Reggie Oliphant, 22, who was convicted for murder, said his released date was on 15 December.
He said he would apply for a bursary to complete his studies in electrical engineering which he started inside the centre in 2005.
"I was nothing outside but have been given a second chance since being inside. I've also been taking part in the Heartlines programmes where we learn positive values and restorative justice; I also participated in Khulisa Programme and learnt public speaking."
Mr Oliphant also joined the Further Education Training where he learnt to write."
"While I spent most of my time using drugs, I'm now committed to changing," Mr Oliphant told BuaNews, adding that it was peer pressure and the promise of getting all the material possessions he wanted that got him into trouble.
Speaking on behalf of the offenders, Njabulo Zuma thanked the Department of Education for offering FET to offenders and Correctional Services for giving them an opportunity to get involved in Self Development Programmes.
Mr Zuma told Mr Balfour and Ms Pandor that when offenders walked out of the institution with potential for success.
"We have found a place of hope and experienced a life we never had at our homes like learning to respect one another. We appreciate your presence and you stepping down from their offices and enter into our world," Mr Zuma told the ministers.
The visit to the centre forms part of governments imbizo programme, which is an initiative aimed at taking government to the people.
The programme gives ordinary people a platform to raise concerns about service delivery through direct access to the President and Deputy President. In this way, the President is able to identify blockages in service delivery and make interventions through the relevant spheres of government.
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