New upgraded offices for local SVEP

It was a great moment of happiness and celebration when the Songozwi Victim Empowerment Programme (SVEP) received its newly renovated and furnished building from the South African Custodial Management (SACM) last Tuesday.

SACM, who operates the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre (KSCC) just outside Louis Trichardt, renovated the dilapidated house in 24 Burger Street upon the SVEP's request and donated beds, bedding and kitchen furniture. The office equipment donated included swivel chairs, desks, a sofa set, a room divider, dinner sets and fans.

The director for KSCC, Mr Lazarus Ncongwane, said that thugs had broken into the building during the renovation progress and vandalised and stolen electrical cables. They had to buy new cables and have them fixed.

He added that KSCC had deemed it fit to make a contribution of this kind to the victim empowerment centre. “We delight in giving back to the community,” he said. “We also want to believe that the trauma centre will be able to realise its duties for rendering good services to the victims of crime in a spacious house now.”

The victim empowerment office previously operated from the police station, where there was hardly enough space for them. The SVEP's chairperson, Mr Tshinyalani Matumba, added that SACM has really made them feel proud. "They showed true love to us and the community that we continue to serve with dignity.”

The commander of the Makhado cluster (SAPS), Brig Alex Seopa, said that it was truly good and amazing to note that the prison was not only focusing on meeting the prisoners' rehabilitational needs but that they were also engaged in supporting the victims of crimes.

“This kind of work cannot go unnoticed and is praiseworthy,” Brig Seopa said. “I was saddened when we heard about the burglary and vandalism in new house. We have since taken security measures to make sure that nothing of that nature happens again."

Date:15 January 2015

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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