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A group of prisoners involved in agriculture present some vegetable to the head of Makhado Correctional Centre, Mr Sekopelo Ndou.

Several rehabilitation programmes for inmates

 

The inmates of the Makhado Correctional Centre are on the right path of rehabilitation, as demonstrated by their involvement in rehabilitation programmes.

A group of prisoners has ploughed a large field and sowed a variety of vegetables such as carrots, spinach, and cabbages. The produce is thick, juicy and appetising to the naked eye.

According to the Thohoyandou area management's spokesperson, Mr Tshifhiwa Magadani, horticulture is part of the rehabilitation programmes, where prisoners learn practical skills about agricultural farming.

“We need all inmates involved in this project to realise that all life comes from the soil and water,” Magadani said. “It is our strongest belief that, if given a second chance in life, offenders can change their lives from being bad to being good and productive.”

He added that the department had noted Pres Jacob Zuma's words during his State of the Nation speech earlier this year, when he said that the youth in the country needed to be encouraged and given support to delve into agricultural farming.

The head of Makhado Correctional Centre, Mr Sekopelo Ndou, said that once the courts had sentenced the offenders and brought them to prison for incarceration, it was not for the department to condemn them. “These people will serve their time and get out of this place, and face the outside world,” he said. “As a correctional centre, we therefore give them a second chance by providing them with rehabilitation programmes, so that they manage their own lives and work for themselves when they are released.”

A prisoner and group leader in the agricultural section, Vhelaphi Maswanganyi (25), said that he had realised that there was no normal life in prison. “You can't go wherever you want, and in your own time,” he said. “But I thank the department for allowing us to learn more skills, even though we are prisoners. When I get out of this place, I will try to find a piece of land and small funding, and then start doing my farming job.”

Magadani appealed to community members to welcome and accept back offenders when they are released from prison. “A crime-free South Africa starts with us, by our encouraging our brothers and sisters to rise up and do good instead of their relapsing to crime,” he said. “Let's make them see a light at the end of the tunnel.”

 

A group of prisoners is on the right path to rehabilitation at Makhado Correctional Centre.

 

Date:26 June 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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