Convicts grasp chance to better themselves
Eighteen offenders in Boksburg are now proud artisans, thanks to a training programme by the Department of Correctional Services.
|||Eighteen offenders in Boksburg are now proud artisans, thanks to a training programme by the Department of Correctional Services.
The offenders graduated on Tuesday. They received their red-seal artisan certificates in upholstery, wood machining, cabinet making and welding.
The graduation ceremony was held by the Boksburg Correctional Services Centre.
Four of the inmates who graduated are serving life sentences.
The programme is part of the department’s skills development project that aims to equip offenders with various skills such as clothing manufacturing, woodwork and baking.
Speaking at the centre, National Commissioner of Correctional Services Zachariah Modise said R30 million had gone into the recapitalisation of workshops in correctional service centres in the country. The Boksburg centre received R4.5m of the investment.
“Today we take pride in the fact that Boksburg is one of the leading correctional centre production workshops in South Africa, with an annual turnover of more than R29m,” he said.
The workshops play a key role in educating the offenders because they use the skills to produce items they can sell.
The centre’s statistics show that the government buys 89 percent of the products made in the workshops.
The rest are donated to schools and old-age homes.
Area commissioner Henny Makhubela said the programmes were accredited by sector education and training authorities (Setas), among them the Fibre Processing and Manufacturing Seta for skills in wood machining, cabinet making and upholstery as well as the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Seta for training in welding.
One of the convicts who benefits from the workshop is Ebrahim Booysens.
He was convicted and sentenced for housebreaking and robbery in 2003, and thought his life was over until he started learning a trade.
“I am getting released in October next year and I plan to use the skill I learnt here to make a living.” Booysens holds a level 3 qualification in clothing manufacturing.
While the project has successful training centres to enable former offenders to make a living for themselves outside the prison system, stigmatisation remains an issue.
Modise said offenders found it difficult to reintegrate into their respective communities because they couldn’t find employment due to the stigma attached to being an ex-offender.
“Some don’t have a place to stay, some are shunned by their families and communities.”
He said the department did all it could to ensure the person was skilled and rehabilitated.
“We need to inculcate a culture in our ex-offenders that ensures that wherever they are, they need to conduct themselves in an ethical manner.
“That will go a long way in changing the perception that ex-offenders are unemployable.”
masego.panyane@inl.co.za
The Star