13/12/2018
Recent post by a friend just reminded me that, instead of allowing prisoners to enjoy a free life (from taxpayers' money) when they have been convicted of serious crimes, government must use their skills to develop our communities. Instead of committing other criminal acts, they can spend spend most of their time cleaning our graveyards; fixing potholes; maintaining our infrastructure; etc.
This was a normal practice under the Apartheid regime and most of our brothers acquired industry-aligned skills while serving their sentences. I'm convinced that hard labour could help our government to alleviate high levels of crime and in turn, build capacity of inmates, which will lessen the high levels of dependence on government grants post their sentences. Skills Development can play a meaningful role in bringing about change to socio-economic conditions of our communities.
If prisoners can be allowed some time off to attend to family matters, surely, they can also be allowed to contribute positively to our communities. This can really assist our country by reducing high levels of corrupt activities caused by the Tendering System.
