Pretoria – Correctional Services Deputy Minister Thabang Makwetla on Monday visited the Modderbee Correctional Centre in Gauteng as part of government’s approach to improve service delivery.
To date, the Deputy Minister has visited Correctional Centres in the Northern Cape, Free State and Gauteng.
According to the Department of Correctional Services, the visits are about moving the department from merely a rules-bound approach that hinders the delivery of services to an approach that encourages innovation and is results driven.
During the visit at the Modderbee Correctional Centre, Deputy Minister Makwetla was taken through the facility and also interacted with the inmates who raised concerns about their sentences.
Deputy Minister Makwetla encouraged the inmates to use their time in prison fruitfully. “Use the time you have constructively,” he said.
The inmates at the centre are taught various skills such as bricklaying, carpentry, engineering and cane work, among other things.
Some of the inmates have registered with the Department of Basic Education to complete their studies.
“You are not supposed to stay here longer than you suppose to. You are supposed to be with your families. If you want South Africa to be a free country, it depends on you,” the Deputy Minister told the offenders, who welcomed the visit.
While at the centre, the Deputy Minister visited the kitchen, the hospital section and some prison cells.
Modderbee Correctional Centre is one of the centres involved in community and poverty alleviation projects in the East Rand.
Some of the projects the inmates participated in included the renovation of the house of the late Counsellor Mbete at Etwatwa as well as renovating Zikhathele High School at Devon.
The centre also donates sanitary towels and bath soaps regularly to girl children at Sinaba High School in Etwatwa.
The centre also adopted the Ria Day Care Centre where they assist with cleaning and donations of groceries and toys on a regular basis. The cleaning and renovation projects involve offenders and this aimed at ensuring that they contribute positively to their communities as part of their rehabilitation and reintegration programmes.
The Deputy Minister is also expected to visit the Correctional Centres in KwaZulu-Natal, this month. – SAnews.gov.za
