Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele will meet victims of the 1996 Worcester bombing on Wednesday, 30 January 2013, as part of the Department of Correctional Services Victim-Offender Dialogue (VOD) programme.
Sixty seven victims will be arriving by train in Pretoria, from Worcester, to meet Stefaans Coetzee (the youngest Worcester bomber) at the Pretoria Central Correctional Centre on Thursday (31 January 2013). The Worcester bombing occurred on Christmas Eve in 1996. The blasts killed four people - three of them children. Nearly 70 people were injured.
Media are invited to cover the event. Details are as follows:
Date: Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Venue: Pretoria Train Station, Tshwane, Gauteng
Time: 10h30 for 11h00
Journalists attending must confirm attendance with your name, mobile number and email address by no later than 14h00 tomorrow (Tuesday, 29 January 2013), with Tshifhiwa Magadani at Tshifhiwa.Magadani@dcs.gov.za or 073 936 5405.
Through the VOD programme, the Correctional Services Department is embarking on a renewed focus to bring victims of crime, offenders and communities together so that relationships can be restored and forgiveness sought. The main thrust of the programme is to keep as many people as possible away from imprisonment through reconstruction of family units, and community systems, as well as victim support and empowerment, while pursuing the rehabilitation of those already incarcerated through well-managed rehabilitation programmes.
Minister Ndebele said the victim must be at the centre of corrections. “The objective of the Victim-Offender Dialogues is to put the victim back at the centre of the corrections system, as the victim is directly, and personally, affected by the criminal act of the offender. Equally, the offender must be given an opportunity to reflect on his or her wrongs and request forgiveness. We want to create opportunities where various stakeholders defined as victims of crime, those affected personally, their families, communities, community-based organisations, non-governmental organisations, religious and spiritual bodies, educators, councillors and local leaders, will assemble together with offenders with a single purpose to rebuild our communities ravaged by crime. We want to reinforce corrections programmes through music, reading for redemption, creative literature, the arts, cultural events, heritage renewal events, sporting events, formal education and acquisition of skills, economic renewal through cooperatives and enterprise development, spiritual growth and self-correcting interventions, among others. The trilogy of victim, offender and community must play a leading role in the implementation of the Victim-Offender Dialogues as corrections is a societal responsibility,” said the Minister.
Enquiries:
Logan Maistry
Cell: 083 6444 050
