Apostle Jannie Ngwale, the general overseer of CTCM Ministry
Pastor Faith Ngwale, the Host
Mama Rita, Rev. Ankrah from the Royal House Chapel in Ghana
Religious and Community Leaders
Delegates and visitors to the Women Empowerment Seminar
Friends gathered here today, I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
I am deeply humbled and honoured by the opportunity to come and speak at this gathering which brings together women leaders in the community and churches with the aim of empowering women in the rebuilding of our nation.
I am convinced that God has chosen women to play a unique and particular role in our society and family life, building and enriching the lives of other people and always seeking to bring justice.
We all know that the church and particular women in the church in South Africa and even abroad has always been conscious of this role and that is why many religious leaders and women have been in the forefront in our liberation struggle. They stood out, as they led the cause to fight against the injustices of apartheid, they did not rest, some continued to guide this country up to the crucial transitional period leading to democracy and the culture of Human Rights.
We should not become complacent and think that the rebuilding of the nation would be done by others. Women should stand even stronger than ever before in defending our obtained freedom that is threatened by a new enemy which is well known to all of us, namely, crime.
South Africans sometimes have a sense of a moral crisis, as manifested in various forms of criminal and anti-social behaviour such as; robbery, rape, murder, women and child abuse, drug trafficking, embezzlement of public funds, crooked business dealings and corruption among others. Some of these gruesome crimes and social ills have invaded the most unlikely places such as schools, homes - which are supposed to offer protection. At some it also shocked us to see the perpetrators of some of the most heinous crimes against children being biological and step parents, uncles and other significant family members who are supposed to be nurturers and protectors. This is perhaps an indication that we had reached the worst levels of moral decay and we cannot turn a blind eye. We have a duty and a responsibility to live up to our own history or social construction.
The sad part of this all is that all the people in our correctional centres belong to a family and community. They have grown up in our towns and suburbs. They grew up as sons and daughters in our houses.
Our new approach in the Corrections System of South Africa puts the rehabilitation of these offenders at the centre of our work. We have spent time and resources to develop various programmes including offence specific interventions, to help offenders change their lives for the better. Overtime it has become clear to us that this is not a task we can complete on our own.
Our White Paper identifies corrections as a societal responsibility, and due to the nature of your work as agents of transformation of individuals through spiritual work, you have become one of our key partners and we continue to need your cooperation and assistance in changing the lives of these people whom society has given up on.
This means that correcting the offender behaviour is not the duty of a particular department. It is the responsibility of all institutions and individuals starting with families and educational, religious, sport and cultural institutions. It is only at that final point when the offender has transgressed the law that the criminal justice system and the Department of Correctional Services step in.
The importance of successful reintegration
All the rehabilitation efforts of offenders will come to nothing if it is not well supported by after care to ex-offenders. In this respect the community plays an important role in being the safety network to walk with the ex-offenders the path of rebuilding their lives.
Social reintegration is seen as the most challenging aspect of the rehabilitation of offenders, because effective reintegration is crucial to the success of the rehabilitation programmes and to combat recidivism (offenders returning back to crime again).
For us at the department, preparation for social reintegration starts the moment a person is admitted to the correctional centres.
Beyond the intensive rehabilitation programmes, we encourage different activities to start preparing them for reintegration back to society and these will include a focus on:
- written and telephonic communication
- physical and emotional well-being
- visits by families, friends and loved ones
- access to the information about the world outside through newspapers, television and radio and
- contact with social institution from the offender’s community of origin.
The attitude of the community towards ex-offenders plays an important role in the way in which communities will respond to the needs. That is why it is important to restore relations between the offender and the community. There is no way that communities can abdicate the responsibility towards ex-offenders – the inhabitants of their society.
Why are we putting so much emphasis on the reintegration of the offender? We must remember that the offender has been taken out of the community for the period of incarceration. For most of the offenders, it will be a period of at least two to seven years. It may even be longer depending on the type of crime that was committed. During the period of incarceration most of the important relationships have been broken and in most of the cases, the offender and his/her family are financially crippled by the incarceration. The family adopted to cope without the offender being at home and functioned independently. Thus the return back home requires major adjustments.
Ex-offenders are challenged with many problems when they are released:
- The stigma of being an offender which label them as bad
- Finding a job to support his/her family in an environment where unemployment is high
- Hostility and anger of the community towards offenders.
There is a need to create an integrated support system with the active involvement of their role players, such as community institutions and corporations. The involvement of communities will encourage the further rehabilitation, employment opportunities, support services and the prevention of recidivism.
Crime is not only transgressing the law of the countries. Therefore as government, we acknowledge that there is a dire need to heal the community, some of whose members may have been direct victims of crimes committed by the offender. The reconciliation of offenders with the community must be addressed. This includes restoration of trust and/or the loss thereof. Non-reconciliation with the community increases the risk of recidivism and the offender remains alienated from the community.
Bussiness opportunities for women
I have been asked to address a meeting on business opportunities for women within the department’s procurement processes. We have quite a number of opportunities for small and big businesses that you can benefit from. It is important for me to say that as government and the department, we are guided by the constitutional mandate and other important policy and legal frameworks, that have been put in place in the country, which compel us to ensure that those who are historically disadvantaged, are given opportunities so that they can develop their business.
Obviously, you will find that the policies have very specific requirements which I cannot go into much detail about right now, but maybe it is important for me to emphasise that they are aligned to the country’s overall Affirmative Action and Empowerment objectives.
On a constant basis, we are in need of service providers in a number of areas at our different Correctional Centres such as:
- catering ( for our events and meetings)
- provision of perishable goods ( like beef, poultry, bread, cleaning material, groceries such as toiletries for offenders)
- stationery supply ( for our offices and offenders who are involved in different educational programmes)
- making of uniform for our official.
We do advertise some of these contracts and tenders in the local and mainstream media.
Our duty is to ensure that we follow guidelines and policies sucha s Public Finance Management Act and Preferential Procurement Policy Framework.
Conclusion
I believe that the church and women need to do more in encouraging, counselling, guiding, motivating and teaching ex-offenders in taking up their rightful place in society as law-abiding citizens. Women are the mothers of the nations that care for her children even if they went astray.
I thank you.
