Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele has called on communities to assist in re-integrating offenders into society through the Victim-Offender Dialogue (VOD) programme.
Over the past year, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has hosted close to a hundred (100) VOD sessions across the country to prevent re-offending. Since the launch of the VOD programme, by Minister Ndebele on 28th November 2012, 91 VOD sessions were hosted and 1,342 DCS officials trained on the VOD Implementation Guidelines.
The Minister said VODs show the highest rates of victim satisfaction. “The community, as the victim of crime, needs to foster partnerships to reduce crime by promoting values of good citizenship, which include assisting offenders to regain their best self and get re-integrated into society.
The Victim-Offender Dialogues aim to strengthen current programmes by placing the victim at the centre of the rehabilitation process, while keeping correctional officials, as well as offenders, on either side of the victim. VODs are based on the culture of human rights which South Africa has inculcated over the past 19 years, and which is enshrined in the Bill of Rights enjoined in the Constitution.
“The philosophy of VODs is informed by the constitutional obligation that the offender is a citizen, a human being who has strayed from his or her path and must be assisted by the corrections system to rehabilitate and return to the path of good citizenship. The philosophy further shows that the offender cannot be the only one who must be helped to become a good citizen. Even society must be steered in the direction of good citizenship.
“VODs are based on a theory of justice that considers crime, and wrongdoing, to be an offence against an individual, or community, rather than just the state. Restorative justice, that fosters dialogue between victim and offender, shows the highest rates of victim satisfaction and offender accountability.
We are moving away from the tendency of forgetting victims of crimes once sentencing has been completed. These voluntary VOD sessions offer an opportunity for the offender and victims to engage with one another. The offender, out of his own free will, asks for forgiveness, but the victim has no obligation to accept the apology.
A victim of crime must be defined broadly to refer to the direct victim of crime, his/her family, friends as well as the community and society at large. DCS considers victims of crime to be central in efforts at healing their pain, as well as rehabilitation efforts where offenders are accountable for their actions,” Minister Ndebele said.
The VOD programme has recorded numerous successes. For example in 1996, when then the Worcester bomber, Stefaans Coetzee, was initially interviewed, he said that his only regret was that the other three bombs that that he had planted never exploded. He was unremorseful. With the Victim-Offender Dialogues, Coetzee has expressed regret for his actions and asked for forgiveness from surviving victims, and families, of the deceased.
In the Eastern Cape, through the VOD, a mother has forgiven an offender who murdered her son. She has adopted this inmate as her own son. The mother, and her children, regularly visit the offender at the correctional facility, and even give him pocket money. DCS is confident that, upon release, this offender will be re-integrated into this community where he committed the crime.
In Hammersdale, KwaZulu-Natal, two parolees, who have undergone the VOD programme, are back in their communities managing their own businesses. The VOD programme has contributed to the de-stigmatisation of these offenders, and afforded them a second chance through their victims and community.
Enquiries:
Logan Maistry
Cell: 083 644 4050
