Cape Town - Central Karoo District mayor and Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie has roped in inmates and parolees, giving them a second chance to give back, and the Department of Correctional Services has given the latest initiative a thumbs up.
McKenzie took to his Facebook page to express his joy with the DCS coming on board.
“I am overjoyed and very grateful to the Department of Correctional Services for agreeing to our proposal to have inmates pay some of their debt back to society, by having them help to fix dilapidated infrastructure.
“Inmates will use their skills learnt in prison to do actual work that will benefit communities. Tthey will do this work as a step in paying back their enormous debt to society. We also hope and believe that this will get them job-ready upon being released,” he said.
He said that while it was a bold move, it was a much-needed step in the right direction.
“We will for the 16 Days campaign against GBV, fix a house of a lady who has been a victim of abuse and was carefully selected by social workers. Her house is in an unlivable state and we will have it fixed totally with the inmates.
“My greatest honour, I told the DCS, is to pay for all the repairs that the inmates will undertake,” McKenzie said.
While being no stranger to the four-corners of a prison cell, McKenzie said he was a recipient of second chances and wished to give the inmates a second chance.
“I have committed crimes and paid for them by going to jail. Upon my release, I was given a second chance.
“I am, today, giving many a second chance because of those people who looked beyond my past and into the possibility of what I might achieve if they gave me a chance,” he said.
The vocal mayor, who has been in hot water for his utterances, has not made it a secret that he is on a mission to bring about change in the Karoo area.
With this latest project, McKenzie hopes this can be rolled out across South Africa.
“This will help the communities see value in second chances and also inspire the inmates to be job-ready upon release.
“I thank God for all that he did for me and Kenny Kunene, the prayer of our mothers brought us this far, and we are praying the same prayer for all those inmates who will be forming part of this programme,” he said.
He has since shared a video of inmates and parolees reconstructing and renovating the home of a gender-based violence victim.
“Inmates and ex-prisoners should help fix out country because we played a major role in the decay and lawlessness of South Africa.
“Inmates must pay back their debt to society. Second charges are earned, not demanded,” Mckenzie added.