Local News
Offenders can be rehabilitated: MerSETA CEO─── REFILWE GAESWE 09:33 Wed, 22 Jul 2015
Bloemfontein - MerSETA CEO Raymond Patel has refuted comments made by the Free State MEC for Police that offenders cannot be rehabilitated.
Patel says it is unfair to say offenders can’t be rehabilitated because mistakes are there to transform people.
His comments come after Butana Komphela last week said he does not believe in the parole system, as so many parolees commit crimes soon after their release.
Patel distanced himself from the statement, saying people need to look for the best in others. He was speaking at Grootvlei Prison outside Bloemfontein where 40 offenders graduated from the Welding Skills Programme and received tools that will help them start their own businesses once they are paroled.
Meanwhile, Regional Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services for the Northern Cape and Free State, Subashini Moodley, says the program is bearing fruits and they keep in touch with the offenders once they are released.
She says the program is running for the third time this year and they are doing different programs at other prisons.
Moodley says those offenders who were in the same program last year are now employed at mines and private companies, however, she highlighted that the challenge is that not all parolees are able to find employment.
Refilwe Gaeswe/OFM News
Raymond Patel :
