Communities encouraged to welcome ex-prisoners
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Monday August 1, 2022 06:00
Speaking at a kgotla meeting at Tsolamosese Block 7, he said when people go to prison, they are rehabilitated and therefore, it was important for families and communities to help them integrate with other citizens.
Kgamanyane explained that when a person serves jail time, he or she is paying for their crime and do not have to be further punished by the community by not forgiving and accepting them back.
“We teach prisoners farming, welding, bricklaying with the hope that after serving their time they would improve their lives.
To our surprise, they always come back to prisons. When asked why they are back, they tell us that they were not welcomed back into the community and therefore, decided to commit crimes so that they could be sent back to prison since they feel comfortable there,” he said.
“The government spend a lot of money trying to empower those people, but we realised that our efforts run futile because they are rejected by families and community. We have, therefore, decided to form committees that would work with ex-prisoners and help them integrate with the community.
Let’s accept them back in the community and help them rebuild their lives.”
Kgamanyane urged the community to forgive ex-prisoners and move on. He added they must make them feel comfortable and stop calling them names and neither talks of their previous crimes.
He also called on companies to give them support by employing them saying the certificates they posses were genuine just like any other certificates from various institutions.
For his part, Sergeant Oreneile Makgabana also from Gaborone Boys Prison pleaded with the community not to let ex-convicts get back to prison.
He added that due to anger of not being accepted back into the community they end up initiating other children from the same community in crime as a way of revenge. He also said some of the ex-cons end up not accepting themselves and moving on because community members and families rejected them.
“Laws are strict but crime keep on escalating. We are the ones who can reduce crime here and we are the ones who can make it grow. We cannot go out at night and even build high screen walls because we fear our children who have turned into criminals.
The problem is also that we tend to turn a blind eye on our neighbours who live in poverty and turn into crime for survival. This is why crime has escalated. We no longer help each other. It is up to us to help ex-convicts get back in our communities,” he said.
However, members of the community agreed that it was indeed important for them to accept and help ex-prisoners back in the community. Many even volunteered to join a committee that would help them integrate with the society.
They also vowed to give them words of encouragement so that they become responsible members of the community. Selected committee comprises dikgosi, Village Development Committee (VDC) members, pastors and other members of the community.