Prisoners warn pupils about consequences of crime

While Mpumalanga police arrested three teenagers for the gang rape of three women and a murder at the weekend, two inmates in Gauteng were warning pupils about the dangers of committing crime.

Vuyo Ngaba, 39, and Palesa Thinane, 22, are serving sentences for murder at the Johannesburg Central Prison (popularly known as Sun City) and were arrested for different crimes they committed when they were both teenagers and in matric. They are now facing a bleak future because of their offences.

Also facing a possible uncertain future are three youth in Bethal, Mpumalanga, who were nabbed on Saturday for the murder of a Nigerian man and gang rape of three women at a house before fleeing. The police later arrested five men. Two of them are aged 16 and 17. They will appear in court today.

Back in Gauteng, Ngaba and Thinane were some of the inmates who gave talks about the pitfalls of crime during a visit by 50 pupils from schools in Gauteng. The visit is an initiative by the Gauteng departments of community safety and correctional services who are running a crime prevention programme aimed at deterring pupils from engaging in crime.

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Ngaba grew up with both his parents, a father who was a train driver and a mother who was a teacher in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni. He'd spend his afternoons after school doing his homework and house chores.

However, all of this changed in 1997 when his mother died. He was 15 at the time. He then associated himself with the wrong company. Their conversation would be about wishing they had nice clothes and expensive sneakers. One day they devised a plan to start robbing businesses to buy their dream clothes. 

However, in 2002, aged 19, Ngaba was arrested for the murder of a business owner during an armed robbery that he and his friend committed in Ekurhuleni. He was sentenced to life in prison. 

Ngaba said “peer pressure and the love for money” drove him to crime.

“I think all my problems started after my mother died. After she died, I didn't have much to do after school. There were a lot of gangsters in my neighbourhood and they were our role models. So, I wanted that life of getting money and being popular,” said Ngaba.

Ngaba said he was arrested six months after he shot and killed a business owner in Boksburg.

“Three of my friends and I identified a chicken farm business in Dawn Park that we wanted to rob. We drove there in our car and as we were attempting to gain entry there was a shoot-out between us and the security guards. I shot the business owner in that process,” said Ngaba.

Ngaba said his arrest stunned his family as there had never been complaints about his behaviour and his father had been providing for him.

He said being in prison as a young person is a horrible experience.

“My first day in jail was a disaster. In prison you do as you are told by prison officials. You share a cell with a lot of people and the cells are overcrowded. There is also gangsterism and you get to see inmates stabbing each other,” said Ngaba.

Thinane was sentenced in 2018, when she was 18, for stabbing her mother with a knife. She is serving a 15-year sentence.

“I was never involved in crime before the incident happened. I used to drink alcohol and smoke with my friends but never committed crime. On the day of the incident, I was possessed by an evil spirit and I ended up killing my mother... I would advise school kids to respect their parents and choose their friends wisely in order to avoid going to jail,” said Thinane.

The prison facility houses 5,843 convicts between the ages of 21 and 35. Of this, 627 are female and 5,216 are male. The crimes the offenders are serving time for range from murder to rape, sexual assault and drug-related offences.

Gauteng community safety head of department Nontsikelelo Sisulu said the purpose of the event is to raise awareness of crime prevention.

“We want to help learners to get first-hand experience of prisons so that we can deter them from substance abuse and a life of gangsterism,” said Sisulu.