Giving parolees a second chance

Among the myriad of socio-economic challenges is the need to effectively rehabilitate parolees by upskilling them.

EASTC Technocentric Varsity, which has over 100,000 artisans nationwide, has partnered with the Department of Correctional Service to train parolees released from prison in skills ranging from fibre optics, boiler-making, plumbing, welding, electrical, bricklaying, carpentry, and joinery.

According to CEO Dovhani Mamphiswana, the training will increase parolees’ chances of employment and running their own businesses, “giving them a second chance in life, which we all need”.

In an interview with The Citizen on Friday, on the sidelines of the relaunch of the institution, Mamphiswana described the programme as “a very important and ground-breaking initiative”.

“The Department of Correctional Service has an estimated 54 000 parolees, countrywide. It is a huge population, difficult to integrate into society.”

“We have told the government of our availability to train the parolees in various artisanal skills, so that they can become entrepreneurs and be employable.

“This will be part of correcting and integrating them back into society.

“This is a massive initiative in partnership with the Department of Correctional Services to train parolees and probation officers for the country’s advancement.

“We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the department for the next five years, to be able to train and assist in the capacity-building of parolees.

“For this year, we have been given 250 people to train in partnership with Sasita, with the programme induction taking place on the 27th of May.

A second chance

Prison education has been a focus of correctional services, with South African prisoners achieving a 96. 2% pass rate in the 2024 Matric exams.

Mamphiswana said it was important to rediscover new ways to assist those who had once been incarcerated.

“We all need a second chance in life because there is no dustbin for a human being.

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A grown-up baby

Reflecting on the institution’s relaunch, Mamphiswana said: “We are introducing ourselves to the public and saying we are now a grown-up baby.”

“We have been focusing on artisanal training, but we have found a new niche of providing training to many matriculants, left out of the higher education system because of a lack of space.

“We will be providing artisanal, engineering and IT-related courses – from diploma, degree to masters’ level – because technology is now the new normal.

“As a technocentric university, a technology-driven and training-focused institution, this is now the way we are going in addressing several challenges faced by the country”.