Pretoria – Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha hosted South Africa’s first Correctional Youth Summit this weekend.
The summit – the first of similar summits to be hosted across the country – took place at the uMzuvukile Sports Ground in eNseleni in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday.
The summit was intended to explore ways of keeping young people away from crime and offending behaviour by tapping into local developmental opportunities through collaborative programmes between the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), municipalities, other government departments, the private sector and civil society.
Speaking to the youth at the summit, Minister Masutha said 2016 marks the 40th anniversary of the Soweto uprising, which continues to remind one of the sacrifices made by the youth of 1976.
“We look upon the bravery of the 1976 young lions as an inspiration to the youth of today to work hard and contribute in finding solutions to the many challenges that confront us. Statistics South Africa reports indicate that South Africa is a youthful country. The majority of our population is young,” said the Minister.
He said government, civil society and the private sector will have to redouble their collective efforts to ensure that future leaders are sufficiently empowered to approach the future with confidence.
“We must challenge the youth to take advantage of the opportunities created by our democracy in order to create a better life for themselves and their families. However, one may ask: ‘Minister what opportunities are you referring to when about 25.2% of South Africans are unemployed?'” remarked the Minister.
He said this reality calls for creative initiatives in order to turn things around. “It is therefore undisputed that young people deserve a bigger share of development investments.”
Minister Masutha noted that children as young as 17 have committed serious crimes ranging from murder, rape and theft.
South Africa’s correctional system progressively invests in the development of the youth currently in its care.
“However, we can find peace, stability and a higher sense of public safety only when we align our interventions to address the vulnerable youth at risk of committing crimes. We are, therefore, gathered here to say our correctional centres also do have a responsibility to look after the communities and youth outside our correctional centres,” he said.
A lack of education and adequate skills to penetrate the job market or lack of opportunities for the unskilled to start businesses, often forces some to engage in criminal activity to provide for needy families.
“We are therefore here as Correctional Services to say we want to advance youth development and prevent crime through the utilisation of our correctional centres.
“There is nothing stopping us from using offender labour to intervene in local communities and to build a better life for young people. We have 243 correctional centres in the country, which offer a wide range of developmental activities and opportunities.”
The summits are a platform for the Minister to engage directly with young people, especially those at risk of ending up in correctional facilities due to poverty, unemployment and lack of economic emancipation.
The Minister can further encourage young people, who make up the largest segment of the inmate/offender population, to resist the temptation of crime and being incarcerated.
SOURCE: SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT NEWS AGENCY