Stories from Hennenman
Hennenman is a farming community in The Free State. The advice office is run by Dladla Mokeki. Our junior journalist is Confidence. The partner radio station is Lejweleputswa District Community Radio Station (The Rock).
Juvenile offenders are treated as guilty even when they are found innocent
Mojalefa van Zyl was arrested for common assault and spent three months in remand detention, which is where suspects are kept while awaiting trial. At the time of his arrest, he was 18 years old and in matric. His charges were eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence. Even though he was not convicted, returning back to school and the community was difficult.
Ex-inmates join fight against gangsterism
Maile Jackson Sithole was sentenced for 37 years and he says, “There’s life in prison, I worked my way up and made a decent life for myself.” While in prison, he joined the 26 gang and became an influential person among inmates.
“I grew up in a prison” – the story of a gangster who became a plumber
“I grew up in prison,” says Thabo Pule, who has been in and out of correctional centres since he was 16 years old. “I was never sentenced for long periods but I was always on trial and would get 5 years and then 3 years and then 5 again since 1998.” Then, last year Thabo got out of prison for the last time. He found an initiative called Youth Build and cleaned up his life.