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Prisoner's dream to change others

AFTER serving just over one year of his life sentence for murder, Lucky Mpungose said he had a "revelation".

The 43-year former bottle store owner said it was that revelation that brought him out of his denial and onto the road to setting up what has become Sesikhulile Motivational Workshops for inmates at Durban's Westville Prison.

He said the workshops were aimed at changing the prisoners' perspective of life and to prepare them for life outside prison.

Yesterday, 70 inmates who took part in a workshop graduated and were given certificates.

Even though Mpungose will never see the light of freedom, he said his plan was to make a difference in the life of others.

"I came to this prison in 2002 then in November 2003 I finally accepted that what I had done was cruel and meaningless.

"I was so ashamed of what I had done and decided to do something about it.

"I refuse to speak about the details surrounding what I did, because it's too painful and mostly because I am so ashamed.

"Life in prison is easy, it's the guilt and the shame that's the hardest," he said.

Mpungose said he developed the workshops after he completed his BA degree in development studies.

He said the workshops were not only meant to keep offenders active, positive and focused during their incarceration, but also to ensure that they never entered the prison gates again.

Mpungose, who is now working towards his honours in African and international politics, said his "crying days were over".

"We as inmates have sinned and we as a community here in prison are asking society to forgive us.

"Don't turn your backs on us. We know that we have been part of the problem, now, through this workshop and serving our time, we are dedicating ourselves to building a crime-free society."

The maximum security prisoner said it was because the KwaZulu-Natal department of correctional services "gave us an ear" that the Sesikhulile Motivational Workshop was a resounding success.

The initiative also has the backing of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco).

Speaking to inmates at the graduation ceremony, Santaco provincial deputy chairperson Aubrey Mbambo, a former Westville Prison inmate himself, said conflict resolution within the volatile taxi industry was precisely what prisoners dealt with on a daily basis.

Mbambo, who served time for armed robbery, added: "We want to bring about peace in the taxi industry that has seen so much killing.

"Some of the people that are in Westville Prison have been involved in the killings themselves and some of them have hired others to do the killings.

"So this kind of workshop is perfect to make sure that these killings don't take place once a prisoner leaves their cells."

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