"Tshintsha Guluva", change young person. These are the words of Bongani Shembe to the youth of Kathorus. "Tshintsha Guluva", change young person. These are the words of Bongani Shembe to the youth of Kathorus.
“Tshintsha Guluva”, change young person. These are the words of Bongani Shembe to the youth of Kathorus.
Shembe, 40, became passionate about crime awareness and uprooting criminal activities in the Kathorus area about nine years ago.
While serving his sentence in the Boksburg prison, he changed his attitude towards crime.
“Instead of being angry about being locked up, I began to see things from the perspective of the community I had wronged,” said Shembe.
Shembe began to give talks in prison to fellow inmates, and he was so effective that even the prison authorities began to feel the wave of change in the attitudes of other inmates as well.
Following his release, Shembe founded an ex-offender after care organisation. “The main aim of the organisation is to help rehabilitate ex-offenders and very importantly to reintegrate them back into the community,” explained Shembe.
He said that the biggest challenge facing the organisation is convincing the community to give ex-offenders a chance to make up for their wrong doing. He went on to explain that they know that it is not easy but that it had to be done if crime was ever to be curbed.
Despite his struggle to find an office as a base to work from, as well as other things such as computers, stationery and personnel, Shembe refused to give up. “I couldn’t just look away and give lack of space and equipment as the reason why I did not do my part to fight crime. We are still in need of those things but together with the people I’m working with, we remain committed to our duty as members of the community,” stressed the passionate Shembe.
His message is directed to the youth. Once a month Shembe and other ex-offenders celebrates project Day of Hope. This is where the community, especially young people, meet to discuss the crime in their communities and come up with suggestions of what can be done to root out criminals in the Kathorus area.
The event is then followed by cheerful activities and door-to-door campaigns to homes that has been affected by crime.
Shembe’s organisation offers life-coaching, awareness campaigns, exhibitions, counselling and other skills ex-offenders acquired while in prison.
To date the organisation has been involved in giving talks to schools, fixing school equipment, plumbing, and maintaining school yards.
Although the organisation is facing a big challenge financially, Shembe has appealed to the government, businesses and the community to all help him in his quest to make Kathorus a safer community.
“For how long are we going to spend huge amounts of money on crime awareness campaigns that have been done over and over again? How about actually addressing the root of crime? I always use a slogan that says ‘you need a thief to catch a thief’.
He said that he does not understand why the business sector, for example, is always complaining about crime and how much they have lost due to crime but cannot lift a finger to do something about it.
Shembe’s message to the community of Kathorus, especially the youth, is simple: how long shall we sit back and watch our community decay further and further when we can take the initiative to fight against crime collectively?
Although he has been given many awards by the correctional services for his excellent work inside prisons and outside, he maintains that there is a lot of work to be done.
To the crime-ridden areas in Kathorus, and the perpetrators, he remains firm in his statement. “Tshintsha Guluva or feel the wrath of the law”.