A significant number of youth caught up in the political violence of the early nineties and who later turned to crime in East Rand townships are now contributing to society thanks to interventions from the National Peace Accord Trust.
The trust said on Tuesday this was the key finding of a long-term research project into the changing behaviour of youngsters traumatised by the violent confrontation of opposing political groups in East Rand townships during the political transition.
The townships included Vosloorus, Thokoza and Katlehong. It said the research, conducted by trust fieldworkers over the past eight years, showed that of the 125 youth leaders who were engaged in violent criminal activity after the political transition, more than 80% had turned their backs on crime.
Substance abuse among participants dropped by 65%, trauma was reduced by 70%, stable relationships increased by 20%, and from zero employment before the trust’s intervention, 72% were now gainfully employed, with the majority involved
in uplifting their own communities.
The trust’s executive director, Maggie Seiler, said: ”We believe these findings are significant because the youths we surveyed all occupy leadership roles.
”While it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions, it is clear that our efforts to rehabilitate youths who turned to violent crime have had a positive impact on the youths themselves and on their communities.”
She said that during the political conflict in East Rand townships in the early nineties, youngsters caught up in the violence — the ”young lions” as they were dubbed — either joined African National Congress-affiliated self-defence units or Inkatha Freedom Party’s self-protection units.
”As the conflict dissipated, the militarised youth in these townships became marginalised by their communities and felt abandoned, disempowered and disconnected from society. Many turned to violent crime as a consequence of the political violence that had engulfed them,” Seiler said.
The trust began therapeutic interventions in these areas in 1996. It launched the Katorus Wilderness Therapy Project, which dealt with the trauma experienced by the youth in these areas and was aimed at reducing their participation in criminal activities.
Between 1996 and 1999, the trust’s trained guides ran eco-therapy wilderness trails in the Drakensberg for 125 traumatised youth leaders from East Rand townships. All were unemployed and 84% were engaged in serious criminal activities including murder, rape, armed robbery, bank heists, car hijackings and major drug dealing.
”Eco-therapy trails and the support provided by our psychologists have had a profound impact on nearly all the participants.
”At the personal level, most have given up crime and drug abuse, although it is not clear whether their alcohol consumption has stabilised. Many have are now involved in community work and some have made personal commitments to family, even taking on young children,” she said.
”Most encouraging is that some have started what might be called SMMEs, but by their own volition and without the stifling support afforded by government bureaucracies. A few have even gone into local public service as reserve policemen and firemen.”
Seiler said that while the conclusions were tentative, she believed serious crime could be markedly reduced through the right interventions at community level.
Drug abuse could be curtailed, personal commitments enhanced and a genuine sense of community developed in communities around the country that were struggling with the legacies of political and criminal violence, but required targeted professional interventions, commitment and funding, she said.
To accelerate its work, the trust has launched a one-year training course in conjunction with the departments of health and welfare.
The training is an extension of the work already done in East Rand townships and will lead to certification of ”restorative community workers”. The SA Qualifications Authority will certify the course and public and private sector organisations will be
approached to sponsor these workers as part of their social investment initiatives.
”While NPAT (the trust) has the capacity to identify, recruit and train Restorative Community Workers for redeployment in their communities, we don’t have the resources to employ them.
”Government and public and private sector companies will need to sponsor them at R30 000 a year, or better still employ them,” she said.
It is hoped that companies with roots in communities traumatised by violence or that draw labour from such communities will sponsor a youth leader to be trained as a restorative community worker.
”On the back of our research findings, we are now certain of the positive impact these workers can have in traumatised communities,” said Seiler.
”NPAT believes that the future stability and prosperity of South Africa can only be built on stable community life and we are extremely encouraged by the findings of our research because it shows that, given the right interventions, criminally inclined
youths can become positive agents for sustainable development.”
The trust is a non-profit organisation focused entirely on healing and reconciliation in South Africa. – Sapa