Johannesburg Central Prison’s soccer field was transformed into a polling station on Wednesday as up to a 1 000 inmates, escorted by emergency unit personnel, took turns to cast their votes.
Samantha Ramsewaki, communication manager for the correctional services facility told the Mail & Guardian Online that although “some of the inmates are not as energetic about voting as people who have their freedom”, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had under-estimated the numbers of prisoners who decided to participate in the 2009 election.
While they patiently queued, the residents of “Sun City” (as the prison is nicknamed) shared their reasons for voting and their future hopes.
For Lucas Mahlangu (31) “voting today [Wednesday] shows that I still have a second chance”. Mahlangu has been in Sun City for 10 years and will remain there for another eight. But he believes that even maximum-sentence inmates have a chance of changing.
“For us to see change, we need to stand for it,” he said. When asked what advice he’d give to the newly elected government on handling crime, he doesn’t hesitate: “Create jobs. But you can’t create jobs for people who have not been to school, so education is also very important.” He continues: “There’s this thing on paper called ‘free education for all’ but how come we end up in prisons?”
Mahlangu explained that some prisoners in the correctional facility have lost hope. “Their families have left them and they have a lack of support,” he said. Without an enabling environment outside, Mahlangu believes that it’s all but impossible for prisoners to make a fresh start when they’re released — however strong their intentions.
Ricardo Heneley (26) “feels good” about being able to cast his vote. He has been at Sun City for five-and-a-half years, and is now left with a couple of months before he is released. Heneley, who arrived at the correctional facility as a juvenile, added: “We want to show the community that we have learnt from our mistakes and that crime doesn’t pay.”
The former gang member plans to remove the tattoo on his hand when he gets out, and will “look after my little sisters, put bread on the table and provide shelter”. He said he’s learnt a lot from prison, but most of all “I’ve learnt from my mistakes.”
Solomon Ndlovu (42) feels overwhelmed that he’s been given a chance to vote, even though he knows “some people don’t like this”. He has been inside for five years and has another 18 to go. “I feel there’s been a change in me,” he explains. “I’ve engaged in a lot of programmes offered from the inside — self-esteem, HIV/Aids, stress and anger management. So now I can control myself anger-wise.”
Mpho Mokonehatse (32) is serving life for a crime he said he did not commit. “I’m voting ANC [African National Congress] because I relate to Zuma,” he said. Although Mokonehatse may never come out of jail, he still feels “privileged” to be given the opportunity to vote. He adds that being in prison “doesn’t mean it’s over”. Maybe, he said, “I’m here for a bigger reason.”
Emanuel Vate (28) agrees. Vate, who has been in jail since he was 17, said his experience behind bars has been “a mixture of events, but all in all, a journey of self-discovery”. When Vate arrived he only had a grade 10, but he quickly did his grade 12, and is now completing a BSc in computer science.
Vate had just obtained his ID, so he was voting for the first time this year. He is one of the lucky ones. Thousands of other prisoners are still waiting for their documents, because of long processing delays at Home Affairs.
Golden Miles Bhudu, President of the South African Prisoners Organisation for Human Rights (Sapohr) said he cannot understand the situation.
‘Doing a freedom walk’
“The vote of prisoners has been a fracas,” he told the Mail & Guardian Online. “We suggested to the IEC that they should make special arrangements for prisoners to use their pink [Prisoner ID] documents, but they never came back to us.”
Loretta Jacobs, Deputy Minister of Correctional Services is more upbeat: “This year we can expect to see 18 000 – 20 000 registered inmates across the country,” she said. Jacobs claimed that juveniles were especially encouraged to register, since young people “account for 27% of the national vote”.
Back on the soccer field, hundreds of women prisoners –many of them sporting new hairdos — waited to cast their votes on Wednesday.
“We are doing a freedom walk here!” declared Amanda-Lee Hogg (25).
Her friend, Faith Thango (30), agreed and added that she hopes the new South African president considers the plight of women who are first-time offenders.
After choosing to further her studies in prison, she is now qualified as a teacher and ready to “do something constructive”. Thango has been inside for 11 years, and is serving a 35-year sentence for robbery and theft.
She believes she was sentenced harshly. “We know what we did wrong, and we are willing to change. We have learnt,” she said.
Dawn Van Niekerk (29) has strong words for the new government: “If you want to stop crime, get rid of the drug lords! Don’t just send drug addicts to prison, first try and help them.”
Van Niekerk said she had a drug problem on the outside. After breaking parole she was arrested, but was never sent to rehab. “It was so easy for them to close the book on me, and just send me back here,” she said.
Chere Thapelo Matseke (24) agreed that prison is a place of wasted potential. He has been inside for six years and is left with one more year. “People here are ambitious,” he said, “but they just don’t know how to channel it”. He is optimistic about the future of South Africa and added: “I’m one of the people who can help change the country.”
Matseke plans to register next semester for Marketing Management and hopes someone can help sponsor his studies. He speaks warmly of the Ubuntu project: a prisoner-rehabilitation initiative which he said helps inmates to use their talents positively.
Matseke ends the conversation with an appeal: “The people we have hurt, let them heal as well, so that when we leave they are able to receive us.”