Help could be on the horizon for ex-offenders
If all goes well, ex-offenders could soon get the break they need to lead a life free of crime thanks to the God’s Call Ministries.
Two former inmates of the Leeuwkop Correctional Services facility believe they have a calling to minister to the needs of parolees who face the harsh realities of life after prison.
Pastors Sibusiso Mutsenga (29) and Boitumelo Langerman (35), of God’s Call Ministries which operates from Alexandra and has a presence in Orkney in the North-West Province, are determined to ensure that parolees never return to prison after their release.
Mutsenga, an Alex-born resident was released in 2021 after being sentenced to a 15-year jail term for murder in 2016, with seven years suspended, and served only five years before being released on parole in 2021.
Orkney resident Langerman was released in 2022 after being sentenced in 2010 to 22 years for murder and 12 years for robbery which amounted to 34 years for murder after a car hijacking. Ten of the 12-years of the sentence were suspended, leaving him with 24 years for murder and car hijacking but released on parole in 2022 after serving 12 years and two months.
The pair said they faced issues of rejection within their communities and they could hardly find work due to their criminal records- and blamed this situation as the reason why most offenders tended to return to a life of crime soon after their release.
“This is a huge impediment to the rehabilitation process of ex-offenders as they cannot find work or make a meaningful activity outside crime to support themselves and their families. Once they are released, the pressures are huge and impossible for them as they have spent so many years in prison and come out with only the clothes they wore when they were jailed,” Mutsenga said.
“It is no wonder why most of them return to prison soon after their release because they can’t survive anymore outside the life of crime. Some of them were breadwinners in their criminal activities and all of a sudden they are rehabilitated but cannot find work and turn back to crime,” Langerman added.
The pair said the government needs to play a major role in the rehabilitation of ex-offenders by assisting them to find work or start their small businesses that can help sustain them after prison life.
“It’s a fruitless exercise for them to teach us such wonderful skills in prison and when we come out it’s a game of each man or woman for himself/ herself. You come with nothing in prison and not even a cent and then you are expected to start a small business, with what,” Langerman said.
The ex-offender pair will use their God’s Call Ministries NPO to engage with parolees and find a way to resuscitate their lives outside of crime. “This is no mean feat, and we need the community to rally behind us, including the government, corporate sector and other NPOs and NGOs currently operating in our communities so that all of us can find a solution and thereby reduce criminal activities,” Mutsenga said.
A launch of the project is scheduled for February 3 at the Temple of Restoration Church in Marlboro, corner of Florence Mophosho Street and 4th Street.
Details: Sibusiso Mutsenga 065 916 7252; Boitumelo Langerman 069 448 7922; godscallm@gmail.com
