Convicted Kwaito artist Brickz graduates while serving 15-year jail sentence

Kwaito artist and convicted rapist Brickz has graduated while serving a 15-year sentence at the Leeuwkop prison, in Sandton.

Real name Sipho Ndlovu, the 43-year-old who is serving a sentence for raping his then 16-year-old relative at their rented house on Northriding, north of Joburg, received a Certificate in Hygiene and Cleaning.

“The graduation took place on 24 July 2024,” Department of Correctional Services,” Zandile Mabunda told The Citizen.  

“It is a long-distance study,” added Mabunda about the six-month-long course that Brickz graduated from.

According to the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) the primary purpose of this qualification is to develop in a learner, the foundational, practical and reflexive competencies required for a career in the Hygiene & Cleaning Services Industry.

Central to the qualification is the development of a culture of quality service and professionalism in a cleaning services environment. This qualification intends to produce cleaners who can find gainful employment in the cleaning industry.

This qualification enables learners to access learning in fields such as Hospitality, Health Care, Wholesale and Retail, Food Production or Manufacturing or a related branch of cleaning.

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Life in prison

Brickz graduates with other offenders

The Sweety Ma Baby muso graduated together with 187 other offenders.

“Most offenders who have undergone educational programs would know that through what they have achieved at the Correctional Centres, they will be able to earn a living using the skills and qualifications received than to resort back to crime,” averred Mabunda.

The living conditions of prisoners have been under the spotlight in the past few weeks, following a video of a Zimbabwean citizen in a South African prison circulating on social media.

In the said video, the prisoner in question Bornface Banks, bragged about the comforts of life in Mzansi prison which grants inmates access to free food, electricity, and education, as well as the ability to use a cell phone to post on social media.

Correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo told The Citizen that the department was disgusted by the video making rounds on the internet.

“The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is appalled by the video making rounds on social media by inmate Bornface Banks,” said Nxumalo.

Nxumalo said a search was carried out and the cell phone was confiscated. “The remand detainee will be taken through disciplinary processes.

“Mobile phones are defined as contraband in correctional centres hence illegal access and usage is a punishable offence,” he added.

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