It’s just two pieces of KFC, says MEC after spending R60k on inmates

Gauteng community safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane has defended her decision to spend R60 000 on KFC given to Leeuwkop Correctional Services inmates last week.

Nkosi-Malobane had visited the prison as part of the department’s Get Out and Stay Out (Goso) programme, which has been running for two years.

The programme was attended by about 2 000 people, including pupils, prison warders, department stakeholders and more than 900 prisoners, many of them convicted of raping women and children, according to Nkosi-Malobane.

Nkosi-Malobane said the department decided to buy KFC for the convicts, as catering services would have charged between R100 and R200 per head, while a Streetwise Two was less than R50, she told The Star.

“It’s just two pieces of KFC, really,” she said, further saying the department could stop catering for the inmates, but would not stop the programmes.

Instead of focusing on the food served, people should bear in mind that the department’s programme aimed at equipping the inmates with skills to use when they were released, she said.

The MEC received criticism last week after pictures of her giving inmates KFC surfaced on Facebook.

Though some defended the MEC’s gesture, saying it would help in the prisoners’ rehabilitation, some criticised her, reminding her the people she was giving KFC to may have killed a suffering family’s breadwinner. What about the suffering kids on the street, some argued.

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