TSUMEB – President Hifikepunye Pohamba has urged convicted offenders who are given an opportunity for rehabilitation and integration back into society to mend their criminal ways, abandon a life of crime and rather become productive law-abiding citizens.
He said the Namibian Correctional Service has shifted away from the past, which was characterized by a vindictive and retributive penalty system, into a modern approach where prisons have been turned into correctional centres of learning, change and rehabilitation.
The President on Wednesday inaugurated the modern correctional services facilities at Farm Scott about 30 kilometers north-east of Tsumeb to house more than 800 inmates.
Pohamba was very impressed by the presentations offered to him by female prison psychologists, social workers and scientists, many of them University of Namibia graduates.
“I am very impressed by the levels of these women’s education. Unam has set an impressive standard of educating our men and women and I have no doubt that offenders that are serious about reintegration into society will be prepared by these young women as responsible citizens to make a meaningful contribution in our society once freed. We must equip the youth offenders with the appropriate skills as part of our ongoing efforts in rehabilitating them. I am proud to see our women’s education reaching high levels. I am indeed a very proud president, equally proud with what Unam has to offer to its citizens,” said the Head of State.
Statistics have shown that the majority of offenders in Namibian jails are young people.
The President also took issue with the responsibilities of society towards rehabilitated offenders when they are released into their communities. “While the successful reintegration of any offender depends primarily on the offender himself or herself, society should as far as practical, provide the necessary support that will enable them to re-establish themselves as productive members of society,” he said.
The Head of State further cautioned prison staff members against colonial tendencies and the use of derogatory expressions when dealing with offenders.
“I was a former prisoner but not an offender, a freedom fighter who was insulted with words like ‘bliksem’, ‘donder’, ‘kaffir’. We must erase tendencies of the colonial era and treat offenders with the respect and human dignity they deserve, irrespective of who they are,” said Pohamba. He also conferred the Correctional Service Commendation Medal on Prisons and Correctional Service Commissioner-General Evaristus Shikongo.
Oshikoto Regional Governor Penda ya Ndakolo commended government for transforming the facility into a productive centre.
“Farm Scott used to be a haven for the notorious South African counter-insurgency unit Koevoet and used as a counseling centre for its forces traumatized by war. Government has now transformed this former tool of the enemy into a useful and productive facility,” stressed the regional governor.
The Minister of Safety and Security Immanuel Ngatjizeko also graced the occasion along with the Deputy Prime Minister Marco Hausiku and the Minister of Veterans Affairs Minister, Dr Nicky Iyambo, and many other guests from China and Zambia.
By Engel Nawatiseb