Durban – Two Pietermaritzburg families left homeless by last April’s floods were on Monday handed the keys to new houses constructed by inmates from the New Prison correctional facility.
The houses were handed over during a community imbizo at the KwaMpumuza Traditional Authority.
The event was attended by the national commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), Makgothi Thobakgale, Correctional Services regional commissioner for KwaZulu-Natal Mnikelwa Nxele, and the local leadership.
The houses handed over in the KwaMpumuza and KwaShange areas followed appeals made by the local traditional leadership for assistance to be provided to families who were left homeless following the heavy rains last year.
Nxele said the project was another intervention by the department where offender labour was used to make a difference.
DCS spokesperson Thulani Mdluli said that once the local leadership had alerted them to the housing needs of the two families, the department availed the inmates who were trained in construction while in prison.
“This is part of the rehabilitation of inmates and falls under the district development model where entities such as schools, public parks and other facilities are refurbished and given the necessary makeover for their usage,” he said.
Mdluli added that such an exercise went a long way towards the inmates’ rehabilitation.
Inkosi Nsikayezwe Zondi, the local traditional leader, commended the department for its intervention and making a difference to the affected families.
One of the recipients, Sibongile Zondi, a mother and grandmother, said she was grateful that her family would have a home of their own.