Prison school Mother’s Day event reduces moms to tears

Dozens of mothers were reduced to tears when they were reunited with their incarcerated juvenile sons during a Durban Westville Prison Mothers Day Special.

The event was organised by the prison’s Usethubeni School where the boys are finishing their high school education.

Kwandokuhle Ngcobo could not keep his hands off his mother Fayidile Ngcobo.

The 24 year-old from Ndwedwe outside Durban was given a 15-year sentence in 2009 for armed robbery.

He has only served half of that.

“I miss my mother everyday‚” said the second of three siblings.

“For me everyday is a special day for her. But what I have made her go through‚ no mother deserves that‚” said Ngcobo who is now the head boy at the prison’s school.

He was a teenager and only doing Grade 11 at Lihlithuba High School when he was arrested for armed robbery.

Clad in his maroon head boy blazer Ngcobo said he has big ambitions and wanted to study actuary science and build his mother a house.

His mother Fayidile said she was surprised that her son had remained sane despite the prison’s humbling conditions.

“I look forward to the day he gets released. I miss him so much and I visit him all the time. I hope he has learnt his lesson and is now a changed man‚” said Fayidile.

Correctional Services spokesman Thulani Mdluli said it was important to ensure that the boys did not lose that bond with their parents‚ especially their mothers.

“This is a correctional facility not a place for the condemned. It’s important that we keep these young men grounded‚” he said.

Nonhlanhla Nsele‚ one of the teachers at the prison school‚ said their programmes were aimed at changing lives and charting a future for the boys.

“It’s amazing how much of a difference our programmes impart. There’s a lot that the society can learn about what we do to ensure that their time here is beneficial in their future‚” she said.