The Truth and Reconciliaiton Comission (TRC) brought the power of Restorative Justice versus punitive or retributive justice to the attention of the world. As we work more and more with the members of Youth for Change in Khayelitsha, we see again and again the miracle of these same principles being applied on a far less public scale.
The leadership of Youth for Change's belief in the basic human value of even the worst juvenile offenders leads them to support just those youth who others would wish to ignore, and a formal justice system would judge, punish and incarcerate, were it not so overloaded with cases that it is simply not possible to follow up on every crime. This relative lack of formal legal processes in the overpopulated townships paradoxically facilitates the application of restorative justice to the youth, for it becomes possible for a young offender to make a genuine decision and committment to give up a life of crime and simply do that.
The support of the Founders of Youth for Change and of youth members who have already made a similar decision is of course crucial. What we have observed is that, with this support, many young people who were high school dropouts have returned to school, and those no longer of school age have enrolled for adult education to obtain the equivalent of a high school diploma.
L-R: "Commander Zet", Mandisi Njoli and Zakuthini Ndletyana, Founders of Youth for Change
Commander Zet feels that Releasing has played a key role in the transformation of the youth, especially in them being able to speak openly with one another about the lives. We found that the most common thing they needed to release was not anger or bitterness about their life situation, but the simple fear of being spoken badly about by others behind their backs.
We applaud the efforts of Zwelitsha Mhluthwa ("Commander Zet") and his colleagues and friends in beginning this initiative in Khayelitsha less than a year ago, funded out of their own pockets, and look forward to the continued success of their project and increased funding from other sources now that they have become an official project of the Lyndi Fourie Foundation and able to work under the Foundation's non-profit status.
Stephen Marcus and Barbara Kroll
For more information on the Lindwall Foundation Outreach Program in South Africa,
please contact Stephen Marcus, marcus@onearth.net,
or Barbara Kroll, releasing@barbarakroll.de.
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