Fate of Ottery school for child offenders uncertain

But the rehabilitation centre for male juvenile offenders may yet have to close. Youth care centres are being relocated from the education department to the social development department.

With green dormitories and barbed wire fencing, the centre houses 70 boys aged 12 to 18 years.The centre provides vocational training in its workshops. The boys are also taught the standard curriculum in smaller classes. One programme, based at Grace House on the centre’s grounds, teaches the boys how to live independently.

Principal Moosa Mahadick says, “Working with youth is not an easy thing. We have to guide and support them and that is what our vision and mission is here at Ottery. We build [self-]esteem and help them reintegrate in the community as productive people. The matter is in [the Cape High] court and has been postponed till May. We are getting a lot of support from the community to keep the centre open as a facility for youth at risk. We currently have 70 kids, which is the capacity of the school. Historically, this school served 700 kids, from the year 2000, 120, and now for budgetary and other reasons it has been reduced to 70.”

Former student Peter Michaels says he is where he is today because of the centre and he would be heartbroken if it closed down. Michaels left the centre when he was 19. He is now 22.

“It all started when I was nine. I started smoking glue, hanging around bad friends … peer pressure … I didn’t have anyone to look up to. All my family members were gangsters; my uncle was affiliated with the numbers gang, and my father was arrested when I was seven. I saw him when they took him away. From what I know, he was arrested after riding his motorbike on other people’s premises. It had something to do with apartheid. Because my dad looked happy and wealthy behind bars, I grew up thinking that being in jail was a good thing and that I wanted to be like him. This is when I started smoking, bunking school and hanging out with my friends a lot. At 13, I had been in and out of numerous care centres. I ended up here in Ottery after being sent here by the court,” says Michaels.

Michaels works as a personal assistant and helps out at a music academy in Hout Bay. He considers himself a songwriter and composer too. He is also a kung-fu fighter. He lives with his three young siblings – two brothers and one sister – who are also in care centres.

Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich gave the boys motivational words. He said they should have confidence in themselves and their abilities because they were talented. “The fact that they want to close the school is an attack on your human rights. We must stand together and fight this,” said Ehrenreich.

The Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED) Paddy Atwell said according to their information, there were no immediate plans to close the Ottery Youth Care Centre. “The WCED supports education at the centre. The WCED has approved additional funding for education at the centre, over and above their allocation in terms of national norms and standards.”

Atwell said information on any plans could be obtained from the Western Cape Department of Social Development which was responsible for youth care centres.

Sihle Ngobese, spokesperson for Albert Fritz, Western Cape Minister of Social Development said, “There are no immediate plans to close the centre by the Provincial Government. The Department of Social Development has issued the centre with interim registration as a Child and Youth Care Centre so that it can continue to operate. We are hoping to be able to grant them full registration soon. This will require some infrastructure and other investments to bring the centre into line with the registration requirements of the Children’s Act.”