Mayor of the Karoo and Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie this week had prisoners making a difference in the communities of Karoo Hoogland.
“Gayton McKenzie is not a better ex-prisoner, McKenzie is just one who met better people who gave him a second chance. Those better people helped him, and today he is the mayor of the Karoo Hoogland and will be running for presidency in 2024,” McKenzie said this week in a wide-ranging interview with Sunday World.
The former prisoner, who is now a successful businessman, motivational speaker and author, said prisoners must give back to the communities. “Prisoners should not get a second chance, they should earn it and not demand it.”
The prisoners fixed a house of a gender-based violence (GBV) victim.
On Tuesday, McKenzie posted on Facebook: “I want to thank the Department of Correctional Services, my team in the central Karoo Hoogland and the inmates for totally fixing this house of a victim of GBV.
“The house is brand-new and no inmate tried to escape. Inmates should earn second chances. My heart is full.”
McKenzie previously worked with prisoners in the UK and Germany and hopes to work with inmates from Johannesburg soon.
“If you are going to treat prisoners like animals, then you must expect a wild animal to surface. South Africa is fighting crime daily, one person can cause damage, but we can change their lives and crime can stop.
“The Americans use old hackers to catch the modern hackers. In Germany, they use ex-car thieves to catch hijackers. Why not use ex-prisoners to catch criminals in South Africa?” he asked.
The mayor of Karoo also plans to build what many in the area refer to as “Dubai West”, a multibillion-rand logistics hub.
He wrote on Facebook: “Dubai loading. Beaufort West is in the middle of South Africa, it only makes sense to turn it into a major player in logistics. We planned very hard and succeeded, a major company won the rights two construct a R4.5-billion logistics hub.
“I’m beyond excited about the jobs [which will be created]. [The] first phase [is] starting soon and thousands [of people] will get permanent jobs. This will be a legacy project, many tried previously and failed, we did it partners.”
He said the Karoo is compared to Dubai because just like Dubai, it used to be a dessert.
“We are currently the eighth-largest gas deposit in the world, that alone can make us Dubai. Mosselbay is made on one TCF [trillion cubic feet] and the Karoo is sitting on 300 TCF. We also have a lot of wind, air and we are resourced to make this Dubai West.”
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