Athlone police station spokeswoman Sergeant Zita Norman, left, and Owen Butler.
There is no safety to be found in a gang’s embrace, a reformed gangster told children at a Belgravia orphanage on Saturday.
Owen Butler is the founder of the I Am You non-profit organisation, which helps to guide youngsters away from crime. He spoke to about 50 children at Leliebloem House about the dangers of gangs and drugs.
He will be running a programme at the orphanage for the next nine weeks as some of the children have been absconding, using gang language and experimenting with dagga, according to Leliebloem House social worker Hilda Davids.
“This is really about preventative measures. Our kids go out and are part of the communities. They attend schools in Manenberg and Hanover Park and interact with the children there,” she said.
Mr Butler said he wanted to keep children out of jail, and children he worked with who had joined gangs found it hard to leave as they feared for their lives.
“It’s all about the choices that you make. You are exposed to the system, but you need to decide that you won't fall into it,” he told the children.
He showed them slides of juvenile prisons and said that many offenders only realised the consequences of doing crime once they had already ended up in prison.
“They are dangerous and instil fear in society, but they have so much fear inside them for prison... in prison, bullies will become bullied,” he said.
A life of crime could start with telling lies, he warned and cautioned against seeking bad advice and follow bad instructions.
“Gangsters teach you to lie. Some learn that at home by their parents. Gangsters will recruit you with confusion, confuse your mind. They will make you think that you are safer with them and they will protect you if you join but then tell you to wear a weapon to protect yourself.
“Don't take information from just anyone. Don't advise people if you don't have the right advice.”
Athlone Police station spokeswoman Sergeant Zita Norman said primary school pupils were falling prey to gangsterism and learning gang language, and teachers were battling to deal with unruly pupils.
“We want to get them at ground roots level and decrease the overloaded court roll of juveniles,” she said.
Shakira Manuel, 18, who is part of the junior station commissioner project for youth at Athlone police station, said: “This programme is important to bring awareness that there is a better life than what they see around them, and that they can better themselves.”