Waterval inmates crowned Inter-Management Games champions

As part of its contribution towards the rehabilitation of offenders in the Province, the Department of Sport and Recreation is collaborating with Correctional Services to deliver competitive sport programmes for inmates.

On Tuesday, 20 February, the Department’s Umzinyathi District together with our sister department, Arts and Culture (Northern Region) assisted in hosting the 2018 Northern KZN Inter-Management sport and recreation event for offenders at the Waterval Correctional Centre sports grounds, in Newcastle, northern KZN.

The tournament brought together more than 150 inmates from five correctional centres from around the Province who competed in football, athletics, netball, chess and indigenous games (induku and umlabalaba) for males, females and juniors. The tournament is set to become an annual event. Correctional centres that participated were Durban Westville, Glencoe, Ncome, Watervall and Ekuseni Juvenile Correctional Centre.

According to Mrs V.P Mdlalose, the Waterval Area Acting Commissioner, this sporting event is very important because it forms part of a rehabilitation process for the inmates.

“The main objective of this event is to give inmates a chance to participate in sport so they can keep themselves active, healthy and help them to become productive members of society,” said Mdlalose.

One of the inmates, who did not want to be identified, said playing sport helps them to use their free time in a positive way. “Sports is very important for people in general, and for us it helps to improve our fitness and health. Here in the corrections and rehabilitation facility, we have the opportunity to play sports throughout the year, and we often compete against other teams,” he said.

At the end of the event, the Waterval team was crowned champions after they collected 24 overall points, followed by Ncome team with 14 points and the Glencoe team came 3rd with eight points.