By A Correspondent- A talented painter and a fine artist, Remiuos Sithole (20) currently serving his sentence at Bulawayo Prison has blamed his mother for his wayward behaviour that has turned him into a habitual criminal.

In an interview, Sithole said venturing into crime was caused by his mother after she ventured into prostitution to try and fend for her children as she was divorced and not formally employed.

“It is very unfortunate that my life was spoilt when I was still young as my father divorced my mother and soon after that separation my father decided to relocate to South Africa. This move left my mother who was not formally employed with a task of looking after me and my siblings.

“That situation left her with no option, but to venture into prostitution and in the process she even recruited my own younger sisters into this “dirty” industry,” he said.

Sithole said as they were growing up his friends used to laugh at him, saying that his mother was a prostitute and that really embarrassed him, such that he felt it was his responsibility to stop what his mother was doing.

“When my father left for South Africa I was left in the custody of my mother so a lot of people in our neighbourhood knew that she was into prostitution and some even started calling me names because of that.

“The names that I was given by people in my neighbourhood really hurt me to the extent that I felt that it was my duty to stop her from doing whatever she was doing and I would like to believe that if it were not for this issue I would not be a regular visitor of this place called prison,” he said.

The inmate said the pressure that he indirectly got from the members of the community saw him venturing into crime at the age of 16. This decision came after his mother had forced him to drop out of school as she could no longer afford to pay his school fees.

“It was when I was in Form Three; when my mother told me that she could no longer afford to pay my school fees and these words left me with only one option in life and that was venturing into crime.

“If I am to be honest with you guys, at times I feel like I am the most unfortunate person because as we speak right now I am only 20 years old and I have been convicted more than nine times in courts,” he said.

Sithole said his first conviction came when he was only 17 years old and he was sentenced to 24 months in prison. During that time in prison he was regarded as a juvenile as he was still below the age of 18.

“When I was arrested by the police on charges of unlawful entry I was taken to the courts, where the matter was tried and it was proven that for sure I had committed that offence.

“Being in prison for the first time was not easy, the environment was totally different, but considering that I had committed a crime I had no option, but to quickly adjust,” he said.

The inmate told B-Metro that when he started providing basic commodities for his family his mother immediately quit prostitution as she was now getting all the goods that she required to live a normal life.

“You know there is nothing which is as embarrassing as being asked on the whereabouts of your mother by a boy of your age, worse knowing the reason why he is looking for her. That really got to my nerves and it was so bad such that I would not even want to think about it.

“So after having realised that I had found the solution to my problem, I promised that I was going to continue committing any crime that involves money to help my family,”he said.

Sithole said while in prison he discovered that he was a talented painter, but it was difficult for him to develop his talent due to a serious shortage of funds as that industry had the potential to sustain him and his family.

“While in prison I took that opportunity to reflect on my life and I discovered that I was really talented in the area of art and painting but the major challenge that I discovered was that I really needed funding to start running such a project.

“Right now I am in prison and when I get so stressed I use the painting skill as a way of relieving myself from the stresses that I would be going through considering that I am in custody,” he said.

The inmate appealed to the corporate world to assist him to acquire the resources that he requires to start an art project for him to be able to fend for his family without being involved in crime.

“As we speak people in my neighbourhood now know that if I am not at home, I would be in prison and that is not good considering that directly or indirectly I need their support as a community.

“That whole issue really affects me, so I am kindly appealing for assistance from the community to support me in establishing my new project as I really would like to leave crime and venture into something totally different from what I have been doing all along which is crime,” he said.

The station rehabilitation officer, Lameck Mazaka, said it was actually encouraging that inmates were slowly realising their mistakes and showing their commitment to leaving the field of crime.

“It is actually a good sign that some of our inmates like Sithole have finally realised their mistakes and are prepared to work to develop the nation through their personal projects.

“We hope more of them are going to follow the same path and fix their mistakes that brought them to prison,” he said.