Deputy Minister to meet offenders, victims

Pretoria - Correctional Services Deputy Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize will on Saturday meet sentenced offenders and their victims as part of a Victim-Offender Mediation programme.

The programme is jointly hosted by Fort-Hare University's Department of Criminology and the Department of Correctional Services.

The Victim-Offender Mediation programme is part of the Restorative Justice System Programme launched in 2007 in an effort to heal the wounds of crime and to reduce repeat offending.

Mkhize is expected to deliver a keynote address on restorative justice and reflect on what the department was doing to put the needs of the victims at the heart of the criminal justice system.