18 Aug 2015

Dozens of people worldwide associate prisoners with failure and it is common believe that if someone has been jailed for an extended period, it automatically means he will never succeed in life.

However, Mr Mompati Raditedu has lived to prove this myth wrong. Having failed at junior school he had to go through the trials and tribulations of unemployment while his mates were at senior schools.

As years passed by, Mr Raditedu could not find a stable or permanent job to sustain his life but only menial piece jobs. The pressure of being unemployed forced him into a wayward attitude which landed him in prison.

“I did not see it coming, if I could my story could be different,” he said. Things took the wrong turn in 2006 when he was sentenced to jail. It is obvious that talking about that period of his life opens up old wounds, and he gulps a cup of water to calm his emotions.

“Iya ga rihega iya ga hetja hakebate go tholorika ze bintsi ke bochelo ngwamma too bo njego go rihega ze binte leze bi mashwe” he explained using Sekgalagadi, that life is a journey made up of the good and the bad. However, Fabulas as he is popularly known was quick to accept his predicament that indeed he was to serve a couple of years in jail.

Subsequently he opted to do away with all the negativity and ignore snide remarks by people and started thinking of his future and life after prison. In 2013 when he stepped out of prison he was no more a boy but a man who wanted to change other people’s lives and utilise the knowledge he gained to create employment.

He had learned about the Youth Development Fund (YDF) and enquired how best he could benefit from the programme. The Hukuntsi born man never wasted time after realising that he qualified for the initiative so he applied and was funded to the tune of P98 000 to start his own business.

His eyes light up when he speaks of his business which trades by the name Fabula’s Upholstery and Dressmaking. “I saw bags, repair and replace covers of sofas and car seats that are worn-out,” he said.

He said one was always confronted by stumbling blocks in whatever endeavour one ventures into. The escalating rental charges and customers that take long to pay their debts were top in the list of his hiccups, but he envisions his business developing and getting more recognition as it grows.

For his word of encouragement, he said the youth have to change the way they think and start utilising initiatives availed for them. He noted that the mind gets cajoled easily to do unlawful things if one was idling, but if one has something to do, the mind was always occupied by that. ENDS