Correspondent: Killers Don't Cry Tx Date: 29th April 2001 This script was made from audio tape - any inaccuracies are due to voices being unclear or inaudible 00.00.00 Opening music 00.00.07 Allan Little This is the story of a dark and until now impenetrable secret. It is the story of a brave and at times breathtaking experiment in human nature. 00.00.21 Allan Little In this prison a brutal and all-powerful gang system reigns. 00.00.28 Allan Little It is known as The Numbers. 00.00.30 Loud knocking 00.00.36 Allan Little This is the story of an attempt to reach into the hearts of evil men, to understand their depravity and to try to change them. 00.00.48 Correspondent Theme Music 00.00.55 Title Page KILLERS DON'T CRY 00.01.04 Allan Little Pollsmoor Maximum security in Cape Town. After months of negotiation we were allowed to enter the secret world of the Numbers gangs. 00.01.15 Allan Little We were warned that the prison houses mass murderers, multiple rapists and armed robbers. The gang system rewards violence. Only those who are willing to commit atrocity, to maim and murder can rise to the top. 00.01.30 Allan Little Mogamat Benjamin has killed more people than he can remember. It has made him the highest-ranking gangster here. He is a general. 00.01.38 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover In the camp of 28s a person's life is in my hands. The final decision is mine. There are people who I order killed and they are killed. On my file written in red it says "Notorious/Dangerous". 00.01.56 Prisoners chanting 00.02.03 Allan Little Most prisoners here are awaiting trial. It can take up to four years for a case to come to court. While they are here the Numbers gangs can trap them for life. 00.02.14 Allan Little The gangs emerged as a way for black prisoners to defy the brutality of white rule. But South Africa is changing. 00.02.23 Allan Little Johnny Jansen is the first black man to head maximum security. He wants to break this legacy of violence. 00.02.31 Aston JOHNNY JANSEN Head of Maximum Security, Pollsmoor Voiceover We must understand that because of the history conflict is dealt with violently. The strongest lives the longest and these people have no alternative but to use violence to deal with conflict. 00.02.48 Allan Little The prison warders patrol the passages, but behind the steel doors the territory belongs to the gangs. 00.03.01 Allan Little They have their own elaborate military hierarchies, their own laws, their own codes of conduct and punishment, and until now an unbreakable code of secrecy. 00.03.11 Prisoners chanting 00.03.20 Allan Little Mogamat has been in prison for 34 years. His appearance belies his record, for multiple murder made him a general, and his status entitles him to a uniform. 00.03.32 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover The ranks of our gangs and all we do is based on the military. The uniforms we wear today are all in our minds. 00.03.47 Aston MOGAMAT BENJAMIN I am a man of gold. Everything in me is gold. My rank is gold; my cap is gold; the buckles on my boots are gold; even my belt is gold. In other words, I am a blood officer. 00.04.04 Allan Little Mogamat lives up in cell 191 with 36 other prisoners. Pollsmoor is 300 per cent overcrowded. 00.04.12 Allan Little The gang known as the 28 is the oldest gang of all. It was founded in 1906 as a revolt by 28 black prisoners. 00.04.22 Allan Little Members of the 28 live alongside two other gangs- the 26 and the 27, crowded together in this one cramped room. 00.04.32 Allan Little In prison the men of the 26 concentrate on theft. They rob and steal. 00.04.38 Allan Little The men of the 28 have sex with each other in the night. There is no doubt about who has absolute control. 00.04.47 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover I am powerful. I am partly God because I am a general of the 28s. Today I believe that generals are made by God. 00.05.06 Warder taps doors 00.05.16 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover There is no man in Pollsmoor with a higher rank than me. I earned every rank by stabbing a warder. I am prepared to take them all on even though I die. It will happen. It cuts no ice. 00.05.28 Allan Little Mogamat's second-in-command is Erefaan Jacobs. He holds the rank of judge in the 28s. His job is to enforce gang law, and to punish those who break it. He too has killed fellow inmates. 00.05.44 Aston EREFAAN JACOBS Voiceover When you join the gang we develop you so that you are fearless. A lot of men are scared, but once you've attacked someone you'll do it again and feel brave. You can only come into the camp by spilling blood. 00.06.04 Allan Little The gangs demand constant demonstrations of loyalty. They cut the emblems of their allegiance into their skin. This is their uniform. It carries their rank. 00.06.18 Allan Little For in prison a spoken oath is not sufficient. The Number demands that you be marked indelibly for life. 00.06.30 Tattooed man Subtitles In prison people don't believe what you tell them. They won't believe you if you tell them you are a 28. Words count for nothing on prison. It's only evidence that counts. 00.06.46 Allan Little Some go further still and tattoo their faces. It is the absolute abandonment of all hope of a life outside. 00.06.55 Erefaan Jacobs Voiceover I made the tattoos because I wanted to be seen. Me, I'm a pig. Don't mess with me, man. The day I came to prison I had a grudge against my mother and I cut these words "I hate you mum. I don't care" all over my face. Because I thought I'll never come out of prison. 00.07.14 Erefaan Jacobs These are the things that made me join a gang and I made a family for myself here because these people cared and now I am with them. 00.07.33 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover We really love each other. I am prepared to die for the next 28 and he is prepared to die for me. I'm prepared to commit murder for him. 00.07.43 Mogamat Benjamin For my wife? Well, I would think twice. A woman, you flirt with her, maybe buy her a bunch of flowers. But the 28 brother who you love, you will take blood for him. 00.08.07 Allan Little Mogamat showed us how to make a weapon from a prison-issue toothbrush and a blade smuggled from the prison hospital. 00.08.19 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover With this weapon I am going to go for your neck or your eyes. It won't help to go for head. I'll stab you in your eye and when you grab your eye I'll stab you in your neck and then I stab you to death by cutting your artery. 00.08.34 Mogamat Benjamin That's one way. This is one object but two knives. This way I can attack more men at the same time. 00.08.48 Erefaan Jacobs Voiceover To take people out, to kill them, to stab with knives, that's how we live in prison. If the warders give us grief, anything we don't agree with, we stab them. We take somebody out. 00.09.04 Allan Little The prison warders are the gang members' natural targets. They are only lightly armed with batons and tear-gas canisters. 00.09.11 Allan Little They are underpaid and overworked. And they are outnumbered one hundred to one by the men of the Numbers gangs. 00.09.24 Aston BARRY COETZEE Warder, Pollsmoor Prison Voiceover Their power grows and grows. It feels as if they are taking over. It's not the warders that control the prison. The Numbers control the prison. They make the decisions. 00.09.39 Allan Little One warder has been warned that he has been selected as a target. Someone in the Numbers gangs has been ordered to stab Barry Coetzee as a test of courage. 00.09.56 Barry Coetzee Voiceover A Number has been called on me, which means I'll be stabbed or cut with a blade. My blood has to flow. So it could mean either I die or I bleed. There's no way you can defend yourself. It's terrifying. 00.10.16 Barry Coetzee It's a psychological war. You never know where. You never know when. I'm scared to come to work, but I must to earn a salary. I get up in the morning and know sooner or later it will happen. 00.10.37 Erefaan Jacobs Voiceover We are like people hunting this person. Maybe we won't find him today, but then there's always tomorrow. It's cruel, man. It's like a lion hunting down its prey, then ripping it apart. 00.11.04 Allan Little Nearly half the warders in Maximum security have been stabbed at least once. 00.11.15 Allan Little The road to the Numbers gangs begins even before a newcomer arrives in prison, in the back of the police truck that brings them here. 00.11.24 Allan Little By the time they are strip-searched they've been drawn into the world of The Numbers. 00.11.31 Allan Little For many newcomers are forced to carry drugs or weapons inside their bodies. Some are raped. 00.11.38 Allan Little This brief mixing of old and new prisoners gives the hardened gang members a momentary chance to scout for new recruits. 00.11.49 Allan Little Newcomers are known as birds. Gang members scan the reception area for new faces. Some of the birds they will rob and beat tonight. Others they will rape. 00.12.02 Allan Little One new recruit recalled his first encounter with The Numbers. 00.12.11 Patrick Samuels Voiceover The first day I came here they asked who I am. They told me, "Hey, you are dressed beautifully". 00.12.16 Aston PATRICK SAMUELS "Give us your clothes." I told him, "No, sir. My mother's money bought these". He shouted, "Don't talk shit to me. Since when are birds entitled to money or clothes?" By the time I left the truck my pants and shoes were gone. 00.12.38 Allan Little And so the new recruits must submit to the law of The Number. And they must not show fear. 00.12.46 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover Body language alone will tell you that this thing is a wimp. I'm going to take everything from you. The way you speak, the way you stand, the way you look, the tone of your voice are all things we notice. 00.13.00 Mogamat Benjamin When we rob you and you try to fight us obviously we'll overpower you. Either you'll be cut open with a blade or you'll be strangled or we'll kick you to a pulp. 00.13.11 Allan Little The prison authorities try to stop recruitment, but the Numbers gangs now dominate every Maximum-Security prison in South Africa. 00.13.19 Warder Subtitles 26s and 27s on that side. You lot sit down. 00.13.23 Allan Little Members of The Number are isolated from the other prisoners. 00.13.30 Allan Little The warders check for tattoos that betray gang loyalty. 00.13.36 Allan Little But as they are herded into the holding cells some birds are slipped into The Numbers' camp. 00.13.45 Patrick Samuels Voiceover That night I couldn't sleep. I thought, hey, I'm not used to this, and I started crying. Outside I heard them say The Numbers do things. I thought somebody is going to sneak up on me. 00.13.58 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover We rob them, we murder them, we rape them, we do any negative thing to them to show that I'm a 28 man and you show respect. 00.14.12 Allan Little While the birds wait to be accepted into The Number they become virtual slaves, performing all the household chores of the prison. 00.14.25 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover A non-gangster is entitled to nothing. We, the six, sevens and eights, we are entitled. It is the culture of the prison. 00.14.44 Allan Little For The Numbers control every aspect of life in these cells. They decide who will eat and who will not. 00.14.51 Allan Little There is an elaborate code for issuing favours and meting out punishments. The Numbers demand absolute obedience in everything, including, in the 28, sex. 00.15.05 Allan Little At lock-up time the warders retreat from the life of the prisoners. 00.15.19 Allan Little Behind the steel doors the hours of darkness belong, unchallenged, to the Numbers gangs and to their rituals of punishment and recruitment. 00.15.31 Allan Little Their codes are spoken in a language known only to them, a hybrid of all South Africa's tongues that can only be learned in prison. 00.15.46 Allan Little This is the moment of initiation into the secret all-embracing world of The Numbers. The moment the new recruits must pledge their oath to the gangs. 00.15.57 Allan Little An intricate and carefully balanced interplay between the gangs decides which camp a new recruit will enter. 00.16.04 Allan Little The gangs consider the commitment made at this moment sacred and lifelong. It has never been filmed before. For the birds, showing fear at this moment is disastrous. 00.16.21 Erefaan Jacobs Voiceover We don't have scared people in our camp. If you're scared you could betray us. If we see you are scared we'll kill you. 00.16.30 Erefaan Jacobs It's happened. Many people's heads were cut off in cells where I was present. I would see that tonight they would kill you. The whole day I know it. You talk to me, I'll laugh with you, but I know tonight we'll kill you. 00.16.50 Allan Little This is no idle boast. Mogamat recalls taking part in the ritual murder of one inmate the gangs didn't trust. 00.17.01 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover I was naked so that the blood wouldn't splatter my clothes. I was the first to sever the artery. The heart was removed and eaten. I personally ate first. 00.17.21 Allan Little By the end of the Apartheid era, Pollsmoor was in a state of anarchy. The power of the Numbers gangs was unassailable. They ruled through violence, murder and terror. 00.17.40 Aston JOHNNY JANSEN Head of Maximum Security, Pollsmoor Voiceover The situation inside the prison was chaotic. It was very tense. So much so that the personnel were too scared to enter the prison. 00.17.52 Allan Little But South Africa was changing. Johnny Jansen wanted the prison to change along with it. 00.18.03 Johnny Jansen Voiceover This prison is one of the most overcrowded in the country. It also has a very negative history of murder and assault. I decided to detain the gangsters separately, and to identify a particular group of gangsters. 00.18.26 Allan Little Jansen did what none of his white predecessors had dared to do. He met the gang leaders on their own territory, in full view of their subordinates. He wanted to replace the violence of the old prison authority with dialogue. 00.18.45 Johnny Jansen Voiceover They didn't trust me because it isn't part of their culture and history. There has never been trust between gangsters and the personnel. 00.18.54 Allan Little This was to be the start of a radical new departure in South African prison management. 00.19.00 Allan Little Jansen decided to reach out to South Africa's most hardened killers to see if they could change. He brought in an expert in conflict resolution, but he warned her not to expect miracles. 00.19.14 Joanna Thomas He told me that many come through the doors promising this and that and they don't last. Some of them only last a day. 00.19.23 Joanna Thomas I had never been in a prison before and as I walked down the corridor, the faces looking back at me, I saw my brother, my uncle, my friend, they looked no different. And I was very sad; I was struck by such a deep sadness. 00.19.43 Allan Little Joanna went straight to the heart of the Numbers system. To the men of the number she was an immediate threat and they were hostile. 00.19.49 Mogamat Benjamin What we want is, we want to know what is going on. 00.19.58 Aston EREFAAN JACOBS Voiceover I was just curious to hear what she was doing. I participated not because I wanted to. I participated because I wanted to report to my 28 brothers, to tell them what was going on. 00.20.19 Joanna Thomas I was informed that the prison was ruled by the prison gangs and I come in talking about a different way. It can be seen as a threat to the prison Number system. 00.20.32 Joanna Thomas And so when people see a leader showing an interest in what I am doing, then I am accused of weakening The Number. 00.20.42 Joanna Thomas So if you don't want to do that, and go on with your normal thing, then we leave. 00.20.52 Aston MOGAMAT BENJAMIN Voiceover That first night I immediately thought, "This woman wants to use me. She wants to use me to control the gangs for her benefit". I do not believe in that. I thought, no, all these years they have been trying to use me inside prison, and I won't allow it. 00.21.13 Tin cup thrown from one cell to another 00.21.17 Allan Little That night locked in their cells, we watched as the men of the Numbers gangs exchanged their messages. They agree that Joanna is a threat. Among those most hostile to her is a senior member of the 26s. He holds the rank of fighting general. 00.21.38 Aston THOMAS NGOLOBE Voiceover I first thought Joanna had come to kill the Number. And if you try to kill The Number, we must kill you first. In other words, it was my duty in The Number to appoint my troops to stab her to death. 00.21.54 Allan Little Joanna had seen for herself how dangerous the gangs could be. 00.21.59 Joanna Thomas I've witnessed a stabbing, and the stabbings are mean, and they go for the face and it is meant to scar and it is meant to dismember, and it could be to kill. 00.22.19 Thomas Ngolobe Voiceover This Joanna had to be stabbed in here. I did everything in my power to stab her. But perhaps God was with her without her even knowing it. 00.22.30 Allan Little In cell 191 the inmates meet to discuss Joanna and the threat she poses. Publicly they are loyal to the gang and its code of violence. But privately many see in Joanna a chance for change. 00.22.46 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover The gangs inside prison will keep me here. Why? Because they need me. My wife and children want me outside, because they need me there. I can't be in two places at the same time. Now it tears a man apart. 00.23.02 Mogamat Benjamin I do not want to leave my gang brothers in the lurch. I do not want to leave my children in the lurch. I must make a choice. 00.23.11 Allan Little Joanna has invited them to take part in a series of workshops. 00.23.16 Allan Little They are about to embark on a journey into their own souls and to confront the evil that has so dominated their lives. 00.23.25 Allan Little Thomas, the fighting general who had wanted Joanna killed, does not join them, but even he is beginning to wonder. 00.23.34 Thomas Ngolobe Voiceover I got to know my own father here in prison. He made me a 26. My little brother is also a 26 now. He wants to follow in my footsteps, like I followed in my father's. 00.23.52 Allan Little They gather in an isolated cell in the prison roof. 00.23.58 Allan Little This was the cell where Nelson Mandela was held for six years, the place where he began negotiations with the old apartheid regime. 00.24.09 Allan Little The symbolism of this is not lost on them. It is the room where South Africa itself began to change. Change is its purpose again. 00.24.18 Joanna Thomas Welcome to the 'Change Begins with Me' series. My role is to facilitate, a process where we can share the wisdom, the knowledge, the experience that lies in this room. So I want to encourage each of you to participate. 00.24.35 Allan Little Her appeal is that they should resolve conflict through dialogue, not violence. Their scepticism is universal. It is written in their faces. Most men here have killed in cold blood. Violence is the air they breathe. 00.24.52 Joanna Thomas What is empathy? 00.24.58 Joanna Thomas So we're going to go right into our exercise now. 00.25.02 Allan Little She encourages members of rival gangs to drop their guard and mingle indiscriminately. 00.25.07 Joanna Thomas Okay, groups of five. Keep moving...stay there, stay there. 00.25.10 Laughter 00.25.23 Joanna Thomas Have you all got a partner? Okay, now that's your partner for the next exercise. 00.25.31 Allan Little Soon they are doing what they never did as children. It is about finding new ways to relate to one another. 00.25.43 Aston JOANNA THOMAS Centre for Conflict Resolution Most of them have not been taught the basics like saying 'please' and 'thank you', 'hello', 'excuse me' and 'pardon me'. That's not been taught, and those that have been taught have forgotten about that due to the brainwashing of the gang system. 00.26.03 Allan Little In the courtyard below there is suspicion about what Joanna is up to on the roof. Rumour is spreading. The 27s have refused to take part. 00.26.16 Aston LYNDON BAMBO Voiceover You who give the Number away must be slaughtered. Those people up there still have a lot to learn about the Number despite who they are. 00.26.27 Lyndon Bambo They know what happens when you give the number away to people who are not inside the gangs. They die. That's it. The Number is like that. You don't give The Number away to any person you don't know. That's all I will tell you. 00.26.48 Allan Little The threat is clear: Attending Joanna's workshop could get you killed. 00.26.57 Erefaan Jacobs Voiceover I am scared, yes, because the last law states that the day I talk about this thing, that day I will die. But I have made my decision. 00.27.11 Allan Little Thomas' mind is in turmoil. The news that his younger brother now wants to join him in the 26s has badly shaken him. He's trapped in a terrible dilemma. 00.27.25 Thomas Ngolobe Voiceover There's a big war between The Number and change. If I tell you I want to leave The Number, I'll lose my head. 00.27.32 Thomas Ngolobe How am I going to change if my head lies over there and my body over there? Then I'm not going to change. I'll be buried. In other words I want to change, but I also want to keep The Number because The Number is my life. 00.27.49 Allan Little Finally, Thomas seeks a meeting with Joanna. 00.27.53 Thomas Ngolobe Subtitles What I'm going to tell you, I've never told anybody. I know that forgiveness is possible...but it doesn't come easily. If you're angry with me, I can't help it. The truth must come out. 00.28.10 Thomas Ngolobe The day that Joanna came, I thought you are killing the Numbers gangs. That's what I thought. In other words, you are killing us off. My plan was to have you stabbed. 00.28.32 Joanna Thomas I admired his courage to admit that to me and it actually inspired me to build a relationship with him. I think the risk was probably greater for him than for me. 00.28.46 Joanna Thomas Subtitles So you want to participate... 00.28.50 Thomas Ngolobe Subtitles In the programme. 00.28.55 Allan Little When the workshops resume, Thomas, the man who wanted Joanna murdered, is won over. 00.29.12 Music: Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" 00.29.56 Roger Subtitles I was wishing I was somewhere else. 00.30.02 Deon Subtitles I was wondering what kind of music this is. I don't understand the depth of the words. 00.30.10 Mogamat Benjamin That kind of music I do understand. Although I do not understand the language. That kind of music calms me. 00.30.22 Erefaan Jacobs Subtitles I do not want to talk about my own feelings. Joanna, a person's feelings count a lot. This is a powerful thing...and I'm careful with my own feelings. 00.30.45 Joanna Thomas Subtitles I don't want to force you to talk about your feelings but it is to help us to understand conflict. 00.30.52 Joanna Thomas Subtitles What do we do with our feelings inside prison? 00.30.55 Joanna Thomas We press it down. We suppress it. Why do we do that? We do not want other people to see. Why else? 00.31.05 Gang member We are scared. 00.31.08 Joanna Thomas You are scared. And you are men. Because you got that message from birth. You are a boy, and boys don't cry. And men don't cry. And gang members don't cry and gang leaders don't cry. 00.31.23 Glenton Subtitles Here I come. 00.31.37 Allan Little It is day seven. 00.31.46 Glenton Subtitles Thank you - I know we trust each other here. I hope that we succeed so that everybody knows what we're aiming for. Let's go forward. 00.32.32 Joanna Thomas Subtitles How do you feel? 00.32.41 Godfrey When I was a little youngster I saw how other people used to brag about how their daddy catch them and I never had the opportunity to share with my daddy, because I didn't say Daddy, let me jump on you, because my daddy never had time for that. So I never experienced that life. 00.33.02 Joanna Thomas You can stand there and you can take a big leap. 00.33.04 Godfrey What do you mean, run and just jump? 00.33.07 Godfrey Okay guys. I'm going to do this now because I want to feel the way I've never felt before. I've never been catched by people my whole life. Right, I'm ready. 00.33.20 Laughter and clapping 00.33.36 Godfrey It might look simple but it's got a deep affection, especially if you haven't been through it, you know. Many times I hear people say, there's always a first time. That's definitely the first time I've experienced this, and it's a relief, it's awesome. 00.34.02 Allan Little After lockup the men return to the cell to face their demons, drug addiction among them. 00.34.11 Allan Little Erefaan's court case is approaching. The thought that he might be released from prison terrifies him. The 28 gang is where he belongs. 00.34.26 Erefaan Jacobs Voiceover A lot of things about my family clutter my brain when I think of it. To make that go away I smoke a pipe, man. I put myself into a coma just so that it can go away. 00.34.49 Allan Little In the perversity of their world, prison has become normal. It is freedom that holds the terror. 00.34.58 Allan Little Joanna has asked them to keep a journal to try to describe their feelings. 00.35.03 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover I'm an emotionally centred person, but how can I climb out of myself, stand to one side and see the things I am doing? In order to change I must be honest with myself. 00.35.26 Allan Little After ten days the workshops are about to end. The inmates have been led into strange and unsettling territory. 00.35.34 Joanna Thomas You often hear prisoners talk about how they themselves have been abused, marginalised, coming from very very dysfunctional settings, broken homes. 00.35.48 Joanna Thomas And so there's a lot of pain, hurt inside of them, and I really believe the capacity to feel very deeply, it's there. So one of my aims through the workshops is to raise awareness of what's inside of us. 00.36.08 Joanna Thomas There is a human being in that murderer, in that rapist. There is a human being. 00.36.16 Mogamat Benjamin For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. 00.36.24 Allan Little The last day brings the greatest challenge; to force these hardened killers to look hard at who and what they really are. 00.36.33 Michael Subtitles I'm worth nothing to my family. They think I'm a jailbird. My own daughter says I'm not her father. 00.36.42 Godfrey There was times in my life when I hated the sun to come up, because I was wanted. And there was times in my life when I hated the night to come because I did not know where I was going to sleep. It was hard on the pavements and I was thinking, hey, what is my mother doing now? 00.37.00 David King Subtitles I also didn't have family love, but I am glad that I met you all and that you gave that to me. This feeling I have inside is very painful. I feel like one whose heart has been torn to shreds. That's how I feel. 00.37.32 Mogamat Benjamin Voiceover I am classified as the scum of the prison. A rubbish in prison. But in reality, deep inside I'm a person that can care for others. I am someone who can respect another. 00.37.48 Mogamat Benjamin But I have to suppress that. It can't come out. If I show it I'll be seen as a weakling. In prison I don't want to be seen as a weakling. I want to be seen, as I read in books, as a macho. 00.38.05 Joggers shouting 00.38.16 Aston JOHNNY JANSEN Head of Maximum Security, Pollsmoor Voiceover It's like a race. Everyone can't come first. There's first, second and third place. And then a whole bunch follow over the line. There'll be some who arrive late but they'll be in the race, and hopefully they'll all eventually cross the line. 00.38.34 Aston JOANNA THOMAS Centre for Conflict Resolution I am not that naïve to believe that one series of training workshops is going to change a man who has been a gang member for most of his life and who has committed horrendous crimes, who is in the heart of the gang system. 00.38.51 Joanna Thomas But I see a struggle, and while that struggle is there, I will engage with it. 00.39.00 Allan Little Weeks later Joanna has come back to Pollsmoor, to try to assess the impact she's made. 00.39.05 Patrick Samuels Subtitles I will tell my brothers outside - shooting and stabbing will get us nowhere. 00.39.10 Thomas Ngolobe Subtitles I have a problem - I feel empty. I still worry about the juveniles out there. 00.39.25 Joanna Thomas Mogamat, you are not with us. You want to tell me what is happening with you? 00.39.33 Mogamat Benjamin Joanna, I feel like an idiot because I am also a follower. I follow other people. I feel pain not in my heart but in my gut. And I feel pain for all the pain that I've caused in other people's lives, in my family's lives, and in my life too. 00.40.33 Mogamat Benjamin I'm a guy. I'm not scared of anything. But all those years my actions was idiotic, and I feel like an idiot because I was a follower. I never chose this road myself. I just went on with the road and my road ended here- for 34 years I spent here. 00.41.13 Mogamat Benjamin I am like a boat in the sea, and the sea is getting rougher and rougher and I'm going with the stream. I can't help myself to get in the calm waters. And for now that's all I want to say. 00.41.43 Allan Little As Erefaan's day in court approaches the prospect of being released from prison begins to frighten him. 00.41.50 Allan Little He is so completely, so visibly a member of the Numbers gangs. 00.41.58 Allan Little Others prepare their court cases and hope for freedom. But not Erefaan. 00.42.05 Erefaan Jacobs Voiceover What am I going to do with my life? Do I go back to where I've come from? Or do I hold onto the things I've learnt inside prison like change is possible. This is a very heavy question for me. 00.42.25 Allan Little Like a condemned man, Erefaan is summoned from his cell at five in the morning. 00.42.31 Warder Erefaan Jacobs! 00.42.36 Erefaan Jacobs Voiceover When the court tells me that I am innocent and free to go, it is a big risk for me. I am prepared to tell the court that I am guilty of a crime I didn't commit. 00.42.54 Erefaan Jacobs I am scared to go outside. I was out there and I came back. 00.43.03 Allan Little For a hundred years this has been the secret of The Number's power. It has so stained its members, so marked them apart from the world outside that it has left them little choice but to return to its inescapable embrace again and again. 00.43.24 Allan Little Erefaan is among the first to be shown that there may be another way. 00.43.29 End Music 00.43.39 Credits www.bbc.co.uk/correspondent Reporter ALLAN LITTLE Sound Recordist SEBASTIAN DUNN Dubbing Mixer DAMIEN REYNOLDS VT Editor NICK KAMPA Graphic Design NICOLA OWEN Production Team ASTRA CURZON JULIA DANNENBERG RACHALE DAVIES MARTHA ESTCOURT Production Manager JANE WILLEY Unit Manager IRENE OZGA Picture Editor ASHLEY SMITH Producer PEARLIE JOUBERT Filmed and Directed by CLIFFORD BESTALL Deputy Editor FARAH DURRANI Editor FIONA MURCH (c)BBC MMI 00.44.15 End 13 BBC Correspondent 21 1