He knows what it's like to be locked up in prison with your right to movement taken away from you. He also knows that when one commits a crime, they need to pay for it by doing time. Singer and songwriter Nathi Mankayi is not ashamed of his past as a convict and recently visited convicts at Pollsmoor Prison in the Western Cape to share words of encouragement.

THE PAST

Coming from Maclear village in the Eastern Cape, where poverty is rife, Nathi and his sister were raised by a single mother who sold fruit in town as a street vendor. The two grew up loving music but the odds were against them due to poverty. His family were devoted Christians and sang at church. With peer pressure mixed with poverty, he started looting and mugging and soon became known as a hooligan around their community. During one of his robberies, he openly shares the story of how on the day they wanted to kill a man but the gun jammed, and he and his friends took the victim's wallet and ran. The victim later reported the matter to the police and the young men were detained in holding cells where they managed to somehow escape. Nathi fled to Johannesburg but realised he could not live as a fugitive and handed himself over and was arrested for four years.

MOST RECENT ARREST

In 2019, the multi-award-winning Afro-pop star was arrested in connection with a business robbery he allegedly committed with his two friends in 2018 at the offices of the former boss China Mpololo. The three were alleged to have gone to the former label boss' offices and allegedly took laptops, landline phones, printers and cellphones. However, the items were later recovered by police and taken back to the owner and the matter was resolved.

GIVING HOPE

On his visit to Pollsmoor recently, Nathi says he wanted to be a beacon of hope for the inmates. "To become a better citizen when you are free you have to start doing the work now, while you are in here. It's about mindset and knowing who you are and what you want," he says. "The reason I'm here is because I remember where I used to be. It's important for me to visit and encourage inmates and tell them there is life after prison," he adds. "Inmates sometimes lose hope while they are inside serving time. But if they see someone like me who was once in their shoes, hope is restored," Nathi tells ZiMoja that some inmates might not get their freedom back but feeling remorse and a sense of forgiveness goes a long way. "They might be at peace and forgive themselves and need to understand why they are serving the time."