“Growing up in the black community in the olden days was not easy. Inequality was evident, and that was what forced me to turn to crime.” Those were the words of Mncedisi Mdingi, a former offender and now a born-again Christian.

Like any child who grew up in the townships, Mdingi had a mission, and his ambition was to change his life and his family’s circumstances for the better.

Shoplifting beginnings

He said he started committing crime at an early age, shoplifting with his peers, and it escalated with time.

“My mother used to work as a domestic worker in Tokai. I used to see the white areas and compare them with our communities. Even when we were in the shop, white people used to queue alone, and black and coloured people queued together. I didn’t like that,” explained Mdingi, adding that he grew up with anger and wanted to fight the system.

He said when he was 12 years old, he started shoplifting in areas like Athlone and Mowbray.
Mdingi stated, that at the time, criminals operated outside their own communities. He said due to his conduct, his parents sent him to Port Elizabeth (currently known as Gqeberha) in the Eastern Cape in 1982. But he continued with his criminality there. He lived in Port Elizabeth for two years and returned to Cape Town at the end of 1984.

At the time he had started with house break-ins.

In 1985, his parents took him to East London (known as kuGompo City), where he stayed for one year before returning to Cape Town. He said that in 1986 he dropped out of school because he was more deeply involved in crime. That was when he got arrested for the first time.

“I was first arrested in 1986 for house robbery, and I was 17 years old. I stayed in jail for two months. And since then I never looked back. I was arrested repeatedly,” he said, adding that he began serving a serious sentence in 1987 when he was arrested and received five years for various cases of housebreaking committed in different areas.

However, he stressed that in those five years he only served three years due to remission. He said he was released in 1990 from Bien Donne Prison in Franschhoek.

Escalation & arrests

He said when he came out, he had already escalated in crime.

He was arrested again the following year for business robbery in Atlantis.

“We were sentenced to 10 years in connection with business robbery and attempted murder. I stayed in jail for six years. I met my current wife in prison in 1995. She was accompanying her friend who came to visit her boyfriend in jail, who happened to be my friend.

“My friend called me over and introduced me to my wife. We dated from then on,” he explained, adding that he was held at Victor Verster Prison. Mdingi said he stayed outside for a few months and was arrested again for another business robbery in Ceres in January 1997.

They were arrested while attempting to rob a bank.

“There were only three of us. While we were inside, one of the employees pressed a panic button. We had to fight with the officers. We even held some of the employees hostage. It was like a movie. It took about two hours,” he said.

The escape

He continued, saying that they were kept in a small prison in Ceres while they were on trial.

He said they stayed there for a few months before they escaped.

“I grabbed one of the warders, took his jacket, wore it, and continued patrolling, pretending to be an officer. I went to the office and found two other officers there. We told them to lie down and then we ran away,” he said.

He was joined by four other inmates. He added that the incident occurred at about 03:00. He said they took a vehicle belonging to one of the officers and drove off.

He said they were involved in a car accident as they were approaching Huguenot. They had to walk from there to Mbekweni. He said he was the last person in that crew to be re-arrested, in October 1998.

Turning point

Mdingi said he was sent to Brandvlei Correctional Centre in Worcester, and that was when his life began to change. He was placed in a single cell.

“My girlfriend at the time used to come and visit me. She brought me a small radio to listen to. That is when I started doing my own introspection. I used to listen to the American evangelist, Billy Graham. He is the one who changed me through his sermons.

“On 1 January 1999, I gave myself to God. I was alone, crying inside the cell. My life changed,” said Mdingi, adding that he never struggled with the change. He said he spent four years there while on trial.

Mdingi said that in 1999 he was sentenced to 42 years in jail. However, he said he served 19 years inside before he was released on parole in 2016. I’m still signing for parole at Mitchells Plain Police Station. I go there twice a month. When I came out of prison, I was a changed person. I was a choirmaster and even went back to school while inside,” he explained, adding that in all the cases he was involved in, he never killed anyone. He said he went to various prisons, including Malmesbury Correctional Services, where he completed his matric in 2006.

He said he came out of prison in 2016 from Worcester. All those years in prison, his girlfriend continued to visit him.

Now, Mdingi is a full member of Langa Baptist Church. He started writing his book, titled Beyond Prison Bars, in 2023 and published it last year. The book narrates his journey.

Wife’s perspective

Mdingi’s wife, Nomonde Mdingi, praised God for what he has done for her husband. She described her husband as a God-fearing person, “It wasn’t easy, because some of my friends were questioning me about loving him. They wanted me to leave him, but I chose to stay with him. Even my family was very supportive. My mother used to accompany me when I visited him in prison.”

Mdingi said anyone wants to order his book can contact him on 065 9270153.

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