Simphiwe Thunzi from Cape Town said he was introduced to a life of crime as a teenager because he "wanted to fit in”.
Notorious armed robber turns his life around after prison to become a big time business owner
The best inspiration one can get is one from former notorious armed robber who has survived several gunshots, served an 18-year prison term, but has become a big time genuine business owner.
He revealed in an interview Beautiful News that he was sentenced to 18 years in prison at the age of 17, after suffering several gunshots in the course of robbery operations.
Briefly.com.za reported that Simphiwe joined the notorious Numbers Gang while serving his sentence at the Drakensberg prison in South Africa.
Also, while in the prison, he was privileged to have a pastor friend called Vuyo Nyabaza who constantly preached to him, in a bid to redeem his life.
“If it wasn’t for a good friend of mine who showed me the possibility of calmness and clarity, I never would have seen another way of living,” he disclosed.
After the prison term, Simphiwe chose to set up a coffee café, which has culminated in Gangstar Cafe in Cape Town currently.
He is reported as having said that the company was named so because "a gang is our past but stars are our future and present."
He is now an inspiration to many, sensitising the youth against crime.
He said: “No child grows up wanting to become a criminal. We have the power to turn our lives around. Inspire others, even if there’s no one to inspire you.”
What an awesome inspiration!!!
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