20100602
Africa News

Prisoners in South Africa's maximum security prisons will get to watch the 2010 World Cup after Swedish firm Ericsson donated big screen televisions to a Johannesburg jail this week.

Televisions, projectors and home theatre equipment were donated to prison authorities at Leeuwkop Correctional Centre on Monday to enable prisoners watch the month-long tournament first taking place on African soil.

South Africa's deputy minister of correctional services Hlengiwe Mkhize said "Sports helps to teach people to observe the rules of the game and in life there are rules and boundaries and norms so we are trying to say to (the prisoners) you use what you learn in sports to transfer to your real life."

The Department of Correctional Services plans to hold mini soccer tournaments at all of its prisons, with prisons adopting one of the 32 countries participating in the World Cup, according to Reuters.

One of those watching will be 21-year-old Tebogo Moloi, who is serving a 10-year sentence for robbery.

Now the leading player in the prison's youth team, Moloi is looking forward to watching his team go all the way.

"I think it is obvious that South Africa is going to win the World Cup," he said.