​Wesley Theko Thoabala is currently a 44-year-old former criminal who is now fully rehabilitated after spending seven years in prison. 
His story begins when he was growing up in Soweto in Orlando East, an environment that had a huge impact on his upbringing. According to Wesley, when he was young, he made a lot of bad friends and wrong choices. He adapted to a lifestyle that required him to do anything that gave him money, and some of these things included getting involved in crimes such as armed robberies and car theft. As fate would have it for anyone who engages in such crimes, he was arrested for armed robbery in 2007 and spent 4 years awaiting trial. 

Wesley shared his story during the unveiling of mobile showers project for the homeless by the Gauteng Department of Social Development at Wembley Stadium in Turffontein last Friday, 19 April 2024. .

"I ended up in prison because of the bad choices I made when I was young and reckless, and reality kicked in when I was sentenced to 15 years in prison'', he said. 

During his time in prison, Wesley regretted the choices he made and decided to acknowledge his wrong doings and changed his life by staying out of conflict with the law in jail and serving his time as expected, and his good behaviour led to him being granted parole in 2018 after serving just seven years and six months of his 15 years in prison. 

"Coming out of prison in parole, I realized the time I had wasted my life and tried to establish myself, but it was hard since I went back to live at home in an environment that still had a stigma with my history',' said Wesley

While he was at home, a tragedy hit when the backroom he was living in at home caught fire, even though he still does not know the cause of fire, he felt responsible. As a result, he felt the need to move out and went stay at different friends’ places, and ended up in the streets, where he started to use drugs such as crystal meth and rock to deal with his pain. 

This made him sick, and he ended up in the hospital, where he met a Social Worker who helped him deal with his substance abuse problem and took him to a Social Development funded shelter at Wembley, where he is currently residing, and he has now found a job as a Domestic Worker in Soweto. He goes every weekend to do his job of cleaning the house and yard, washing clothes, and taking care of the children. 

He says he is working hard to save money so he can go back home and take responsibility for fixing the rooms that got burned under his care and then fix his relationship with his parents. Wesley is currently a role model to other young homeless people staying in the shelter, due to his good behavior and being useful to the facility by helping to take care of the property. 

Wesley said he will volunteer to clean the newly launched mobile showers for the homeless. As a sign of appreciation for the good work done by the Department of Social Development, ''I am very grateful to the Gauteng Government for taking good care of us homeless people," said Wesley.