AFTER just one phone call with him, Tshidi Monkoe got goosebumps.
And not only did she fall in love, she ended up getting engaged. But Tshidi and her man could not be together.
This is because he was an inmate at Zonderwater Prison in Tshwane, serving 17 years for armed robbery.
Her experience of being with a prisoner inspired her to write a book titled, Prison Love. The 38-year-old woman from Soshanguve, Tshwane, told Daily Sun she met her lover in 2013 when he called his sister, who worked with her.
“I answered his sister’s phone and we talked despite him being a stranger. I was heartbroken from my previous marriage and he gave me hope,” she said.
Tshidi said they met on 24 November 2013 when she visited him in prison with his family. “He was charming and handsome.
“In 2015, I received roses for the first time in my life.
“On Valentine’s Day in 2016, he sent one of his relatives money to buy me chocolates and a set of earrings, and asked his sister to take me out for dinner,” she said.
She said her lover proposed on 22 January 2017 with a ring he bought for R3 000.
Tshidi said her lover wanted to pay lobola, but his family told him to wait. She said he was released in March 2018. According to Tshidi they have a two-year-old boy together. Tshidi said they spent four years together while he was in prison and only six months after he was released in 2018. “He had a lot of financial pressure and also mixed up with his old friends after coming out of prison.”
She published her book earlier this year to help others not to lose hope in love.
