From SW Radio Africa – By Tichaona Sibanda, 28th April 2009
The Ministry of Justice is facing fresh pressure to overhaul its prison facilities, after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was finally ‘allowed’ to begin work on improving conditions at the prisons.
Andre Jaross, the ICRC deputy head of delegation in Harare, said the organization began work two weeks ago at Chikurubi Maximum Security and Harare Central prisons, and would soon extend its work to other jails across the country.
The government reached an agreement with the ICRC to work in the prisons following shocking reports that emerged in the media that brought international condemnation.
Film taken secretly in the prisons showed living skeletons, unable to move, and makeshift mortuaries filled with bodies. A prison sentence in Zimbabwe today is almost a guaranteed death sentence. Prisoners who have no family to bring them extra food are virtually guaranteed a slow and very painful death.
Shepherd Yuda, a former prison officer, told us prisoners are packed into dark, airless, lice-infested cells, where they are exposed to life-threatening diseases like AIDS and tuberculosis, for which they receive little or no medical treatment.
Yuda urged the ICRC to do more than simply assess conditions in prisons, and urged them to evaluate inmates’ requirements and prepare a report for the government. He said they should call for an overhaul of the whole prison system, starting from top to bottom.
Yuda blames Prisons Commissioner Paradzai Zimondi for the decay in the prison system. He said that before Zimondi took over the country’s prison system was one of the best in the Southern African region.
‘We used to have standards and guarantees about the treatment of prisoners: an individual, whatever his or her crimes, must not be tortured; must not be held in unsanitary or unsafe conditions that could place him in danger or lead to his death; he is entitled to adequate nourishment and medical care. He is, above all, entitled to his dignity. Yet this basic right is routinely being flouted throughout the prison system in Zimbabwe,’ Yuda said.
‘Every single level of authority in our country has failed our prisoners. Overcrowding and tight budgets create an atmosphere ripe for disease, abuse and violence. Right now our prisons don’t help rehabilitate anyone. Conditions in the system create monsters instead of reforming,’ Yuda added.
Human-rights groups have also voiced their concern about the prison conditions in the country. They said it will take a major reform of the entire system to eradicate the kind of practices prevalent in the prisons.
ZimOnline reported on Monday that a local prisoners’ rights group, the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO), said at least two inmates die everyday from hunger and disease at Chikurubi and Harare Central – the country’s two biggest jails.
The Website said most prisoners have to survive on a single meal per day of sadza and cabbage boiled in salted water, because there is no money to buy adequate supplies.
Apr 30, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
From The Zimbabwe Telegraph – By Rumbi Mundimba, 20th April, 2009
The commissioner of prisons Paradzai Zimondi has been fingered as a proponent cum-cog of the elimination axis that also targets co-Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa amid revelations that the recent Marondera road mishap that befell the minister was pay back for his earlier “outbursts” that he was eager to clip the wings of the former member of the notorious Joint Operation Command (JOC) as he was a stumbling block to national healing, Zimbabwe Telegraph has heard.
Following Mutsekwa’s public announcement that he wanted to tame Zimondi, other members of JOC notoriously known as the junta joined in the silent and subtle war and elevated his name to the top of the elimination list before he pounced his claws on their fellow soldier of misfortune.
Mutsekwa is included in the elimination list of senior MDC officials that include Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Vice Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe, Finance Minister Tendai Biti, among others.
A family member of the Mutsekwa stable has since said that the accident that befell the co-home affairs minister was suspicious.
Mutsekwa was alone in his official Mercedes Benz when the near-tragedy occurred.
Mutsekwa was not reachable for comment by the time of going to print. He is however credited for having facilitated for the freedom of human rights director Jestina Mukoko while his fellow co-home affairs minister Kembo Mohadi was in Zambia.
The powers of the Junta were partially clipped following Robert Mugabe’s signature of the national security council bill which created the National Security Council .
Meanwhile a political commentator has said that the all-inclusive government was heading for a brick-wall as ZANU PF has mooted a plan to express its sincerity for only a year and would change its game plan in the second half of the all-inclusive arrangement.
The second half of the all-inclusive government would be used as a build up of the campaign of retribution against the MDC and other perceived enemies of the state*
Apr 30, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
The Interview that Never Was
Since our Prisons Commissioner will not make a statement, comment or answer any questions from the public or the press, here are just a few of the questions to which the Zimbabwean public would love to hear the answers:
20 questions for Prisons Commissioner Paradzai Zimondi
1) When did you first become aware that the situation in your prisons had become so bad, and what did you do about it?
2) Why did you not ask for assistance from Treasury, or contact the humanitarian aid organisations before now?
3) What happened to the educational, vocational and rehabilitation programs that were in place when you took office?
4) What has happened to the prison farms under your tenure, and why are they no longer supplying food to prisoners?
5) Have you considered resigning over this issue?
6) Do you think that ZPS officers responsible for the deaths of prison inmates should be punished?
7) To whom did you submit your annual reports?
8 ) Does your administration keep proper records of the cause of death and the burial place of each inmate?
9) Are you aware that your staff may be stealing food and other supplies from the quartermaster’s stores, for their own use or to sell on the informal market?
10) When was the last time you made a personal inspection of any of your prisons?
11) Have you ever deployed your senior prison officers to perform duties outside of the prisons, for example during Operation
Makavhoterapapi?
12) Do you know that disrupting court hearings, and disobeying High Court orders, is a punishable offense called ’Contempt of Court’?
13) At what point did the medical facilities at the prisons, collapse?
14) How many prison doctors and nurses are there on the ZPS payroll today?
15) Are you aware of the provisions of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Offenders?
16) Are you aware that Zimbabwe is signatory to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)?
17) What measures did you take when there was an outbreak of cholera in the jails in December 2008?
18) For what services did you receive your medal (Grand Officer of the Zimbabwe Order of Merit) from President Mugabe on Armed Forces Day in August 2008?
19) Is it true that the commercial farms that you own make use of free prison labour?
20) Is it true that you supplied food and accommodation to the ‘Green Bombers’ i.e. ZanuPF youth militia in the Uzumba area, while they were engaged in torture, rape and murder of defenceless villagers before and after the 2008 elections?
Apr 27, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
From The Zimbabwe telegraph – By MCEDISI NKOMO April 20, 2009
The Government of National Unity is on the verge of collapse after a meeting scheduled for Friday was aborted due to clear differences over Mugabe’s disregard of the terms of the GPA agreement which created the GNU, the Zimbabwe Telegraph has established. Mugabe, Mutambara and Tsvangirai were supposed to meet to resolve outstanding issues such as the appointment of Permanent Secretaries, Governors, Attorney General and RBZ Governor.The meeting failed to take place due to clear indications that Mugabe was unwilling to compromise.This forced the Principals to invite the deal-broker Thabo Mbeki to mediate and save the deal from collapsing.This was worsened the the already tense relationship between MDC-T and the Arned forces chiefs who walked out on Tsvangirai when he entered the National Stadium for Independence celebrations.There was very little activity in the capital city, Harare on Saturday to show that people were celebrating the 29th anniversary independence celebrations as most people went about their normal business.
There were no incidents of people being forced to attend celebrations at National Sports Stadium as had been the norm in the past. There were also no fears of rowdy party youths wearing either the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, or Zanu PF T Shirts.
Bottle stores and hotels were almost empty with the few places open, selling goods at reduced prices. One could buy a beer for US$1 but at other places one could get two beers for the same amount in Harare.
However service chiefs were reportedly said to have shunned Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as he arrived at the national sports stadium, the venue of this year’s independence celebrations.
The Service chiefs populaly known as JOC or the Junta in February boycotted Tsvangirai’s inauguration ceremony as Prime Minister, were said to have moved out of the national sports stadium when the master of ceremony Media Information and Publicity minister Webster Shamu announced the arrival of Tsvangirai ahead of President Robert Mugabe.
Commander of the defence forces Constantine Chiwenga, Police commissioner General Augustine Chihuri and Prison Commissioner Paradzai Zimondi rose from their seats at the time Shamu was announcing the arrival of Tsvangirai.
They went to stand at the stadium entrance where they waited for President to arrive while Tsvangirai was taking his seat.
The service chiefs last year said they would not salute Tsvangirai even if he was elected the President of the country by the people of Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai and his deputies Thokozani Khupe and Professor Arthur Mutambara attended the independence ceremony which was held under the theme “Restoring Zimbabwe’s Vibrancy.”
The MDC had urged Zimbabweans from all walks of life to attend the ceremony which it said was coming amid a climate of new-found hope and better prospects for the country.
The MDC had previously not attended Independence Day celebrations because it said the national day had been privatized and parochialised by unilateral political interests.
“As a country, we waged a painful liberation struggle to bring back our dignity and respect for human rights that had been eroded through a century of colonialism,” said the party on the official website of the Prime Minister.
“Our challenge as we celebrate this year’s Independence Day is to look back at the journey we have travelled and begin to carve out a new chapter where we say to ourselves never again should a people be subjected to terror, selective justice, poverty, lawlessness and fear by those that govern them.
This year’s celebrations must rekindle the nation’s hopes and aspirations; especially considering the consummation of the inclusive government in February 2009 which enabled Zimbabweans to open a new chapter of national rebirth.
“Independence means jobs, food, education, shelter, basic freedoms and better health care for everyone. We believe that the direction taken by the political leaders is an important step in the right direction in achieving these fundamentals.”
“As a party, we believe this year’s celebrations must reflect the new era of inclusiveness. The Independence Day programme, the speeches and the general arrangements of this important day must reflect a diverse people working together for the betterment of the country of their birth.
The day must reflect the new-found camaraderie among erstwhile political protagonists in a new political atmosphere that engenders hope and prosperity for the people of Zimbabwe. The nation expects to hear speeches from the leaders of the various political parties who have decided to shelve narrow and partisan political interest for the national good.
This all remains wish full thinking as Mugabe has continously undermined the GNU and the MDC-T .Mugabe has refused to swear in Deputy minister of Agriculture Roy Bennet.
A few weeks back he stripped the ICT Minister Nelson Chamisa part of his responsibilites handing them to his trusted ally Nicholas Goche.
Chamisa has threatened to resign but observers believe Mugabe is just testing the MDC-Ts resolve and he is unlikely to compromise.
The MDC was expected to lead efforts to raise money from the West and to have sanctions removed.However Mugabe’s actions including supporting fresh farm invasions have made it impossible to convince the west thet Zimbabwe has changed.
Apr 21, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
From The Financial Gazette - Friday, 17 April 2009 15:12
FOLLOWING the broadcast recently of a documentary on SABC exposing inhuman conditions in Zimbabwe’s prisons, three warders allegedly responsible for smuggling cameras in were arrested. They are Thabiso Nyathi, Siyai Muchechedzi and Thembinkosi Nkomo.
They predictably will be punished, but not the prison officials responsible for such cruelty and barbarism that shocked television viewers.
The condition of the skeletal and visibly ill prisoners who featured in the expose titled “Hell Hole” shocked viewers in South Africa and beyond. Surely, this cannot happen in any country in the 21st Century.
The prisoners looked like inmates of Hitler’s concentration camps or Stalin’s gulags. How could a government in this day and age permit people under its care to be treated so sadistically?
The organisation, Zimbabwe Democracy Now, ran advertisements in some South African newspapers this week calling for the resignation of Zimbabwe Prison Services Commissioner Paradzai Zimondi and his two deputies.
In any civilised country, heads would roll. But Zimbabwe no longer meets the standard of a civilised country. As usual, it is those who had the temerity to blow the whistle that will be punished.
They embarrassed the government by exposing its true nature. For that the three warders will be made an example of while those responsible for the despicable conditions in Zimbabwe’s prisons will most probably be promoted.
One of the worst legacies of the ZANU-PF government’s reign will be the manner in which it extended the brutality of the regime to segments of society by enlisting young people to perpetrate all sorts of violent crimes.
Since the formation of the Border Gezi militias about seven years ago, between 10 and 15 000 young people have been turned into robotic torturers, rapists and murderers.
Crude propaganda and substance abuse have combined to turn these youths into callous merchants of violence.
They do so fortified by knowledge that a blanket immunity protects them. Monthly stipends from the state, which are still being disbursed despite the alleged dawn of a new political era, only serve as an added incentive to do anything ordered by those calling the shots.
A culture of violence and impunity has taken root in Zimbabwe especially in the past nine years. Its seeds were, however, sown soon after independence.
Right from the onset, the ZANU-PF government responded with violent brutality to any real or perceived political threat.
Gukurahundi in the 1980s must be seen within this context. In 2000, perpetrators of violence were expanded to include those not in the formal employ of the state.
At first war veterans were at the forefront to give legitimacy to land invasions and attendant violence. Soon afterwards, as the threat posed by the MDC refused to go away, the militia was formed to add numbers and youthful energy to the regime’s campaign of violence. It is important to point out that neither the war veterans nor youth militia could have been effective without the logistical, material and financial support given by the army, police and CIO. The brutalisation of the Zimbabwean society was well underway.
Any respectable country must be built on a foundation of decent values and morality. As the violence in Zimbabwe became increasingly institutionalised, it became acceptable to loot, maim, murder and drive people from their homes.
Through crude propaganda and self-interest, a belief took root that violence against enemies of ZANU-PF was legitimate and justifiable because the party liberated Zimbabwe and was the sole custodian of the interests of its people.
Violence against Ndebeles was justified in the name of defending the revolution. So was violence against white farmers seen as the continuation of the struggle for land.
Members of the MDC were fair game because they were stooges of the British and their kith and kin in Zimbabwe. The list of fair targets grew as the threat against the regime stubbornly persisted. It is a measure of how total the impunity is for those who act in the name of the regime that no one from Gukurahundi to the violence that still continues today, has been arrested and prosecuted.
There are those who will read this and say it is improper to bring this issue up at a time when an inclusive government is trying to heal and reconcile the nation. The answer is simple: If, as is the case, all the crimes committed in the past are swept under the carpet for the comfort and convenience of politicians, nothing will be achieved.
If there is no justice, acknowledgment and compensation for victims, Zimbabwe will not move forward in a meaningful and sustainable way. These past crimes will recur. Putting a plain bandage over a festering wound never heals it.
The brutal excesses of the ZANU-PF era must be officially acknowledged and all forms of redress effected for the poison of the past not to infect a new body politic.
The regime also knew that as long as victims of its terror were poor blacks in rural areas and townships, the world would not go beyond the symbolic gestures of disapproval. No action would be taken to imperil the very existence of the regime.
No one would be brought to justice. It is no coincidence that at the height of land invasions in 2000, of the thousands of white families on farms throughout the country, only nine were murdered.
Blacks were killed in their hundreds. Such an alarming rate among whites would have provoked serious consequences for the regime’s leaders. It is sickening hypocrisy on the part of those who claim to act in the name of black Africans.
All these crimes against people over an extended period take a huge toll on the character of a nation. The humanity of perpetrators is destroyed. They operate in a moral vacuum. Nothing is sacred anymore including the lives of people. No principle is beyond sacrifice.
A culture of lust for power and greed takes over. A deep sense of entitlement lies at the centre of their thoughts and deeds. The nation loses its moral compass.
Leaders become heartless and totally oblivious to the masses’ suffering and squalor. A sense of self-righteousness and invincibility makes it impossible for them to distinguish right from wrong. Fearful and cowed the populace largely submits to this savagery.
It is this environment that makes it possible for prisoners to be allowed to needlessly die of malnutrition, hunger and disease. It is such a system that allows prisoners to live in conditions of disgusting filth in which human excrement is all over the place.
Only people who have lost their humanity can let prisoners live with dead bodies in their cells until they begin to decompose and emit an unbearably foul smell.
If a system does not care about an old lady in the rural areas who has her son murdered and home torched for supporting the opposition, how can it give a toss for prisoners?
The three warders will pay a heavy price for their bravery, patriotism and humanity. They must have known the risk they were taking, but decided to do the right thing by exposing this outrage. For that, all decent people are thankful. Their efforts may well lead to far-reaching prison reforms in the not-too-distant future.
Apr 19, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
From The New York Times – April 14, 2009
From left: Paradzai Zimondi, Perrence Shiri, Constantine Chiwenga and Augustine Chihuri.
HARARE (New York Times) – President Robert Mugabe’s top lieutenants are trying to force the opposition Movement of Democratic Change to grant them amnesty for their past crimes, according to senior members of Mugabe’s party.
Their fixation on getting amnesty was described by four senior ruling party officials, all Mugabe confidants, who spoke to a Zimbabwean journalist working for The New York Times.
To protect themselves, some of Mugabe’s lieutenants are trying to implicate opposition officials in a supposed plot to overthrow the president, hoping to use it as leverage in any amnesty talks, the officials said.
Mugabe’s generals and politicians in Zanu-PF have organised campaigns of terror for decades to keep him and his party in power.
Crimes committed during last year’s election campaign, while the world watched, included abducting, detaining and torturing opposition officials and activists.
Mugabe’s lieutenants, part of an inner circle called the Joint Operations Command, know that their 85-year-old leader may not be around much longer to shield them, and fear losing not just their power and ill-gotten wealth, but their freedom, party officials said. The security chiefs include General Constantine Chiwenga, commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Air Marshall Perrence Shiri, commander of the Air Force, Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri of the police and Paradzai Zimondi commissioner of the Zimbabwe Prison Services.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, one of Mugabe’s principal negotiators in the power-sharing talks that led to the current government, informally told opposition officials around the time that the transitional government took office in February that his party wanted an amnesty, according to a senior Zanu-PF official close to the talks.
“The MDC did not sound very forthcoming,” said the official.
Apr 14, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
FRANK KUWANA, April 09, 2009
Co-Home Affairs minister Giles Mutsekwa has vowed to tame the controversial commissioner of prisons Paradzai Zimondi arguing that the former member of the notorious Joint Operation Command (JOC) is hindering the implementation of the rule of law, it has emerged. Mutsekwa assisted in setting free the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) and former broadcaster Jestina Mukoko while his fellow minister Kembo Mohadi was in Zambia has reportedly said that Zimondi should realise that JOC has been disbanded following the introduction of the National Security Authority.The ZANU PF leader Robert Mugabe eventually appended his signature to the National Security Authority Bill that abolished the absolute powers of the junta (JOC).
Although prisons do not fall under his ministry, Mutsekwa was said to have promised to ensure that all the outstanding cases of the human rights activists and MDC supporters that are reportedly behind bars are cleared to pave the way for the practical implementation of the 100 days of economic recovery in line with the Short Term Economic Recovery Programme (STERP) that was launched less than two weeks ago.
Mutsekwa was not reachable for comment to clarify his intentions.
A subsequent workshop was held in Victoria Falls to map the way forward for Zimbabwe’s socio-economic recovery.
Zimondi was one of the service chiefs who vowed never to salute Tsvangirai arguing that he did not have the so-called straight jacket.
Since his inauguration, Tsvangirai had been persistently arguing that he does not need to be saluted for him to perform his functions.
He said that the junta would one day realise that it is necessary for a change of mindset for Zimbabwe to rise from its ashes of impoverishment.
Tsvangirai enjoys the support of the security personnel ranging from prison wardens, police officers and junior army officers following his pledge to pay civil servants in foreign currency after dollarisation of the economy that eased their socio-economic plight.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai was mobbed and given a hero’s reception when he visited Chikurubi Maximum prison to facilitate for the freedom of about 31 human rights and MDC activists that were languishing in the dungeons of solitary confinement*
Apr 10, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
From The Zimbabwean – Wednesday, 08 April 2009
Prison Inmate The SABC film on the horrendous conditions inside Zimbabwean prisons has shocked the world. These grim pictures of skeletal human beings will do nothing to improve the battered image of Zimbabwe as a centre of the most appalling human rights abuses under the Mugabe regime. To make matters worse, senior government officials have discredited themselves – and the government they purport to serve – by denying the reports.
It must be noted that there are two different issues here – these men, Patrick Chinamasa and Paradzai Zimondi, are not just in a state of denial – they are lying. Let’s not beat around the bush here.
If the SABC film was taken in some other African jail, as Chinamasa claims, why have three prison officers, Thabiso Nyathi, Siyai Muchechedzi and Thembinkosi Nkomo, been arrested by Prisons internal security and detained – accused of assisting the SABC in the making of the shocking documentary? Two of these officers are from Beitbridge Prison and one from Bulawayo. They are to be charged under the Official Secrets Act.
What is needed right now is for the ministry of justice and the prison authorities to invite the Red Cross, journalists and human rights observers to tour the country’s prisons to see for themselves what the true position is. We understand 20 people are dying every day in our country’s 55 prisons. For as long as the government maintains a blanket of secrecy and deception, the world will choose to believe the SABC film
What is more, the relatives of prisoners visit these prisons and see the state in which their loved ones are being held. Many Zimbabweans have been incarcerated in these prisons, some of whom are MDC members now sitting in Parliament. They have had first-hand experience of Zimbabwean jails. Why are they not speaking out now? Surely they have come to positions of authority for such a time as this?
Their silence is disturbing.
We commend SABC for this excellent piece of journalism. The truth must be told, no mater how unpalatable. Only when it is will we begin to regain the respect and assistance of the international community.
Apr 09, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
From The Zimbabwe Times – By Sibangani Sibanda, April 8, 2009
MORGAN Tsvangirayi, Tendai Biti and various other members of the former opposition movement in Zimbabwe, which is now part of the inclusive government, have spent time as enforced guests of the Zimbabwean prison system.
One must assume, therefore, that they have experienced first hand, the current conditions in our prisons. One assumes because, to the best of my knowledge, they have not disclosed, in public at least, the conditions under which they were incarcerated for various lengths of time.
When Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) treasurer and deputy Agriculture Minister designate, Roy Bennett, finally walked out of prison last month, he used an expression that has become something of a cliché. He said that he would not wish time in a Zimbabwean prison on his worst enemy.
I must admit that although I sympathized with the man, there was a part of me that thought that these were the sentiments of a white Zimbabwean failing to come to terms with the realities of prison system that thousands, including his own colleagues in the MDC, have endured in silence.
I owe Mr Bennett an apology.
This week, a South African Television channel ran a program on conditions in Zimbabwean prisons based, in part, on Bennett’s experiences. It was sobering and frightening, bringing into our homes, images that I would normally associate with black and white photographs of victims of the Holocaust and television pictures of the Ethiopian famine!
Even taking into account Zanu-PF’s grim record in government, this looked particularly horrific. Yes, they massacred people in Matebeleland in the name of flushing out dissidents. They have routinely abducted, tortured and killed opponents. They have allowed facilities that were once some of the best on the continent to deteriorate to a level where they are a danger to their supposed beneficiaries.
In short, they have been a callous, unfeeling, uncaring government. But to see live human beings living in the conditions that Zimbabwean saw in that documentary was beyond anything that I could have imagined in my county, in the 21st Century!
Now I seriously doubt Bennett will ever be sworn in as deputy minister.
It brought my opinion of Zanu-PF to a new low. Yet I was not completely surprised by this new revelation of the cruelty of a party that has always thrived on the total oppression of its people. What I found frightening was the fact that there had been so much silence on such serious violations of basic human rights at our very door step.
Prison officers who have presided over these death camps have remained silent, even when they have had to preserve the corpses of dead prisoners by covering them with sand onto which they pour water (as was described in the program); they have remained silent when there has not been enough food for the prisoners; doctors who have gone to prisons to attend to patients have said nothing. Even those close to prisoners have remained silent when their relatives have shown signs of emaciation or even told them (as they must have done) of the conditions they were living in.
Commissioner of Prisons, Paradzai Zimondi, has presided over this death and decay with such remarkable hard-heartedness that he thought nothing of dressing a few luck prisoners in bright yellow uniforms – all brand new – to go and sing “Happy 85th Birthday” to President Mugabe in Chinhoyi. At least they had more than a square meal on that day as compensation for the indignity. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa had the audacity to suggest the emaciated figures appearing on TV screens last week were citizens of another African country.
Many almost believed them. The scenes depicted were just too terrible to be out of Zimbabwe.
And the politicians who have experienced the prison conditions for themselves have also remained silent. It is as if in Zimbabwe, nothing is too appalling. We accept whatever the government throws at us without question – as long as we are in situations that are less appalling.
Zanu-PF, if they were to be asked to account for the state of our prisons would probably blame “sanctions”, but I wonder if they will ever get asked now; now that they are part of a new “inclusive” government. In any case, what sanctions have been imposed on Zimbabwe that would account for such human suffering?
The MDC, who have the majority in Parliament but are the junior partner in the inclusive government have allowed themselves to become partly responsible for the state of our prisons – as they have allowed themselves to be identified with just about every failure of Zanu-PF. They, at least appear to still have some consciences. As they look at redressing all the other messes created by the old government, they should also look at the prisons.
Even those that society wishes to punish have some rights.
Apr 09, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
From ZimDaily – by Kenneth Kudakwashe Nyoka, 8th April 2009
ZIMBABWE — HARARE —The unfolding humanitarian disaster in Zimbabwean prisons has driven me out of my little delusionary world and hit me right between the eyes.
Roy Bennett the much maligned and incarcerated MDC official attempted to highlight to the world upon his release from Mutare remand prison the inhuman and degrading conditions behind Zimbabwean prison walls but it appears everyone else is too busy with their own business and are oblivious to the plight of these wretched and dehumanised souls that are Zimbabwe’s prisoners.
Whilst it should be a given that if “you do the crime you should do the time“, it is the statutory duty of those who place these men behind those prison walls to ensure that they are well fed and nourished.
If they cannot feed them then they should explore other alternative forms of punishment to custodial sentences.
It is scandalous in the extreme that human beings should be subjected to these Dickensian and medieval conditions in prison in this the 21st century.
The magnitude of the plight of prisoners has not been accorded the attention it deserves.
The grotesque and antiquated judiciary system continues to churn out custodial punishment when it is manifestly clear that the equally antiquated and rotten prison infrastructure is completely unable to provide for these inmates.
The prison infrastructure was designed and constructed during the colonial era and there has been no expansion whatsoever in these structures as a consequence of which some of them are carrying tenfold their capacity.
The acute decline in living standards in the country due to the ruinous policies of the Zanupf Government have been replicated and magnified in the country’s prisons.
Inmates periodically starve to death and those that are living manifest severe symptoms of inter alia malnutrition and some other untreated conditions whilst others are clearly in the last stages of their lives.
This article is a clarion call to the authorities that are now in charge of running these institutions of mass suffering to act urgently to alleviate this humanitarian disaster.
There are those who will argue that we should not be overly concerned with the welfare of prisoners when we cannot even feed the ordinary law abiding citizens in the first place.
The state has through its courts taken away the liberties of these individuals and saw it fit to confine them. It has thus become vicariously liable for the sustenance of these individuals. If it cannot feed and clothe them then it should not put them there in the first place.
Recent developments and research in criminology point to the fact that imprisonment is not always the best and productive form of dealing with offenders.
Incacerating offenders often lead to a scenario where they mix with hardened criminals and chances of recidivism are compounded by imprisonment.
In the case of Zimbabwe sodomy has been well documented in the prison system and first time prisoners are at risk of being infected with the deadly HIV virus from those who routinely engage in sodomising young and vulnerable inmates.
Because of the overcrowded nature of the prisons contagious diseases like tuberculosis and other skin ailments are also rife. Sanitary conditions are woefully absent and deplorable. Toilets which do not flash are constantly overflowing with human waste.
It is an understatement to describe the conditions as hellish. It was recently reported that one prison had completely run out of the scant rations of food it had this week.
The fact is that conditions in Zimbabwean prisons have been under-reported and the longer we keep quite in the face such depravity makes us complicit in this whole inhuman transaction. We have allowed the commission of mass murder on our watch.
The puerile stench that emanates from these death holes poisons the blast of fresh air which the new political dispensation is attempting to engender.
We should not rest easily in our mansions and drive comfortably in our new government issued limousines when such a transgression is obtaining right in our faces.
Kenneth Kudakwashe Nyoka is a former magistrate and prosecutor in Zimbabwe.
Apr 08, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
From SW Radio Africa – Broadcast 7th April 2009
Former prison guard Shepherd Yuda risked his life by secretly filming how members of the security services were forced to vote under supervision during the sham one-man presidential run-off.
For 6 tense days he captured life at Harare Central Prison.
Now safely out of the country Yuda joins Lance Guma, Behind the Headlines, and tells why he decided to expose the rigging.
He says the murder of his uncle, Tapiwa Mubwanda in Hurungwe, and friend Tonderai Ndira in Mabvuku, spurred him into action.
Click Here To Listen
Lance Guma
Producer/Presenter
Apr 08, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
From The Harare Tribune – Monday, 06 April 2009
ZANU-PF appointee and card-carrying member, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, refused to grant bail to MDC activists and a independent journalist who were abducted by the CIO, ZRP, ZNA last year.
The State accuses the three of plotting to overthrow the illegal regime headed by Robert Mugabe last year.
Chidyausiku, a man with multiple farms siezed from their rightful owners, the same man who has benefited from the ZANU-PF corruption over the last ten years, refused to grant them bail saying an earlier High Court ruling was okay.
The three will likely spent more days and weeks in Zimbabwe’s notorious prisons.
Read below for more on the case:
MDC Pressroom–Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku today dismissed a bail application filed by two MDC officials and a journalist who are facing trumped up charges of banditry, insurgency and terrorism.
Chris Dhlamini, MDC head of security, Gandhi Mudzingwa, Prime Minister Hon. Morgan Tsvangirai’s former aide and freelance journalist Andrison Manyere have been in remand prison since December last year.
Justice Chidyausiku denied bail to the three arguing that there was no misdirection to an earlier ruling by High Court Judge Justice Yunus Omerjee.
However, MDC lawyers are going to file another urgent bail application at the High Court tomorrow applying for the immediate release of the three.
The new bail application is expected to be heard on Wednesday. The MDC views the continued detention of the three political detainees as going against the spirit and letter of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that was signed by the three main political parties last year.
The continued detention of MDC activists has nothing to do with the law but is a product of political machinations of the residual elements in Zanu PF and the securocrats who are waging a perpetual battle to scuttle change by undermining the inclusive government.
The MDC calls for the immediate release of the three prisoners and the scores of MDC activists who are being held in secret locations after they were abducted by State security agents last year.
Apr 07, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
Saturday, 04 April 2009
BY JOHN MAKUMBE
The news that the Commissioner of the Zimbabwe Prison Services (ZPS), Paradzai Zimondi has made a U-Turn in his attitude towards Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai is not funny. This is the man who publicly stated that as an avowed and staunch member of Zanu (PF) he would not salute Tsvangirai if he came into power. He further stated that should the MDC come into power he would resign his post and go and defend his farm, presumably from re-possession by the state and subsequent return to the rightful owners. It is trite to say what happened in June 2008 should be forgotten because it was done for political reasons.
Zimondi is of the sick idea that all the murders that were committed during the run-up to the run-off presidential elections should be swept aside because these were crimes committed for political ends. How sick can an official be?
Zimondi also told his subordinates to stop victimizing junior officers in the ZPS as this was no longer tolerable. It is therefore obvious that prior to the setting up of the inclusive government such practice was tolerable, if not encouraged by none other than the Commissioner himself. Junior officials were always suspected of being supporters of the MDC.
This same practice is also rampant in the police force and in the military service. It is this sick mentality that the Prime Minister (PM) will find most difficult to transform in the new Zimbabwe. My view is that people like Zimondi, Chihuri, Chiwenga and Shiri, should be written off as well beyond rehabilitation for effective service in the new Zimbabwe. They
should simply be pensioned off and dismissed form government service.
They are poison among our public servants. They need to be replaced by younger and more enlightened officers who have respect for the laws of this land. It is not enough for Zimondi to advise that the anti-Tsvangirai comments that he had made in the past should be disregarded. The man has to apologise to the PM as well as submit his resignation and go home.
What is even more depressing is the fact that, by and large, these fellows are grossly inefficient in the running of their entities. For example, just one look at the picture of prison inmates sleeping at Chikurubi (published in the Standard of 29.03.09) gives you the creeps. It is unbelievable that there are human beings in this country that are forced to live like that for years.
This is one of the outfits that crazy old Zimondi is responsible for. It is obvious that some of these inmates never wake up the following day, and it is not news at all, not to Zimondi. This is one area where well-thought out reforms could be implemented without the need for massive injections of foreign assistance.
We challenge the inclusive government to tackle this serious humanitarian situation as soon as possible in order to save lives. There is little to be expected from Zimondi, whose primary concern is his farm and blind loyalty to Zanu (PF).
It is unfortunate to have to express the sentiments that for some reason, the inclusive government seems to be dragging its feet when it comes to addressing issues of gross violations of human rights and the administration of justice. Admittedly, we are still cursed with a largely partisan judiciary and a rabidly unjust Attorney General. Transforming the
judiciary and the prison systems in this country is likely to be among the last activities that the Tsvangirai government is likely to tackle. They could perhaps begin by cleaning house from the top to the bottom. Make Zimondi and his ilk go home to their farms, please!
Apr 06, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
(source: www.radiovop.com)
HARARE, April 2 2009 – Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa
has dismissed as “false” an SABC TV3 Special Assignment documentary which
aired horrifying footage exposing how prisons in the country have become
death camps for thousands of inmates who are deprived of food and medical
care.
In an interview with RadioVOP on Wednesday, Chinamasa said the
documentary, which shocked most Zimbabweans due to its horrifying pictures
of gravely ill inmates, accused the SABC team of fabricating the story.
“What was shown by the SABC3 is not true,” said Chinamasa. “The SABC
is lying. We do not allow cameras into our prisons. We have made
investigations and found out that the footage is not from Zimbabwean but
other countries,” he said.
“The pictures shown are not from Zimbabwe prisons but elsewhere in
Africa and these are being attributed to us.”
But the SABC team said the film, made by SABC’s Special Assignment
programme, was shot over three months with cameras smuggled into the
prisons.
Apr 02, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Wednesday 25 March 2009
(source: Bill Watch 12/2009)
At question time in Zimbabwe’s Parliament session on Wednesday, Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, responding to a question on prisoners dying of hunger and cholera in Chipinge Prison, said that there had been cases of dysentery, now under control. He admitted that there was malnutrition due to inadequate funding but said that they were working on this with the Ministry of Health. He rejected a proposal for amnesty/parole for all terminally ill patients.
Apr 02, 2009 | Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »
