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Auxilia Katongomara, Chronicle Reporter
PARDONED prisoners in Bulawayo, Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North provinces are yet to taste freedom as they will only be released today since officials were still conducting a verification exercise.

The inmates were freed on a clemency order by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday.

The affected inmates are at Khami, Ntabazinduna, Anju, Hwange and Gwanda prisons.

Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Elizabeth Banda yesterday said the delay was necessitated by a verification exercise that the provinces were conducting before releasing the prisoners.

“The provinces sent verification forms to Harare today and it was confirmed so it was late to release them today.

They will therefore be released tomorrow morning,” she said.

Ass Comm Banda said all the provinces had their information verified and prisoners will be released at the same time and it’s likely that all the inmates would be released today.

The ZPCS does a meticulous verification process on prisoners to ascertain those who qualify for amnesty before they are release them to avoid erroneous release of dangerous criminals into society.

On Thursday Chikurubi, Shurugwi, Connemara and Whawha released all female prisoners.

At Chikurubi, 87 females were released and only nine of the female prisoners failed to qualify for the amnesty.

The most prominent prisoner to be released was MDC-T activist, Yvonne Musarurwa, who was jailed for 20 years along with others for the murder of policeman Petros Mutedza.

The release of inmates is part of the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs 100 day initiatives to decongest the country’s prisons.

President Mnangagwa pardoned about 3 000 prisoners as part of measures to decongest the prisons whose population had ballooned to 20 000. Most of the female inmates qualified for the Presidential pardon.

The prisons’ holding capacity is 17 000 inmates.

In a clemency order, President Mnangagwa also commuted to life imprisonment inmates who were on death row for more than 10 years.

However, murder, treason, rape, armed robbery; car-jacking, sexual offences or violence driven offences do not qualify for the Presidential pardon.

The President extended the amnesty in terms of Section 112 (1) (a) and (d) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

The amnesty has emptied the country’s female and juvenile prisons. “A full remission of the remaining period of imprisonment is hereby granted to all female prisoners, regardless of the offence committed, save for those sentenced to life imprisonment or death.

President Mnangagwa has also freed all male prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment on or before 28 February 1998 as well as all female prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment on or before 31 December 2010.

Disabled inmates, who are blind and physically disabled and those who rely on other persons to be moved around the prison have also been released. “An additional one quarter remission of the remaining effective period of imprisonment is hereby granted to all those prisoners sentenced to imprisonment for a period of more than 36 months and have served at least one third of the effective term of imprisonment”.

Habitual criminals serving extended imprisonment, people previously released on amnesty, people sentenced by a court martial and any person who escaped from lawful custody will remain behind bars. — @AuxiliaK