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PARDONED prisoners who were released from various prisons across the country should utilise this golden opportunity to turn their lives around and shun criminal ways.

Close to 4 000 pardoned prisoners across the country were released on Thursday coinciding with the 44th anniversary of Zimbabwe’s independence from the oppressive Rhodesian settler regime.

President Mnangagwa granted amnesty to various categories of prisoners on Monday and commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment to all inmates who had been on death row for 10 years and above.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mrs Vimbai Nyemba, announced in General Notice 467 of 2024 Clemency Order No.1 of 2024 published in an Extraordinary Gazette on Monday.

Beneficiaries of the amnesty include all female inmates who had served one-third of their sentence by April 18, excluding those serving time for specified offences and those who have previously been released on amnesty.

Free men. Beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty waiting to be released from Bulawayo Prison yesterday

Specified offences are murder, treason, rape or any sexual offence, car-jacking, robbery, public violence, human trafficking, unlawful possession of firearms, contravention of the Electricity Act, contravention of the Postal and Telecommunications Act, contravention of the Public Order and Security Act/Maintenance of Peace and Order Act and any conspiracy, incitement or attempt to commit any of the offences listed above.

Inmates under 18 years of age also benefited if they had served one-third of their sentence by yesterday.

Those charged under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act are excluded from the Presidential amnesty.

Prisoners serving an effective period of 48 months and below who had served one-third of their sentence by Thursday, provided they were not convicted for specified offences, also benefited.

President Mnangagwa also pardoned inmates certified terminally ill by a correctional medical officer or a Government medical officer with the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) required to liaise with the Department of Social Welfare so that there is continuity of treatment after release.

Inmates who are certified by a correctional medical officer or a Government medical officer to be visually impaired and those who are physically challenged to the extent that they cannot be catered for in a prison or correctional environment and had served one-third of their sentences by Thursday were also pardoned.

The pardoned prisoners must use the early freedom granted by the President to be good and exemplary citizens contributing towards the development of their lives and country.

They should also play an ambassadorial role in society in the fight against societal ills like drug and substance abuse among other issues.