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Mashudu Netsianda, [email protected]

THE modernisation and transformation of the country’s prisons and correctional services is at the heart of the Second Republic’s development agenda in line with international standards aimed at promoting inclusivity and enhancing the contribution of such entities to broader economic growth, President Mnangagwa said yesterday.

Speaking during the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) 152nd recruit officers’ pass-out parade at Ntabazinduna Prison Training School in Umguza District, he reiterated the Government’s commitment to effectively capacitate operations of the ZPCS to ensure it executes its mandate to the highest expected levels.

Already, the Government has approved the construction of modern state-of-the-art correctional facilities in Gwanda in Matabeleland South, and Hurungwe in Mashonaland West provinces.

This, coupled with the mechanisation and provision of irrigation equipment to the ZPCS, should boost production and food security for the benefit of inmates, staff, and the country’s economy, he said.

“My Government remains committed to modernising correctional facilities in the country in order to alleviate overcrowding and improve living conditions in these facilities. 

“To date, we have since approved the construction of modern and state-of-the-art correctional facilities in Gwanda, Matabeleland South and Hurungwe in Mashonaland West,” said the President.

“On our part as Government, we continue to capacitate operations of the Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Service. This has seen ZPCS benefitting from allocation of various service vehicles to meet administrative and operational needs.”

The Ntabazinduna Prison Training School is one of the torch bearers following the resuscitation of its horticulture, goat rearing, and bee-keeping projects to help improve the nutrition and diet of the recruited correctional officers and staff members.

 

The ZPCS must further this drive by utilising the farms allocated to the correctional service units and ensure the mechanisation and irrigation equipment provided by the Second Republic is put to maximum use, said President Mnangagwa.

“I challenge the Commandant of ZPCS Ntabazinduna Prison Training School (Commissioner Sithokozile Shoko) and her staff to expand their projects so that they become commercially viable, to augment the school’s operational requirements,” he said.

In line with Vision 2030 targets, the President said his administration continues to invest in human capital development, which has witnessed several correctional officers benefitting under the Presidential Scholarship Programme.

He also commended the ZPCS for conducting reciprocal benchmarking visits with countries in the Southern African region and beyond.

“These relations must be strengthened because sharing experiences and best practices helps enhance and improve the management of our prisons and correctional facilities. Going forward, I urge ZPCS Commissioner-General (Moses) Chihobvu to revamp and modernise the present state of all our correctional facilities and systems as we journey towards the realisation of Vision 2030,” said President Mnangagwa.

To buttress the Second Republic’s development agenda of leaving no one and no place behind, the President said the Government will ensure that citizens from all corners of Zimbabwe are given equal opportunities to participate in the country’s socio-economic development programmes.

“No one and no place will be left behind as we march towards the attainment of a prosperous and empowered upper-middle-income economy by 2030,” he said. 

A total of 749 officers comprising 535 males and 214 females, graduated after six months of training. The profile of the recruit officers reflects the Government’s  drive  to champion equal participation of all Zimbabweans in national development, including previously marginalised communities under its broad-based empowerment programmes.

This has seen a total of 10 recruited correctional officers who graduated yesterday coming from the previously marginalised San community in Tsholotsho District. 

“Equally impressive is the fact that this is now the second course that has included members of the San community. Well done for this continued initiative, which is in line with my administration’s devolution agenda towards the inclusive participation of all citizens in our country’s development,” said President Mnangagwa.

The Second Republic facilitated the recruitment of members from the San community into the country’s security services.

Last year, the Cabinet resolved that the country’s security services should set up a quota system for the San community as part of their integration into the broader society. 

During the ZPCS’s 150th recruit correctional officers’ pass-out parade last year at Ntabazinduna Prison Training School, 20 youths, comprising eleven males and nine females from the San community in Tsholotsho District, wrote their own piece of history when they became the first group to graduate.  Prior to the Second Republic’s interventions, the San people lived in their own world, far removed from the rest of the country. Most of them did not have birth certificates or identity documents resulting in them lacking access to many services, including health and voting.

A majority of them could not access school and as a result, could not secure formal jobs, but only menial ones.

President Mnangagwa implored the newly graduated correctional officers to be disciplined and shun risky lifestyles such as drug and substance abuse.

“In the course of your duties, I challenge you to cultivate a greater understanding of matters related to the code of ethics and uphold the highest standards of integrity and professionalism,” he said.