Chiefs to assist ex-convicts

Veronica Gwaze
TRADITIONAL leaders will be roped in to assist in the rehabilitation of inmates, the head of Zimbabwe’s correctional services has said.

Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Commissioner-General Major-General (Retired) Paradzai Zimondi said they wanted to incorporate traditional leaders in the rehabilitative aspects of their operations.

He made these remarks last week as Celebration Church handed over a water tank and maize seed to the ZCPS at Harare Central Prison.

“The rehabilitation of inmates does not begin and end in prisons. Instead, it is a continuous process that the ZPCS cannot achieve alone. Traditional leaders are the custodians of our traditions and customs and must therefore take an active role in the rehabilitation process,” Comm-Gen Zimondi said.

The ZPCS boss said traditional leaders must play a more participative role in fostering good relations between former inmates and society.

ZPCS public relations officer, Chief Prison Officer Solomon Mutamba, added: “Traditional leaders are respected members of society and their involvement in issues to with inmates makes our work easier.”

He said more than 80 percent of ex-convicts were not well-received in their communities, and around 30 percent reverted to crime.

“The majority of the prisoners face serious challenges upon release. We have programmes that promote forgiveness and reconciliation but this is not enough. Some of the challenges are of a spiritual nature and that is where the traditional leaders come in.”

Chief Mudzimu (Mr Joseph Mudzimu) welcomed the ZPCS initiative and expressed traditional leaders’ support for rehabilitation programmes.

“The problems that former inmates face have everything to do with the failure by communities to embrace them, resulting in former inmates going back to their criminal past. As traditional leaders, we are going to bridge that gap and act as mediators,” Chief Mudzimu said.