Online Reporter
Arron Nyamayaro-Zimpapers Reporter
Learners from St Ignatius College got an unexpected history lesson on Saturday when they toured Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison and discovered that the soon-to-be-commissioned BridgeFM Radio is housed in what was once the prison’s execution chamber.
The students, visiting as part of an educational outreach programme, were surprised to learn that the building now set to broadcast voices was previously used to hang inmates.
Prison officers guided the learners through the facility’s dark past, but the officer-in-charge Superintendent Maplan Kakoto, said that the space has been radically re-imagined.
He said the new studio is designed to “bridge the gap” — turning a place where life was once cut short into a platform for expression and rehabilitation.
“The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service has moved from punitive measures to a correctional system,” said Supt Kakoto.
“Government abolished the death penalty on December 31, 2024, and all condemned inmates have been moved to life sentences. The cell that used to hang people sentenced to death has been renovated into a radio station, which is set to be commissioned this year.”
BridgeFM’s presenters include inmates, who will play an active role in programming as part of their rehabilitation. One of them, Stembiso Manyange, even went on air with the visiting learners, who expressed admiration for the transformation championed by ZPCS.
Speaking after the tour, Assistant Commissioner Meya Khanyezi said the prison service had deliberately opened its gates to schools as part of broader educational programmes and to strengthen crime-prevention messaging among young people.
“As ZPCS, our main mandate is to incarcerate and rehabilitate offenders so that they can return to society as responsible and productive citizens.”
