Online Reporter
Arron Nyamayaro
Herald Reporter
JAILED rapper Benard Hweta, better known in music circles as “Liquid Yonke”, is yet to receive visitors following his decision to serve a prison sentence instead of taking up the option of community service.
Hweta’s choice shocked many after he described community service as work for the City Council, leaving many questioning his sanity.
Speaking about his ordeal, Hweta said he lost a tooth in an attack the day before his arrest for theft.
The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) Family Week began on Monday, but Hweta remains without visitors.
When Pathways to Reintegration Foundation board chairperson Dr Rutendo Mudzamiri arrived together with Madzibaba Nigel Dokwani of Johanne Masowe yeChishanu, Hweta was among inmates who rushed to seek prayers.
“I regret revealing my decision to choose prison sentence instead of community service,” Hweta said. “My parents and relatives warned me about it, and they have decided to abandon me. None of them is paying me a visit. To make matters worse, they have informed prison officers about my decision. As a result, I have been counted among misbehaving inmates for choosing to return to prison, and now, no visitors are coming to see me. I want to apologise to the public for my statements. It was never my intention to say I love being in prison. To me, stealing from someone who had stolen a cellphone in a nightclub looked simple.”
Hweta requested prayers saying the day before his arrest, he had been attacked and lost a tooth.
Hweta said the attackers accused him of exposing their drug bases, and that in the night, he could not identify them.
“When I reported the matter to the police the following morning, that is when I met my girlfriend, who was also reporting the theft of her cellphone, leading to my arrest,” he said.
A victim of drug and substance abuse, Hweta appealed for support, saying he still has music talent that he has to protect for a bright future.
“I do not write my songs; I just compose ideas in my mind and when I sing them, they create music,” he said. “Zvakanyorwa kare zvangu mubrain, handinyore pasi kuti ndizoimba.”
He demonstrated his talent by composing a song on the spot about PAREF, and later sang with fellow inmate, Oscar Phiri, convincing Dr Mudzamiri of his potential.
Dr Mudzamiri urged churches, corporates and individuals to join hands with prisons to rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders.
“We have a number of talented and gifted people in prisons,” she said. “PAREF is compiling a database of inmates’ skills and training them to avoid returning to criminal behaviour after release.
“Today we brought Madzibaba Nigel. Apart from addressing and praying for inmates, he also donated ice creams to inmates who have not been receiving visitors due to their geographical location.”
She added that many inmates come from places far from Harare and rarely get visits. “We have inmates from Bulawayo and Chipinge here in Harare prisons, and they hardly have visitors. This is where we are calling for assistance,” Dr Mudzamiri said.
She spent the better part of yesterday meeting inmates who failed to receive visitors.
Harare Metropolitan Province staff officer for rehabilitation and reintegration, Superintendent Gwauya Mutuke, commended the public for visiting inmates during the first day of Family Week.
Harare Metropolitan Province prisons had 1 496 inmates visited and 4 132 visitors, Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison had 399 inmates visited by 1 216 visitors, Harare Central Prison had 498 inmates visited by 1 264 visitors, Chikurubi Female Prison saw 72 inmates visited by 292 visitors, Chikurubi Farm Prison saw 68 inmates visited by 263 visitors and Kentucky Prison had 27 inmates visited by 74 visitors.
At Harare Remand Prison 404 inmates were visited by 952 visitors and Chikurubi Psychiatric Unit saw 28 patients visited by 71 visitors.
Supt Mutuke said visitors play a major role in rehabilitation and reintegration, encouraging communities to continue taking part in the Family Week.
