New lease of life for Anju Prison Farm

Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT is working on capacitating Anju Prison Farm in Nyamandlovu in Umguza District as part of efforts to boost productivity in Matabeleland North in line with President Mnangagwa’s devolution thrust.

Anju Prison Farm is core to the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) drive to empower inmates with life skills which they can use upon release from prison.

The farm is one of the 23 ZPCS farms producing food for inmates at the different prisons across the country.

The 203-hectare farm with an arable land of 130 hectares, is being utilised for the production of a wide range of horticultural produce, cereals and edible oil seeds.

Produce from the farm is used for feeding inmates at prisons in Matabeleland region while the surplus is sold to generate income to fund some of the day-to-day operations of the prisons.

Speaking soon after a familiarisation tour of Anju Prison Farm yesterday, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the farm has potential in terms of increasing productivity.

Minister Ziyambi said despite water challenges due to inadequate irrigation equipment and boreholes, he was impressed that ZPCS has stepped up efforts of enhancing production and turning Anju Farm into an integrated agricultural enterprise to achieve food self-sufficiency at its prisons.

“I was on a familiarisation tour to appreciate the challenges faced by prisons in Matabeleland North and Bulawayo. Anju Farm has a lot of potential to ensure that we have food sufficiency for the inmates as well as to supply other institutions,” he said.

The Minister said Government is working on capacitating and retooling the farm workshop since inmates are taught life skills.

“We need to harness the expertise that we have in our prisons. Some of the inmates are good mechanics and electricians and therefore we want to make sure that their skills can be utilised to ensure that there is increased productivity on the farm,” he said.

“Anju Farm is a very good correctional centre where a majority of our inmates are taught life skills that will enable them to fend for their families as well as look after themselves when they are reintegrated back to society.”

Minister Ziyambi said in line with the Government thrust of devolution and ensuring that institutions become more productive, his ministry will ensure that Anju Farm is provided with the equipment and tractors as part of mechanisation to increase productivity.

He said he will soon engage his counterpart in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (Prof Mthuli Ncube) on capacitating prison farms.

“It is actually beneficial to Government in terms of budget allocations because that budget line will not be a burden on the fiscus. I will engage the Minister of Finance and Economic Development and the President has already agreed that we must engage the Ministry, the Command Agriculture authorities with the view of capacitating our prison farms,” he said.

“This farm has a lot of potential and we therefore need to support them to the maximum to produce and the authorities have shown a lot of zeal. The only challenge is that they are not tooled to realise their potential.”

Minister Ziyambi also interacted with prisoners and they expressed their concerns such as lack of blankets and protective clothing.

Some of the inmates at Anju indicated that they wanted the Government to capacitate workshops so that they are able to apply their skills. Mr Andrew Mpande said upon release, most of the prisoners were facing stigmatisation from society making it difficult for them to secure employment. He urged the Minister to consider the sentence to run concurrently with the criminal record.

“When we leave prison, we will be having criminal records. We urge Government to consider clearing that criminal record once we are out as it makes it difficult for us to secure jobs and move on in life,” he said.

Prominent businessman Cde Philip Chiyangwa urged prisoners to be self-sufficient and business minded upon completion of their prison terms.

“You must use the skills acquired in prison to be self-sufficient and venture into income generating projects so that you can be able to look after yourselves and your families. Zimbabwe wants more employers than employees so I urge you to be initiative and create employment,” he said.

Cde Chiyangwa donated a welding machine for use at Anju Prison Farm.-@mashnets.