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Senior Reporter
No inmate has starved to death and reports that over 100 prisoners died of hunger in the country’s prisons since the beginning of the year are misleading, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emerson Mnangagwa said yesterday.
He said some sections of the media had deliberately misrepresented evidence given to a portfolio committee by the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services, Deputy Commission Aggrey Huggins Machingauta.
He said this during yesterday’s parliament question and answer session.
“From yesterday (Tuesday) the media was awash with misleading statistics. Nobody has died of hunger.
“We do have challenges of food but we are being supported by the GMB,” he said.
“People who have died since January have died of various ailments.”
Minister Mnangagwa said they were required to have three months’ supply of food for inmates but in some instances it went down to two weeks.
He also said prisoners requiring ARVs were adequately supplied because they were dependant on the State.
On Monday, Deputy Commissioner Machingauta also said they were encountering challenges in providing food to the inmates.
Online Reporter