adminNyore Madzianike Manicaland Bureau
THE Zimbabwe Prison Services is expected to release 499 prisoners from jail in Manicaland following a Presidential amnesty.
President Mnangagwa pardoned 3 000 prisoners across the country. At least 173 are expected to be released from Mutare Farm Prison.
Rusape will free 40.
Little Kraal Farm Prison in Nyazura is expected to release 80 prisoners.
Indications are that 90 will be freed from Chipinge Prison.
Out of the 499, thirty are females.
Six juveniles from Chipinge and Mutare remand prisons will also be released.
“The process of verifying the numbers is still underway and if things go well, we expect to release 499 inmates from prisons in Manicaland,” said Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Manicaland region principal officer Mr Liberty Mhlanga.
One of the freed prisoners, Ruramai Mapanga, who claimed to be Chief Nyashanu’s son from Buhera and had been sentenced to 48 years for stocktheft, thanked the President for the amnesty.
He had served 16 years.
“I was arrested in 2002 after we stole cattle belonging to one Jopa in Chipinge. I was then jailed for three years and served my term until 2005. I was then re-arrested and convicted of stocktheft before being sentenced to 48 years,” he said.
Mapanga said he first served his jail term at Chikurubi Maximum Prison before he was transferred to Mutare Farm Prison.
He claimed to have been wrongly convicted after he was re-arrested.
“I think this pardon came at a very good time and I would like to thank the President for that. I think I was wrongly convicted because I served two jail terms for the same offence. The same offence, which I was convicted of in 2002, was the very offence which I was also jailed for in Chipinge in 2005,” he said.
Shepherd Chigudu, who once grabbed headlines for allegedly demanding sexual favours from other inmates while serving his jail term, hoped fellow villagers in Masvingo would accept him back into the community.
He was jailed for unlawful entry in aggravated circumstances.
“I hope people will accept me back into the community. It is true that I have been accused of demanding sexual favours from another inmate. We went to court but I was never tried for that case. Those were allegations cooked up by a jealousy inmate after I was promoted because of good behaviour. The matter was handled by a senior prison officer who then decided that the matter be concluded at court,” he said.
Chigudu said the inmate who was accusing him of attempting to sodomise him later changed the goalposts when the matter was about to be heard at the courts.
Online Reporter