peter
Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
THE recent release of 4 270 prisoners under the Presidential amnesty has seen Khami Maximum Prison losing a headmaster who has been producing 100 percent pass rate over the past few years he was serving time at the prison.
The clemency order saw the results-oriented headmaster Mr Bhule Tshidzanani (52) who had helped the prison inmates in attaining good pass marks being freed. Mr Tshidzanani was convicted for stocktheft in 2018 and subsequently sentenced to a mandatory nine years imprisonment. A Sunday News crew caught up with the ex-convict soon after his release at Khami maximum prison and spoke about his work inside the prison walls.
“I was convicted for stocktheft and sentenced to nine years. This meant that in jail I would serve an effective 6 years. I have been here for five years and four months and I am grateful for this amnesty. Ever since I came to jail, I was involved in various rehabilitation programmes. I have been teaching and assisting inmates and other students from around the prison complex. I have been the headmaster of the school and we have been able to achieve favourable results during my tenure. In the past three years, we have been achieving 100 percent in Mathematics and other Science subjects which clearly shows that we have been doing very well as an education unit of this prison,” said Mr Tshidzanani.
While Khami Maximum Prison might have lost a teacher and headmaster to the amnesty, his community is set to benefit from his vast experience as he has set sight in establishing a study centre in his home town, Plumtree.
“Before I came to jail, I had taught in Zimbabwe and South Africa after training as a teacher at Hillside Teachers’ College. Now that I have been released, I want to go and establish a study centre in my community. This will be more like a self-help centre where I will mainly concentrate on repeating candidates,” said Mr Tshidzanani.
While encouraging other inmates to take up rehabilitation programmes like education, Mr Tshidzanani said he had recruited other inmates who he is confident will carry on with the work that he had done at the prison school.
“I recruited and taught quite a number of inmates whom I believe will do well in educating other inmates. I wish all other inmates would follow suit and engage in productive work that I engaged myself in so that they can empower themselves after going out of this place,” said Mr Tshidzanani.
Officer in charge of Khami Maximum Prison Chief Superintendent Joe Matyavira said Mr Tshidzanani served the institution with distinction when he was serving time at the institution.
“Mr Bhule was our headmaster here at Khami Maximum Prison. He is one of the prisoners who benefited from the amnesty. As you may know, we have various rehabilitation activities and one of them is education. Mr Tshidzanani was thus the head of the school and was teaching Mathematics and Science subjects. We have been doing exceptionally well under his guidance scoring good grades in various subjects,” said Chief Supt Matyavira.
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Officer Commanding Bulawayo Metropolitan Province Commissioner Mkhulunyelwa Ngwenya said the prison school was part of the rehabilitation activities meant to empower inmates and prepare them for life after release.
“We have various rehabilitation programmes including educational activities which are all meant to assist the inmates. We want them to not only come out as law abiding citizens but as people who can contribute towards the development of the country. They should be able to feed themselves so that they do not come back to prison or resort to crime for survival,” said Commissioner Ngwenya.
Mr Tshidzanani is part of the 670 male inmates from Khami Maximum Prison who were set free under the amnesty. -@nyeve14
Online Reporter