Online Reporter
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Zimpapers Senior Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) this week allowed a serving inmate to attend the burial of his mother, a move that underscores the Service’s continued shift from a purely punitive approach towards a correctional and rehabilitative focus.
The decision to grant temporary release to Tinashe Fifitini (36), who is serving a nine-year prison term at Mutare Remand Prison for contravening the Wildlife Act and is due for release in 2027, comes just weeks after ZPCS announced that selected inmates are now accessing conjugal rights while serving their sentences.
In a Facebook post, ZPCS said a delegation of five officers from its Manicaland Province accompanied Fifitini from Mutare Remand Prison to Nyamande Village, under Chief Saunyama in Nyanga District, where he attended his mother’s burial.
His mother, aged 66, succumbed to a lung infection.
As her coffin was lowered into the ground, Fifitini reportedly knelt down in prayer before addressing mourners.
“I never imagined I would be allowed to pay my last respects to my mother. This has shown me that the ZPCS still perceives me as a human being. I am grateful, and please consider me a changed person,” he said.
Addressing hundreds of mourners at the burial, Provincial Rehabilitation Officer Correctional Officer Grade Three (CO3) Edwell Mariga said from a Pan-African perspective, rehabilitation goes beyond discipline and skills training to include the preservation of family ties and human dignity.
“Moments like these help offenders reconnect with society, which is essential for successful reintegration,” said CO3 Mariga.
