'We have no transport for prisoners'

'We have no transport for prisoners' - prisons boss

CRISIS: The Zimbabwe Prisons Service has only four of these trucks and they have all broken down, an official said

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By Lindie Whiz
Posted to the web: 12/05/2009 03:24:03
ZIMBABWE’S Prisons Service has no transport to move suspects to court, and thousands of remand prisoners are being unnecessarily held, officials admit.

The Prisons Service says it has only FOUR trucks servicing the whole country and they have all broken down.

“We do not have vehicles to transport prisoners, the four we have are off the road for now as they have broken down,” Chief Prisons Officer Priscilla Mthembo revealed in an interview published on Sunday.

She added: “Even if they were functioning, they would not be adequate for the whole country. The trucks would not last because of the huge burden of servicing the whole country and the situation is worsened by the bad state of our roads.

“We require huge vehicles for large-complex prisons such as Chikurubi, Hwahwa, and Khami Maximum Prisons. Smaller trucks will service smaller prisons such as Binga and they will be used to ferry prisoners to satellite courts in rural areas.

“We are doing everything we can to correct the anomaly, but since we do not generate our own funds, we appeal to the government to come to our aid.”

The shock revelation is a massive stain on the unity government’s First 100 Days in office report and will alarm lawyers and judges who have publicly expressed disquiet with the prison authorities’ incapacity to bring suspects to court for trial and routine remand hearings.

Last month, a television documentary showed appalling conditions in Zimbabwe’s prisons – allowed to fester by Zimbabwe’s previous government which was also battling a sharp economic downturn and international isolation.

But almost 100 days after the power sharing government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai assumed power on February 13, prisons are still battling to uphold prisoners’ basic rights.

In March, a Bulawayo magistrate revealed there were 7,000 people held in remand prison, many of them illegally, because authorities could not bring them to court.

Magistrate John Masimba said then: “Once someone is remanded in custody, they are just as good as forgotten because their chances of being brought back to court are nil.”

Judges and magistrates are said to be prepared to back an amnesty to have prisoners held on minor offences released.
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