“I think we have less than 10 Batswana who are in prison in Zimbabwe,” said Chihobvu.

Dinah Marathe, commissioner of the Botswana prison service, visited Zimbabwe with a delegation to meet its correctional services authorities.

Addressing journalists during the tour on Saturday, Marathe said signing of the MOU will allow the two countries to work together on various issues.

“We are going to complete the signing of the MOU by June. It allows our two republics to work together. It will also allow our own citizens who are incarcerated in Zimbabwe prisons to serve their sentences back home and Zimbabweans who are serving in Botswana to finish their sentences here in Zimbabwe, so that they are closer to their relatives who can help them when they reintegrate into society.”

In 2020, Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi pardoned 15 Zimbabwean prisoners amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zimbabwe’s prisons are severely overcrowded. Last year, the country declared an amnesty for prisoners who had served at least a third of their sentences as a way to ease overcrowding.