Mwonzora said that despite concerted calls for an improvement in conditions, there was no end in sight. He said the Minister of Finance Tendai Biti had hinted that the Treasury did not have enough money to meet expenses associated with improving jail conditions in Zimbabwe.
“It doesn’t look like the government has enough resources and I talked to the Minister of Finance Tendai Biti who said diamond revenue was not being remitted to national coffers,” said Mwonzora.
He said that during the past year, the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs made several efforts to improve jail conditions but noted with concern that Zimbabwean prisoners were in for yet another disastrous year.
Most of Zimbabwe’s prisons are suffering from a shortage of food, water, ablution facilities and transport to ferry prisoners.
“The conditions still remain dire and there is a lot of overcrowding. The resources that have been allocated are not enough to deal with the provision of basic facilities in the future,” said Mwonzora.
He blamed the lack of transparency around diamond sales.
“I do not see any hope in the future unless the government changes its ways, especially those ministries that are not remitting finances to the Treasury,” said Mwonzora.
Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, when contacted for comment said he was in a meeting. Repeated efforts to contact him were in vain. His deputy, Obert Gutu, could not be reached for comment as his mobile phone went unanswered.
In November last year, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa laid the blame for the poor state of the country’s prisons at Biti’s feet, accusing him of reluctance in releasing funds to help improve jail conditions.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Zimbabwe Association of Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender, Edson Chiota, said the government had failed to show a commitment to improving prison conditions in Zimbabwe.
ZACRO is a non-governmental organisation formed in 1923 as a prisoners’ aid society which advocates for justice as well as respect and protection of prisoners’ rights in Zimbabwe.
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