87 female prisoners have been released at Chikurubi female prison following a Presidential Amnesty granted to 3000 prisoners by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in terms of Section 112 (1) (a) and (d) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
The move is meant to decongest the country’s prisons whose population had reached 20 000 against a holding capacity of 17 000 inmates. Among those released are MDC-T activist Yvonne Musarurwa who was convicted along with two men for killing Inspector Peter Mutedza ahead of the 2013 elections. Speaking to The Herald, Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services spokeswoman Assistant Commissioner Elizabeth Banda said society should embrace the former inmates. Said Banda:
I appeal to society to re-integrate them as they come. Yes, they have wronged society but they have paid in their own way. We also expect them as ex-inmates to behave themselves and be humble since they once wronged society
Back to top