Tendai Rupapa

FIRST LADY Auxillia Mnangagwa through her Angel of Hope Foundation and its partners, is building a state-of-the-art clinic and a computer lab at the newly-constructed Marondera Female Open Prison to cater for the needs of inmates and the nearby community.

On completion, the clinic will have a maternity wing and a section where other patients can be admitted for observation and treatment.

The female prison, which is the first such facility in Southern Africa, was built with the involvement of the First Lady, who is the patron for its board of trustees.

The First Lady is a hands-on person and a woman of her word. When she officially opened the female open prison, she promised to assist the institution with what they required and this is what she is doing.

Already, 30 prisoners and 16 prison officers have graduated after completing life-changing short courses under a partnership between Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) and Angel of Hope Foundation.

Under the Open Prison System, the emphasis is on rehabilitation, counselling and re-integration.

Prisoners who benefit from the Open Prison System are selected by a well-constituted selection board and enjoy additional privileges, which are not enjoyed by those at closed prisons such as free movement, late lock-up, television viewing, access to telephone, less supervision during work and they are also allowed to visit their families if they apply and authority granted.

Open prisons allow inmates access to vocational training programmes that offer and equip female inmates with different skills to help them after release. They are also afforded the opportunity to attend lessons at colleges within the vicinity of the open prison.

Work on the clinic is progressing well and the First Lady toured the facility this week.

Prisons Commissioner-General Moses Chihobvu showered the First Lady with praises for her vision.

“I would want to thank the First Lady Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa for coming up with this noble initiative at the female open prison. This project is her idea. 

“We would want to thank her very much for giving us this support as ZPCS. This clinic will definitely afford us the opportunity to make sure that our female inmates are well catered for in terms of their health,” he said. 

Chief Correctional Officer Jubilee Madenga, who is the officer in charge of Marondera Female Open Prison, also expressed her gratitude and said the new clinic would remove the need to take inmates to Marondera General Hospital for treatment.

“We thank the First Lady unreservedly for bringing us a clinic at our doorstep. We had a challenge whenever our inmates fell ill. 

“The women we have here are of child-bearing age so this clinic will help greatly in catering for their maternity needs. There are also beds where they will be admitted if they have challenges. I thank the First Lady heartily for this initiative. 

“We used to take our sick inmates to Marondera Hospital, but now we will be handling everything here and it helps in that we won’t need to travel. There will be a doctor’s room for consultations,” she said.

Dr Vakai Nyabikwa ,the ZPCS doctor for Mashonaland East Province, was hopeful the clinic would be of immense benefit to both inmates and the community.

“This clinic will be assisting our women who will be in our prisons and assisting the community as well. It has a maternity wing where the sick will be admitted during observation and treatment,” he said.

A representative of the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz), which partnered the First Lady in providing internet connectivity and computer lab, Mr Kennedy Dewera, who is director responsible for the universal services fund, said the authority enjoyed a sound working relationship with Angel of Hope Foundation.

He said Potraz had an e-government programme under which it facilitated the provision of services.

Mr Dewera was representing Potraz director-general Mr Gift Machengete.

“We are going to provide a structure where we will have a vocational training centre and equip a computer lab. There are other facilities that will be there that have already been planned by this institution.

“So they will be encompassed in there. This area has no Internet connectivity and it’s another area that we are working on with Potraz in collaboration with our operators,” he said.

As a precursor to the programme, Potraz brought laptops and a multi-purpose printer to the prison in support of the vision by the First Lady to enhance access to technology.

The gadgets were handed over to ZPCS by the First Lady.

Amai Mnangagwa expressed gratitude to the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service, Potraz and other stakeholders for working closely with her.

“I thank Potraz management, the ZPCS Commissioner-General and his team that as you know it is the first such facility in Sadc for women and everyone looks at what is going on and whether they can copy us. 

“When we get such support, we see that even our image as Zimbabwe remains high as people copy the good we will be doing. I am thankful for the unity and collective work we are doing as a family to carry our country forward,” she said.

Inmates at the institution expressed delight at the breath of fresh air brought by an open prison and initiatives being spearheaded by the mother of the nation for their benefit. – Herald