Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Prisons
Kubatana recently received a donation of rubber shoes, plates and cups for a charity drive we were doing to give prisoners some of the basic necessities they were lacking.
It has been over a year since the SABC’s unauthorised documentary about Zimbabwe’s prison conditions aired. Of course when it did, we were all suitably outraged. In response to the public outcry, after numerous letters written to the media and a good salting of international pressure, the President issued an order of clemency in September 2009, which saw the release of 2500 prisoners from Zimbabwe’s congested jails. But a year later that outrage has been translated into very little change in those prisons. In fact, it seems as though enough time has passed for us not to really take notice of it anymore.
More recently, Associated Press reported on the case of a man who appeared in court with his intestines hanging out of his abdomen. The injury was caused when he was shot in the stomach as police tried to arrest him. This report not only reflected badly on the prison services but also the public healthcare services as well. The man had been take to hospital twice during his two month stay in prison, and had returned both times without having been treated.
This morning at a press conference about another outrageous dereliction of duty by government, Amnesty International’s Simeon Mawanza said “the people of Zimbabwe are free to hold their government accountable for its failures.” It is not only up to the government to do something; it is up to individuals, citizens to show and remind the government, even if it is a bad one, of where it is failing it’s people. Our situation will only become hopeless when we give up on ourselves.
As citizens it is our duty to ensure that the lives of prisoners, even those who commit heinous crimes are respected. In this instance our hands are not tied, there is no rigging and there are no threats that prevent ordinary people from doing something.