News / National
Zimbabwe prisoners surviving on groundnuts
01 Apr 2012 at 09:32hrs | Views
INMATES at Zimbabwe's Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison are now surviving on sadza with roasted groundnut as relish after government banned food assistance from humanitarian organisations.
The deputy minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, Senator Obert Gutu said the food situation at Chikurubi was dire.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other humanitarian organisations, that have been providing additional food assistance to prisons for the past few years, were stopped last year.
Gutu said it was clear that Treasury does not have adequate financial and material resources to enable the Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) to provide a satisfactory diet to inmates in the country's prisons.
In most cases, said Gutu, a prison diet consists of sadza and roasted groundnuts or occasionally beans or half-boiled cabbages. Inmates are also given porridge in the morning, which in most cases does not have sugar.
He said this was a gross violation of prisoners' rights.
Gutu said he promise that he will immediately engage the relevant authorities to enable the dire food situation to be ameliorated.
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, chairman Douglas Mwonzora, also confirmed that the withdrawal of ICRC aid had affected the prison operations, which got US$82,7 million from Treasury.
Mwonzora said with the 2012 allocation, it would be very difficult for government to adequately feed prisoners and refurbish prison infrastructure.
The deputy minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, Senator Obert Gutu said the food situation at Chikurubi was dire.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other humanitarian organisations, that have been providing additional food assistance to prisons for the past few years, were stopped last year.
Gutu said it was clear that Treasury does not have adequate financial and material resources to enable the Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) to provide a satisfactory diet to inmates in the country's prisons.
In most cases, said Gutu, a prison diet consists of sadza and roasted groundnuts or occasionally beans or half-boiled cabbages. Inmates are also given porridge in the morning, which in most cases does not have sugar.
He said this was a gross violation of prisoners' rights.
Gutu said he promise that he will immediately engage the relevant authorities to enable the dire food situation to be ameliorated.
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, chairman Douglas Mwonzora, also confirmed that the withdrawal of ICRC aid had affected the prison operations, which got US$82,7 million from Treasury.
Mwonzora said with the 2012 allocation, it would be very difficult for government to adequately feed prisoners and refurbish prison infrastructure.
Source - standard
