345 foreigners held in Zimbabwean prisons

A total 345 foreigners are being held in Zimbabwean jails for immigration offences and other crimes.

Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Chief Superintendent Elizabeth Banda said out of 345 foreigners in the country's jails, 233 were awaiting deportation at the end of their sentences, 90 were serving their sentences while 22 were still on trial.

Most of the foreigners in jails include those from Ethiopia, Botswana, Burundi, Rwanda, DRC, Malawi, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Britain and Sierra Leone.

She said foreigners were incarcerated for various criminal offences and were being held for varying periods.

The increase in the number of foreign prisoners was a huge burden to the country's overstretched prison services.

She said the longer foreign inmates stay in local prisons the more they become a burden on our already strained budget.