The Republic of Botswana and Zimbabwe are set to sign a Correctional Services deal that will, among other things, allow prisoner exchange where Botswananian nationals serving in Zimbabwe prisons will complete their sentences back home if they so wish, and vice versa.
There are about 400 Zimbabweans serving in different jails in Botswana while about 10 Botswana nationals are serving in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) Commissioner-General Moses Chihobvu revealed this in an interview on Saturday.
Briefing newsmen alongside the visiting Commissioner of the Botswana Prison Service Dinah Marathe and her seven-member delegation at Ntabazinduna Training Depot. He said:
“I feel very happy about this exchange programme that we are going to introduce.”
“I wish we could speed up the Memorandum of Understanding because it is going to benefit us as the correctional services in Zimbabwe and also the Botswana Prison Service because we are going to have exchange programmes and try to modify some of the training services that we are going to be doing.”
“The MOU includes the transfer of inmates from either country, we are looking at our inmates who are Zimbabweans, if they want to finish their sentence here in Zimbabwe, they can be transferred.”
“If they do not want to, they will serve in Botswana.”
Commissioner Marathe and her team toured various prisons in the country, concluding it on Sunday with visits to Khami Maximum Prison and Anju Prison farm in Nyamandlovu.