MDC Alliance activist Makomborero Haruzivishe has decried the deplorable conditions in the country’s prisons after spending more than 10 months 22 day in detention at Chikurubi and Harare Remand Prison.
Haruzivishe disclosed this during a press briefing saying overcrowding, lack of proper sanitation and other unacceptable conditions in jails reflected the true situation of the ordinary citizen.
“The D-Class where I was staying, I cannot blame the prison officials because they are also victims of this government. They are also underpaid and under resourced to discharge their duties. The D-class section has a maximum capacity of 300 inmates but when I left there were about 700 people staying cramped under this COVID-19 pandemic conditions. If you are to check the water system, it’s a nightmare to access water even the sewer system we were to live with it,” said Haruzivishe.
Whilst in prison, Haruzivishe claimed that an unknown individual tried to strangle him to death.
“We were in a cell at night, someone came and attacked me and was trying to strangle me but others (inmates) woke up and restrained him. He started pretending and acting as if he was insane. The danger is that if someone attacks or murders you, if they are mentally unstable they won’t be convicted. Surprisingly after a few days the man disappeared,” he said.
Haruzivishe who is facing a litany of charges at the courts was last Friday granted ZWL 20,000 bail on the last of his pending criminal cases where he is charged for kidnapping with intent to promote public violence.
The pro-democracy campaigner who was represented by constitutional law expert Professor Lovemore Madhuku said he would be campaigning for prisoners to be allowed to exercise their right to vote.
