THE National Organisation for Development and Empowerment (NODE) has reaffirmed its commitment to uplifting the livelihoods of prisoners by supporting their entrepreneurial initiatives.
Speaking during a donation event at Anju Prison Farm in Nyamandlovu, Matabeleland North province, NODE chairperson Eddie Muchenje highlighted that the organisation’s mission is to equip inmates with skills to sustain their families through various projects.
“We want to ensure that they get to a point where they decide to utilise the skills they obtain here from agriculture, carpentry and welding through showing them love,” Muchenje said.
“We hope to support our brothers incarcerated here and in other correctional facilities throughout the country to bring them hope and love so that they stop thinking that imprisonment is the end of life. Some do not have relatives around, they need to be shown love.
“They need to go out there and be exemplary through the exhibition of unique skills that they could not have accessed had they not been incarcerated. Currently, we are impressed by the MacDonald Bricks Correctional Employment Programme where inmates get on-the-job training in moulding bricks and get salaries or groceries to support their families despite that they are in prison.”
NODE national chairperson for the Matabeleland region, Mpumelelo Ndlovu, applauded the efforts of Anju Prison Farm officials in equipping prisoners with life-sustaining skills.
“We have selected Anju Prison Farm for our donation because it has been transformed from the general interpretation of a prison to a correctional service aiming to provide skills and empower inmates to fit well in the communities they came from,” Ndlovu said.
Anju Prison Farm, a Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Services initiative, focuses on agricultural production and entrepreneurship. The facility engages inmates in activities such as cattle breeding, fish farming and cultivating crops like maize, butternuts, watermelons, and tomatoes.
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These projects do not only provide food for prisons across Matabeleland, they also serve as income-generating ventures.
The correctional facility accommodates up to 150 inmates serving sentences of 36 months or less.
Currently, 143 inmates are undergoing training in various empowerment programmes.
As inmates complete their terms, others from different prisons are integrated into the facility to benefit from skills training.
