ZPCS submits to dictates of the law after being dragged to court

ZPCS Commissioner General Chihobvu

Rose Hanzi, who is Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has dragged the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services to court.

This came after she was denied access to Job Sikhala & Godfrey Sithole by Superintendent Moses Gukurume, the Officer In Charge of Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.

And in an urgent chamber application filed on Tuesday, Hanzi, who is represented by Obey Shava and
Paida Saurombe of ZLHR argued that prisoners have a right to consult in private with their lawyers as provided in Section 50(5)(b) of the Constitution & wants the refusal by ZPCS to allow her access to her clients to be declared unlawful.

The human rights lawyer wants the High Court to order ZPCS to allow her to consult in private with her clients & to compel authorities at the correctional facility to act in line with provisions of the Constitution which provides that detained persons have a right to consult in the sight but not the hearing of a prison officer as provided in the Constitution and in prison regulations.

Meanwhile, in response to urgent application ZPCS wrote a letter to her lawyers saying they aren’t opposed to the order sought & that the human rights lawyer may proceed to visit & consult with her clients Sikhala & Sithole, who are detained at Chikurubi.

Zwnews