South African citizens languish in Harare prisons, convicted for drug dealing, or awaiting deportation

IOL News

05-06-2025

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission says during a recent tour of the Harare Remand Prison, it came across scores of South African citizens awaiting deportation, while others are on trial, while one South African woman was sentenced for dealing in drugs.
Image: File/Tawanda Mudimu/The Herald
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission has told IOL that scores of South African nationals are languishing in Zimbabwe's Harare Remand Prison, awaiting deportation, after they were arrested for breaching the neighbouring country's immigration laws.
Another group of three South African men are not facing deportation, but will face trial in Zimbabwe's courts after they were charged for conspiracy to commit armed robbery. On the other hand, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission has established that a South African woman has been convicted for dealing in dangerous drugs in Zimbabwe, and has sentenced to 10 years in jail.
In an interview, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Jessie Majome told IOL that by Thursday, she had established that there are six men, who have been certified to be South African nationals in conjunction with South Africa's High Commission in Zimbabwe, who are ready for deportation from the Harare Remand Prison.
She said a seventh man in the group will not be deported to South Africa, as the diplomatic mission has informed Zimbabwe's authorities that the elderly man is not a South African citizen.
'I had gone to the prison to visit a certain group of people who had been in custody for too long. I then noticed that there were 66 foreign nationals in the Harare Remand Prison for men. It is an issue that is of interest to the Commission because it involves a special category of people who should not be in prison; even though irregular immigration is against the law, they should not be treated like individuals awaiting trial," she said. Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
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Majome said Zimbabwe does not have independent holding facilities for people arrested for violating the country's immigration laws, and verifications happen while the people are detained in prison.
At the time of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission's visit in April, it was established that there were about seven South African men, but Majome said the number has now risen because other South African nationals were found in the women's section of Harare Remand Prison.
Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Jessie Majome spoke to IOL on the plight of South Africans detained in Zimbabwe.
Image: Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission
In its April report, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission stated that detained foreign nationals at the Harare Remand Prison comprised 16 people from Burundi; 12 from Ethiopia; 11 from Democratic Republic of Congo; two from Rwanda; two from Uganda; eight from Malawi; one from Libya; one from Mozambique; one from the People's Republic of China; seven from South Africa; one from Pakistan; one from Taiwan; one from France; one from Britain and one from Cape Verde.
During the interview with IOL on Thursday, Majome said her organisation has since established that there are three South Africans in the women's section of the Harare Remand Prison.
'There are three South African nationals, who are women in the Harare Remand Prison, it is a separate prison. Two of those women are awaiting deportation back to South Africa.
'Three of the detained South African men are facing charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Those ones are not awaiting deportation, but they are going to appear before the Harare Magistrate's Court in June.
'So it is seven South African men awaiting deportation, and two women. The third South African woman has been convicted of dealing in dangerous drugs and has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Zimbabwe,' she said.
The human rights activist and attorney told IOL that the Harare Remand Prison is heavily crowded.
'Conditions of prisons in Zimbabwe depend on where the person is. Where the three women are detained, at the women's prison, it is not crowded at all but at the Harare Remand Prison where the men are, there is crowding,' she said.
Majome reiterated the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services requires additional funding, and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission has been at the forefront for campaigning for additional funds for the ZPCS.
The human rights activist added that this is not the 'first or last time' South African nationals have been detained in Zimbabwean prisons.
'This is not a new thing, even though I understand it is of interest. This happens a lot. It just so happened that on that particular visit, we highlighted that in our report.
'This is a common phenomenon the world over. What is important is to always remember the humanity and the equality of all human beings wherever they are - be it in prison, whether they have jumped the border, they must be treated with dignity.
'Migration is a phenomenon of human beings and must be done legally, but if it is not, human rights must still be upheld,' she told IOL.
Last year, IOL published a story where non-profit organisation Baagi Ba South Africa was advocating for the South African government to enter into international prisoner transfer treaties. These treaties would allow South African prisoners convicted in other countries to be brought back home, to serve their sentences in South Africa.
In countries where such programmes exist, including the United States, they are designed to alleviate the hardships faced by offenders incarcerated far from home and facilitate their rehabilitation.
At the time, IOL interviewed Glory Matipile, founder and chief executive of Baagi Ba South Africa, who insisted that effective rehabilitation for the hundreds of South Africans imprisoned around the world requires them to serve their sentences within South Africa's correctional system. A key benefit of this, she noted, is the ability to speak the local language.
Glory Matipile, founder and chief executive of Baagi Ba South Africa, a non-governmental organisation fighting for South Africans to serve jail sentences back home.
Image: Supplied
'This organisation, Baagi Ba South Africa, was founded in 2018, and so far, we have about 260 young people working across South Africa to raise awareness and provide support to families with relatives convicted abroad. We also collaborate with organisations that assist South Africans in foreign prisons. We reached out to our representatives in South African embassies but did not receive much support. Now, we work with organisations in foreign countries to facilitate communication between imprisoned South Africans and their families back home,' she said.
She said with the economic hardships, it is almost impossible for most families in South Africa to travel to visit their incarcerated relatives in countries including Brazil, Philippines or Hong Kong - a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China.
'South Africa is one of the few countries in the world without international prisoner transfer. Such a programme already exists in the United Nations, and what is left is for South Africa to adopt it and follow the rules that are already there, and being used by other countries. The essence is that if we had such a programme, South Africans convicted in foreign countries would be sent home to serve near their families. Foreigners in our prisons would them be moved to go and serve their sentences in their home countries so that rehabilitation can take place.
'You will remember that former president Nelson Mandela was advocating for prisoners' rights. We are being denied to have such a policy.'
She said her organisation's records has around 800 names of South Africans convicted and sentenced in foreign countries.
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