Times Of Swaziland: Easy job for warders

Easy job for warders
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MDUDUZI MAGAGULA on 29/07/2012 00:00:00


BY MDUDUZI MAGAGULA
MBABANE – His Majesty’s Correctional Services department is directly taking
care of a total of 5 069 people.
The interesting aspect is that there are 2 069 officers looking after 3 000
inmates in the various correctional facilities countrywide.
This was revealed by Commissioner Isaiah Mzuthini Ntshangase.
It means that, on average, each warder only looks after one or two inmates. The
commissioner said the welfare of his staff was a priority to government.
He said officers had a staff association made of both junior and senior
officers.
He said the association’s responsibility was to look after the welfare of
officers such that all officers’ problems were addressed expediently.
He also said the government of Swaziland was working hard to meet the basic
needs of offenders.
"They are allowed to write letters to their loved ones and are also allowed to
make calls to their relatives through the phone booths available in all
centres," he said. He said in their dormitories they have TV sets and radios at
their disposal for their leisure. Ntshangase said government had supported the
department in its quest to provide education and health care for the 3 000
inmates.
He said to this end, government had hired teachers, nurses and chaplains who
worked with inmates in their rehabilitation. He said with the help of
government, the department has constructed a multimillion school and was in the
process of constructing a school for offenders.
The construction work for this project is done by inmates with the help of
officers.
This is a platform where they get to practise the skills they acquire at the
institution.
He also said the department provided three meals per day to the inmates.
"Inmates are being rehabilitated and empowered with skills that will assist them
when they complete their sentences. They are empowered with skills in building,
glazing, plumbing and agriculture," he said.
On another note, Ntshangase said the Correctional Services College would train
recruits from Malawi Prison Services. The college will provide advanced
training, especially on the area of human rights, which is a new component that
has been recently introduced by the college.
The officers might come in as early as this year when the Swaziland
department’s recruits are enrolled in the institution around September.
His Majesty’s correctional services is presently engaged in a process to
recruit 150 officers from 13 000 applicants who applied in April.
The training of the Malawi officers will be offered as a result of a Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) that was signed by the two departments on Friday night.
This was at the Matsapha Correctional Services College during a dinner hosted by
Commissioner Isaiah Ntshangase. He had hosted his Malawian counterpart, Kennedy
Nkhoma, who is the acting Chief Commissioner of the Malawian institution.
The MoU was a result of the Malawian department’s interest in the country’s
progress in rehabilitating and the reintegration of inmates back to society. The
Malawians learnt about Swaziland’s achievements when the commissioner made a
presentation of the Swaziland correctional services scenario in a meeting for
correctional departments in Tanzania in 2009. The Malawi delegation arrived in
the country on Thursday and left yesterday.
While here, they were taken on tour to various correctional facilities. They
visited Pigg’s Peak, Bhalekane Farm, Matsapha and Mawelawela facilities.
The ceremony was also attended by Isaac Magagula and Sobantu Dlamini, the
Commissioner of Police and Army Commander respectively. It was witnessed by 100
officers. In his address, Ntshangase said the signing of the agreement meant the
two countries’ institutions would collaborate on various aspects of
Correctional services management, rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates.
He said the departments agreed to work together in staff development, research
and the exchange of culture among other things.
On the local front, Ntshangase said the country had made progress in
implementing the component of human rights in the correction of inmates.
He said his department had achieved a lot in its quest to rehabilitate inmates
and the results were showing in the stability in numbers of people admitted into
the institution.
Mawelawela the cleanest
MATSAPHA – Kennedy Nkhoma the acting Chief Commissioner for the Malawi Prisons
Services awarded Superintendent Gabisile Manyatsi with 100 US dollars, about
E700, for the cleanliness of Mawelawela women correctional facility. He singled
out Mawelawela as the best in terms of the upkeep and rehabilitation of inmates.
He said when he first visited the facility months ago, he found it spotless and
when he returned, it was better.
This was one highlight of Nkhoma’s happiness over the condition of the
country’s facilities which he describes as world class. He said this when he
concluded his visit in the country in a dinner function hosted in his honour by
the Swaziland Correctional services department.
Nkhoma said he was impressed with facilities at the Malkerns Juvenile Centre
where young offenders were being rehabilitated.
He said his country’s correctional department housed 13 000 inmates in 32
correctional centres.
The acting chief commissioner said he would implement all what he leant in
Swaziland in these facilities. He said his goal was to move away from the
colonial indentation of punishing inmates.
"We want to rehabilitate them and integrate them back to society," he said. He
said this was the reason his country’s correctional department had components
of agriculture, humanitarian and health, all dedicated to the welfare and
rehabilitation of inmates. Nkhoma said his department and the government of
Malawi were working hard to improve the conditions of Malawian jails.
He said in a historic development, the new President, Joyce Banda, had visited
the department’s facilities three times in her three months in office. The
first woman president of Malawi pledged to rebuild a correctional facility using
her personal funds.
He then invited Swaziland Commissioners to visit Malawi so that they may witness
and learn how inmates were rehabilitated.