By- Eighty-four (84) Malawian immigrants are rotting in Zimbabwean prisons after being arrested for traveling without requisite documents.

Most immigrants had no intention of staying in Zimbabwe but were traveling to South Africa.

Malawi’s deputy ambassador to Zimbabwe Elias Mpaso confirmed that scores of Malawians are detained in Zimbabwean prisons saying the embassy was making efforts to repatriate them. He said:

Last Friday we had 84 Malawian nationals in Zimbabwean jails. There are 66 males at Harare Remand Prison and 18 females at Chikurubi. These people were arrested in different parts of Zimbabwe.

However, the government is trying its best to repatriate them, we are still waiting for the Foreign Affairs Department to officially inform us. We are also sourcing funds from Malawi for their repatriation.

In Malawi, the repatriation process is done in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Food Disaster Management to take our citizens back to Malawi.

Zimbabwe does not have holding facilities for immigrants awaiting deportation and as a result, border jumpers are imprisoned.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) said it is a violation of the immigrants’ human rights to put them in prisons together with convicted criminals. 

– NewsDay