South Africa and Zimbabwe agree on framework for prisoner transfers

Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald and Zimbabwe’s Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi, met on Wednesday ahead of the South Africa-Zimbabwe Bi-National Commission and the signing of a memorandum of understanding on Friday. The agreement will facilitate technical cooperation on information management, exchange of information related to prisons and correctional services, and promote prison self-sufficiency through agricultural and industrial production. This initiative is particularly significant given the number of citizens from both countries serving sentences across their respective borders.

The Department of Correctional Services stated that such bilateral agreements can help ease pressure on correctional facilities, reduce incarceration costs, and enhance rehabilitation by allowing offenders to remain closer to their families and support networks. As of June, South Africa's correctional centers house 170,518 inmates, including 27,906 foreign nationals, with 13,266 of these being sentenced foreigners. Ernest Hendricks of the Patriotic Alliance highlighted that foreign nationals constitute about 15% of the correctional center population, costing taxpayers an estimated R11 million per day.