St Ignatius Students Tour Chikurubi, Get Hard Lessons on Drugs and Crime
FORM 5 and 6 students from St Ignatius College toured Harare Central Prison, Chikurubi Female Prison and the Chikurubi Psychiatric Unit last weekend, in a programme designed to show pupils the direct link between drug and substance abuse and crime.
The touring party was led by St Ignatius College counsellor Fortunate Chokani and aimed to give learners first-hand exposure to the consequences of substance abuse.
Officer in Charge of the Chikurubi Psychiatric Unit, Superintendent Maplan Kakoto, told the students that a growing number of young people were being admitted to the facility after committing offences while under the influence of drugs, or to fund their habits.
“Most of these patients find themselves here because of crimes committed under the influence,” Supt Kakoto said.
He listed theft, robbery, gender-based violence, public violence, assault, and the manufacturing and dealing of illicit drugs such as crystal methamphetamine and codeine-based cough syrups as some of the common offences linked to the admissions.
Inmate Nigel Shumba, who is undergoing rehabilitation at the unit, shared his story with the pupils. He said his addiction began in Form 2.
“It was just to try to appeal to being cool and hang out with friends,” he said.
Shumba said alcohol led to marijuana and codeine, which derailed his education and sporting career. He lost a US basketball scholarship and an army opportunity after failing drug tests. After leaving school, he turned to manufacturing crystal meth.
“I was literally getting high on my own supply. That led me to overdose and almost lose my life,” he said.
“Once you start, it’s hard to fall back, it’s hard to quit. So I just urge y’all not to start in the first place.”
Supt Kakoto said family and community neglect were contributing factors pushing youths towards drugs, noting that some patients in the psychiatric unit were the same age as the visiting students.
A highlight of the tour was Bridge FM, the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) radio station now broadcasting from a facility that was formerly Chikurubi’s execution chamber. Following the abolition of the death penalty in Zimbabwe, authorities converted the room where condemned prisoners were once executed into a functional radio studio.
“This is where voices were once silenced forever. Today, those same walls carry voices of rehabilitation, education and hope,” an officer told the students during the tour.
Bridge FM broadcasts programmes on inmate rehabilitation, legal education, health, and anti-substance abuse campaigns to prisons and surrounding communities nationwide. ZPCS officials said the transformation symbolised a shift from punishment towards rehabilitation and reintegration.
Students were visibly moved during the studio tour.
“To stand where people took their last breath and now hear music and talk shows coming from there… it’s powerful,” one student said.
The pupils also toured Harare Central Prison and Chikurubi Female Prison, where they interacted with inmates.
In reflections after the tour, students said the visit reinforced that crime does not pay and that drug and substance abuse is wrong. Others said seeing peers in the psychiatric unit was a wake-up call on peer pressure.
Chokani said the college would continue partnering with ZPCS on such programmes. ZPCS said the educational tours form part of its mandate to deter youths from crime and to promote rehabilitation over retribution.
