ZIMBABWE Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has asked the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) to exercise its constitutional mandate and undertake a visit and inspection of prisons and related facilities and assess the conditions in which deaf and mute persons are held.
In a letter written to ZHRC on 17 September 2026, ZLHR lawyers Obey Shava and Obey Chitowamombe requested ZHRC to assess the conditions under which deaf and mute persons are held in Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) custody including their access to communication, information, safety mechanisms, health and rehabilitation services, and other essential services.
In doing so, Shava and Chitowamombe said ZHRC would be fulfilling its obligations provided under section 243(1)(k) of the Constitution to visit and inspect prisons, places of detention and related facilities and places, where mentally disordered or intellectually handicapped persons are detained.
Section 243(1)(k) of the Constitution empowers ZHRC to visit and inspect prisons and places of detention in order to ascertain the conditions under which persons are kept and to make recommendations regarding those conditions to the Minister responsible for administering the law relating to those places.
ZLHR’s intervention came after Fanuel Masora, a deaf and mute man, whose sole means of communication is Zimbabwe Sign Language (ZSL), was convicted by the High Court on 4 March 2026 on a charge of culpable homicide, as defined in Section 49 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) after initially being charged with murder and sentenced to serve three years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, and ordered to perform 420 hours of community service at Deaf Zimbabwe Trust.
In determining the appropriate sentence, High Court Judge Justice Emilia Muchawa recognised Masora as falling within a special category of persons with disabilities who had experienced significant social isolation and barriers to participation in ordinary social interactions. Justice Muchawa also considered the particular barriers, which Masora faced while in detention, including questions concerning his ability to cope with and comply with a proposed sentence.
Shava and Chitowamombe indicated that Masora’s case highlights the particular vulnerabilities that deaf persons may face within Zimbabwe’s criminal justice and correctional systems, especially where communication with prison officials, access to information, safety mechanisms and participation in rehabilitation programmes depend on effective communication.
The human rights lawyers want ZHRC to exercise its powers under Section 243(1)(k) of the Constitution to visit and inspect correctional and remand facilities operated by ZPCS for the specific purpose of ascertaining the conditions under which deaf, mute and hard of hearing persons are held.
According to Shava and Chitowamombe, ZHRC should make recommendations to the Minister responsible for administering the law relating to prisons and correctional facilities for the remedying of any deficiencies identified.
The ZLHR lawyers also want ZHRC to consider directing an investigation as provided under Section 243(1)(f) into whether the rights of deaf and mute persons in ZPCS’s custody have been or are being violated and advise Masora in writing of the steps which it proposes to take in response to this request and of the outcome of any inspection conducted.
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ENDS
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