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Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Court Reporter—
Suspects being detained at Harare Central Police Station will now have more freedoms after the Constitutional Court ruled that conditions at the holding cells be improved to make them humane in line with provisions of the new Constitution. The court condemned conditions at the cells and ordered an array of corrective measures to be taken by the Government to enhance the human rights of the detained suspects.

The Constitutional Court ordered that suspects have access to clean and salubrious flushing toilets, with toilet paper and a washing bowl, while the toilets would be cordoned off from the main cell to ensure privacy.

Police were ordered to maintain a good standard of hygiene in the holding cells and ensuring that every person detained overnight was furnished with a clean mattress and adequate blankets.

They were ordered to install adequate bathing facilities for all those detained overnight, while they have access at all times to wholesome drinking water from a source other than the tap above the toilet.

Women will not be asked to remove their undergarments, including, brassieres and will wear suitable footwear. The judgment delivered yesterday was for a case in which four members of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) were challenging the constitutionality of their treatment at the police station.

They also complained about the conditions of the prison cells and the court found that they were subjected to degrading and inhuman treatment.
The judgement was passed after the court had taken a tour of the holding cells and witnessed the poor conditions while hearing the constitutional case of the quartet — Jennifer Williams, Magodonga Mahlangu, Clara Manjengwa and Celina Madukwani.

The four were arrested following a demonstration on April 15 2010 and spent at least three nights in the cells.
The Attorney-General declined to prosecute them and they decided to directly approach the Constitutional Court with the application.

Justice Vernanda Ziyambi heard the application together with five other judges in 2012, but the judgement was made available yesterday.
The operative part of the judgement read:

“It is declared that the applicants’ rights in terms of Section 23 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe not to be discriminated against, have been violated. The applicants’ rights in terms of Section 15 of the Constitution to protection from inhuman and degrading treatment have been violated.”

When the judges inspected the police cells, they observed that the first floor cells had a stench and the cells that accommodate up to six people had six blankets.
It was also the court’s observation that there were no doors to the toilets and there were no windows.

The court discovered that taps for drinking water were above the toilet holes and there were six built-in concrete beds in each cell without mattresses.