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Kudzai Nyoka receiving some of her prizes from Commissioner-General of Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Retired Brigadier Zimondi while her mother Dorris Mwaita looks on

Sophia Chese Arts Correspondent
The future looks bright for Kudzai Nyoka, an inmate at Chikurubi Prison who clinched an award in the non-singing category at the Starbrite competition 2015.

Kudzai won after she did a poem which she dedicated to unsung heroines, among them the late mother to the President of Amai Bona Mugabe.

For her efforts, Kudzai received a tablet from Gtel communications, $500 cash, a holiday for two valued at $1 200 courtesy of Regency Hotels (Masvingo), a hamper from Kefalos, a steam iron and bluetooth speakers. She also got vouchers from Lake Harvest and Colcom.

Speaking at the handover ceremony last week, Commissioner- General of Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Retired Major General Paradzai Willings Zimondi thanked Starbrite founder Banny Mpariwa for taking his initiative to prisons saying this would make the rehabilitation process easy.

“We would like to thank Banny and his team, who took their time to go into prisons and identify talent. I am sure this will go a long way in making the rehabilitation process of inmates much easier.

“We hope that this year they will be able to cover more prisons even outside Harare. To Kudzi we are really proud of her and we hope she will help in the rehabilitation of other inmates for the time she will be in prison,” he said.

On the other hand, Mpariwa promised to assist Kudzai who was allowed to use her tablet in prison in whatever way possible to make sure that she leaves prison a better person.

“Once a Starbrite family member, you will always be a Starbrite, so we are not ending here. Funds permitting, we are going to assist Kudzi whilst she is in prison so that she achieves her dream and also become a better person when she leaves the complex,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kudzai thanked Mpariwa and Starbrite team for the opportunity rendered to her to showcase her talent and vowed that she would no longer be an ordinary person but a heroine in her own capacity.

“I would like to thank the rehabilitation team for they are the ones who discovered the poetry talent in me and also want to thank Mr Mpariwa for giving me this platform to showcase what I am really made of and from today I refuse to be ordinary,” she said.

Kudzai is serving a jail sentence for fraud, after she was convicted in 2014.