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Charmaine Brown Herald Reporter
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) will continue undertaking training programmes for its work force to keep in touch with regional and international standards, a senior officer has said.

Officiating during an Equitation Riding course at Chikurubi Prisons Training School yesterday, ZPCS Deputy Commissioner-General Shepherd Mpofu said the current trends required innovative people who were ever ready to craft new ideas.

“As graduates, you must appreciate that the ever changing environment in which we operate demands innovative people who are ever ready to craft new ideas that would take the management of the prison system into the next level,” he said.

“We will continue improving skills in order to meet the regional and international standards through training.

“It is important that you execute your duties diligently for the betterment of the ZPCS and the nation at large.”

Comm Mpofu urged graduates to use knowledge acquired at trainings for the protection of prison properties.

“I urge the graduates to use the knowledge and skills you have gained for the protection of prison properties and farm produce against thefts and any other related misconducts, including the wild fires which of late have threatened to be our major risk in terms of our agricultural produce and pastures for our livestock,” he said.

Comm Mpofu encouraged female students to actively participate in Equitation courses.

“I am very much concerned about the reluctance of female officers to partake in Equitation courses,” he said.

“Among the 21 trainees, one is a female who underwent the Basic Equitation Junior Instructor Course.

“It is, however, saddening to note that we lost one female officer, that is CO1 Ndlovu, who passed on in a very unfortunate incident during the course’s final exercise in Gweru.

“Therefore, I urge all female officers to stand up and be counted in the next courses.”

ZPCS Equitation Course Number 1 of 2019 comprised of three trainee Basic Equitation Senior Instructors, three trainee Basic Equitation Junior Instructors, three trainee Farriers and twelve Basic Equitation Trainee Riders making a total of 21 graduates.