Botswana: Yesterday’s visit to Serowe Prison marked the end of Commissioner Dinah Marathe’s tour of all the Prison Stations around the country since the beginning of the year.
The tour aimed to meet with the Officers to deliberate on a number of issues affecting their daily performance in all the establishments. It was also an opportunity for her to hear their concerns and determine how they could be resolved for the good of the Service.
Addressing Serowe Prison Officers yesterday morning, Commissioner Marathe said the Service had made tremendous improvements in the past year to improve the facilities’ security level to match the dynamic and ever-changing criminal environment. She said the same has also been achieved in the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner implored Serowe Staff to constantly revolve with times so that ‘we remain relevant to the President’s Reset Agenda as a Service’. She reminded them to ‘unlock their minds’, embrace innovation, do things differently and leave the old ways of doing things behind. “Let us represent ourselves well, how we carry ourselves on or off duty and how we relate to others,” she advised.
She also reminded the Officers to seek professional help so that they can come up with plans for solving problems, feel stronger in the face of challenges, change behaviours that hold them back and build their confidence.
She also stressed that a good diet, regular exercise and a clean environment are therapeutic, relieves stress and helps the body, mind and soul function properly.
Commissioner Marathe further urged the Officers to uphold discipline and adhere to security standards at all times to ensure that their station is in order. She warned them to guard against incidents such as the intrusion of prohibited articles as they compromise security within the prisons.
She called on them to respect their job and despise unprofessional acts such as absenteeism. “Let us continue to build a resilient correctional system and improve on your performance. We can all achieve these through teamwork, passion and using the experts at our disposal to bring about good results,” she said.
On giving the vote of thanks, Divisional Commander North Senior Assistant Commissioner Ontlametse Motshebe thanked the Commissioner for visiting all the Prisons in the Northern Division. He said dedicating her time to tour all the prisons around the country is a clear testimony that the Commissioner has Officer’s welfare at heart.
He implored the Officers to embrace and support the Commissioner’s roadmap to improve service delivery and maintain the high-performance culture.
“Ours is not business as usual, we have shifted as a Service. Let us keep on improving on safe custodial care, rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners,” he said.