Botswana: The Commissioner of Botswana Prison Service and African Correctional Services Association (ACSA) Regional Vice Chairperson for Southern Africa, Commissioner Dinah Marathe has implored the ACSA Executive to embrace change and conduct business differently in an endeavor to move with times and keep pace with the ever-changing developments within correctional reform.
When delivering her briefing notes at the ACSA Executive Committee Meeting yesterday in Rabat, Morocco, Commissioner Dinah Marathe said to attain a modern correctional status as the African continent, there is a need for mindset change from all the member states. She pointed out that all the members should demonstrate a greater zeal, with a belief that they can do more with less in order to transform the respective Prisons/Correctional Services in the African region.
Dinah Marathe said this is emblematic of recent trends within modern corrections discourse that has since adopted the strategic imperative of transforming prison systems with a purely punitive approach; into correctional services that embrace a human rights-based mindset.
โ๐๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข,โ Dinah Marathe said.
Commissioner Marathe highlighted that the organisation has to undertake a holistic review of its regulatory framework, particularly the constitution, to establish adequate procedures for reporting in accordance with sound business practice and an accountable, open institutional culture. She said through collaboration there can be improvement in the strategies to re-engineer internal business processes supporting the provision of safe custodial care and correction to offenders.
Commissioner Dinah Marathe further promised that the Southern Africa Region, will work closely with each and every Region in order to ensure that together they push the agenda of ACSA. โ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ตโฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด; ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ; ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ค ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด,โ she said.
Commissioner Marathe also had the opportunity to brief the meeting on the Southern African Region Activity Plan (2023 โ 2025) focusing on five (5) Thematic Areas including:
(a) Regional Strategy on Emergency Preparedness and Response Mechanisms in Correctional/Prison/Penitentiary Management.
(b) Development of a Strategy that Strengthens Community Involvement in Offender Rehabilitation and Reintegration.
(c) Development of Guidelines on Prison Staff Recruitment, Training, and Well-Being
(d) Special needs within the prison population
(e) Womenโs Networks for Prison Officers in the Region.
The main aim of the ACSA Executive Committee is to develop a working plan in order to efficiently deliver on the mandate of the Association.
The members of the ACSA Executive Committee include the Chairperson – Col. Abdoulaye Diagne (Senegal), Vice Chairperson – Deputy Commissioner General Fancis Omane-Addo (Ghana), Secretary, Commissioner General Raphael Tuhafeni Hamunyela (Namibia), Vice Secretary – Commissioner General Moses Cyril N. Chihobvu (Zimbabwe), and the Treasurer – Commissioner General Fredrick Shaunga Shamilimo Chilukutu (Zambia).
The Regional Vice Chairpersons include; Southern African Region – Commissioner Dinah Marathe (Botswana), West African Region – Director General Sabila Sawadogo (Burkina Faso), Central African Region – Director General Alfred Ndakala (Central African Republic), North African Region – Director General Mohamed Salah Tamek (Morocco), East African African Commissioner General Evariste Murenzi (Rwanda) and Dr Francis Omane-Addo (Principal Officer).
The Commissioner is accompanied by the Director – Departmental Management, Senior Assistant Commissioner Lethata Manne, Deputy Director – Strategy and Transformation, Assistant Commissioner Leonard Ntshebe and the Staff Officer to the Commissioner, Senior Superintendent Malebogo Mabutho.