Zimbabwean Woman Challenges Inadequate Maternal Health Facilities in Prison.
Nqobizwe Thebe
A detained Harare woman, Melissa Messe Chiyangwa, has filed an urgent application at the Harare High Court, seeking to compel the government to provide adequate maternal health facilities in prisons.
Chiyangwa, currently held at Chikurubi Female Prison on theft charges since June 23, 2025, argues that the lack of proper maternal healthcare violates her constitutional rights.
According to a statement by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Chiyangwa, who has a high-risk pregnancy, contends that “her right to health, dignity, and life are in serious jeopardy owing to inadequate facilities to cater for her maternal needs at Chikurubi Female Prison.”
The application, filed on August 1, 2025, by ZLHR lawyers Tinashe Chinopfukutwa and Kelvin Kabaya, highlights a series of shortfalls in the prison’s maternal healthcare provisions. ZLHR reports that Chiyangwa was informed by Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) guards that “pregnant inmates are only taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare and they are not permitted to have access to their private doctors and private maternal facilities.” Furthermore, she was told that “pregnant inmates are only taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital for delivery only when the pains of labour commence and not necessarily on the scheduled date for the C-section.”
Chiyangwa’s access to healthcare has been further restricted due to scheduling conflicts. ZLHR notes that since June 26, 2025, the scheduled date for her gynaecologist visit, “she was neither allowed access to her gynaecologist nor taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital.” ZPCS advised her that “ante-natal visits to the state-run hospital are only done on Tuesday and those Tuesdays were clashing with her court session dates and no alternative arrangement to take her to Parirenyatwa Hospital on a day which is not a Tuesday to compensate for the eventuality of a clash with a court appearance was made.”
At Chikurubi Female Prison Clinic, Chiyangwa reported that “nurses only prescribe paracetamol whenever she experiences frequent and severe back pains, which is against the advice of her gynaecologist, who clearly stated that she must be managed and attended to by a specialist doctor and not nurses.”
On July 29, 2025, she was taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital, where a doctor recommended immediate scans due to concerns about “excessive amniotic fluid in her body.” However, “the machines were broken down,” and she was returned to the prison with instructions to return on August 6, 2025.
Chiyangwa is seeking a court order to direct ZPCS to “assign and appoint a gynaecologist for Chikurubi Female Prison within seven days of the granting of the court order and to ensure that the gynaecologist is regularly present to attend to discharging his or her duties.”
She also requests that the court declare the conduct of ZPCS officials, including the Officer In Charge at Chikurubi Female Prison, Moses Chihobvu, the Commissioner-General of ZPCS, and the Sister In Charge at Chikurubi Female Prison, as unlawful.
ZLHR states that Chiyangwa argues this conduct violates “section 50(5)(c)(v) of the Constitution,” which guarantees inmates the right to communicate with or be visited by their chosen medical practitioner, and “section 76(1) of the Constitution,” which ensures access to basic reproductive health services. Additionally, she contends that the inadequate conditions breach “section 50(5)(d) of the Constitution,” which mandates detention conditions consistent with human dignity, including adequate medical treatment at the state’s expense.
Chiyangwa’s application underscores ongoing concerns about the treatment of pregnant inmates in Zimbabwe’s prison system, raising questions about the government’s obligation to uphold constitutional protections for all detainees.
