“I was born in prison after my mother had been incarcerated
for murdering my sister and father.”
These were the first words Kansile Kansile said when he
walked into the H-Metro newsroom yesterday. Kansile was born Peter Kansile to
his mother Nomsa Zuzeyi, well so do the prisons records say.
Kansile claims to be the first person to be born at
Chikurubi Female Prison in 1986.
“My mother was incarcerated and sentenced to life in prison
after she burnt my father and sister in a hut in Arcturus, when she went to
jail, she was three months pregnant with me.
“Six months later I was born, I stayed there until I was
five years old, it is the rule in Zimbabwean prisons that when a child born
behind bars gets to three years or so, they should be moved from prison,
because I don’t have any relatives, I was transferred from Chikurubi to
Chinyaradzo Children’s Home.
“By then Chinyaradzo didn’t have school facilities so I was
there for about one year and was transferred to Matheew Rusike, where I did
grade one to three, I was naughty and ran away from the home and became a
street kid,” narrated Kansile.
Kansile’s mother then passed away in 1998 and the last
person who had visited her was her friend in 1989.
From there Kansile narrated that he became a drug addict
and a serial thief.
“When I moved to the streets, I realised that there was
only survival for the fittest and I made my grand entrance into the criminal
world I started stealing and robbing people, so ever since I was young, I was
in and out of prison.
“I was committing offences like unlawful entry, theft,
robbery and escaping police custody from 2001-2009 that saw me being in and out
prison for months and not more than a year, I ran out of luck in 2009 when I
was arrested for stock theft and was sentenced to 28 and a half years.
“I was supposed to come out of prison in 2028 but
fortunately, I was released in 2018 during the Presidential amnesty, ndiri
kungogarawo ndega and handina kana hama.
“Initially when I left prison, I went to Masvingo after
rehabilitation officers had engaged a former inmate who was now a street
preacher Christain Kabase and he had agreed to take me in, I left him last year
in November after he had relocated.
“I am now staying in Hatcliffe and I am failing make ends
meet at the moment as I am not working, I had been engaged by a certain NGO
that wanted to do a documentary about my life so they urged me to move to
Harare but unfortunately we lost contact,” he said.
Kansile pleads with anyone who might know his relatives or
his mother’s relatives to get in touch with him.
“When I was I was born Peter Mandanike of the Prison
Fellowship was responsible for everything I needed, unfortunately he is now
late, this Kansile surname that I’m using was the one that my father used,
according to the information that my mother provided to the prison officers.
“I don’t know my father’s first name or any of his
relatives but he is believed to have been from Malawi, as we never used to get
any visitors, I spent most of my life in prison but I have vowed to myself that
my last conviction was my last and I don’t want to go back to prison as I now
have goals to fulfil and start a family,” said Kansile.
Kansile said he went to Arcturus Mine where his father was
murdered by his mother to try and trace his relatives, but it was fruitless.
Kansile hopes to meet any of his family members and to get
help from well-wishers to help him kick-start his projects.
“The main thing I want is to know my relatives, the second
thing I need is help to kick start my projects, in my spare time, I make baobab
juice and with help, it can be a successful project and I can earn an honest
living,” he said. H Metro
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