Paradzai Zimondi

Paradzai Willings Zimondi (Paradzai Willings Zimonte^[1]) (4 March 1947 – 22 January 2021) was a Zimbabwean independence activist and military officer. Zimondi was considered a hero of the Zimbabwean struggle for independence, and he later attained the rank of major general in the Zimbabwean army. After his military retirement, he served for twenty-two years as the Prisons and Corrections Services Commissioner-General for Zimbabwe.

Career

During the

At the end of the liberation struggle Zimondi was the military governor of the ZANLA occupied areas of Manica Province of Mozambique and adjacent areas in Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe.^[3]

In 1981, he was attested into the Zimbabwe National Army as a colonel and was subsequently promoted to major general.^[4] Among his military posts was Commander of the Presidential Guard.^[7][3]

In 1997, Zimondi joined the Zimbabwe Prison Services as a Deputy Commissioner, where he undertook to propose reforms after studying the British, Danish and Swedish prison systems.^[4] The following year, he was appointed first Acting Commissioner, and then Commissioner-General, following the retirement of long-serving Langton Chigwida.^[4] Among his accomplishments as director he significantly improved health services for prisoners,^[4][7] and expanded the number of prison farms from sixteen to twenty-four.^[8] Zimondi retired from the Prison Service effective 1 November 2020.^[4][7]

He was placed on sanctions lists by the European Union in 2002 and the United States in 2003. He remained on the lists until his death.^[9]

Personal life

Zimondi was born in 1947 to Charles Zimondi and Abigail Karimazondo Zimondi in the

He married Annie Flora Imagine Chairuka,[1] and had two children.^[10]

Zimondi died of