Zim abolishes death penalty

Herald Reporter

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has signed the Death Penalty Abolition Bill into law, a development that effectively marks the end of capital punishment in the country’s legal statutes.

The Bill, which sailed through Parliament last month, is set to save more than 65 convicts facing the gallows, as the Government takes bold steps to remove capital punishment from the statutes.

Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Martin Rushwaya, made the announcement in an Extraordinary Government Gazette published yesterday.

“The following laws, which were assented to by His Excellency the President, are published in terms of section 131(6)(a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe—Death Penalty Abolition Act [Chapter 9:26] (No. 4 of 2024),” reads the notice.

Government’s decision to expunge the death penalty will see the country moving with international trends and best practices as capital punishment has since been regarded as inhumane.

The Bill was initially introduced by Dzivaresekwa Member of Parliament, Mr Edwin Mushoriwa, before the Government took over given its importance.

Following the gazetting of the Act, a person convicted of murder in aggravating circumstances shall be liable to a jail term of between 20 years and life imprisonment.

In abolishing the death penalty, Clause Two of the Act reads as follows: “No court shall impose sentence of death upon a person for any offence, whenever committed, but instead shall impose whatever other competent sentence is appropriate in the circumstances of the                               case. 

“The Supreme Court shall not confirm a sentence of death imposed upon an appellant, whenever that sentence may have been imposed, but instead shall substitute whatever other competent sentence is appropriate in the circumstances of the case, no sentence of death, whenever imposed, shall be carried out.”

During debate on the Bill in Parliament, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said experience had shown that capital punishment has not helped in reducing the offence of murder.

He said while in principle, people favoured the death penalty for extreme crimes, in practice, they were hesitant to see it carried through as shown by the fact that there were more than 60 prisoners on death row, with some of them having waited for several years to be executed.

Minister Ziyambi said it was interesting to note that while many might advocate for the death penalty, there was hardly a person in the country who wanted the hangman’s job, despite the high reward that goes with it.

“It inflicts psychological torment, not only on the person to be executed, but even on the people involved somehow with the execution,” said Minister Ziyambi in the National Assembly last year.

He said during debate on the Bill in Cabinet, President Mnangagwa gave a heart rending narration of his experience in prison when he was jailed for his political involvement during the liberation struggle.

“His Excellency, our President, Dr Mnangagwa said that upon execution of comrades who were on death row, they were given a wheelbarrow with their comrades and told to bury them. 

“They were then ordered to plant lawn on top of the graves, and irrigate it so that it could grow. 

“Imagine the psychological trauma that they went through and this is the reason why we are saying, why do we need as a nation such an inhumane treatment to others,” Minister Ziyambi said.

He said capital punishment did not deter crime, neither did it address its root cause.

Other laws that were assented to by the President and published in yesterday’s Gazette include the Appropriation (2025) Act, Finance (No. 2) Act, which seeks to give legal effect to various fiscal measures announced by Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube in his 2025 National Budget.