With President
Mnangagwa being outspoken about the death penalty, it is not surprising that
the country is a de facto abolitionist, even though it retains capital
punishment in its criminal law.
The country doesn’t
even have a hangman.
“Zimbabwe has no
hangman,” Mrs Virginia Mabhiza, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice,
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs told Saturday Chronicle.
No hangman and executions in the last 17 years for Zimbabwe
but the courts keep on passing death sentences as enshrined in the 2013
Constitution that was adopted following a referendum after a constitutional
review process. There are 62 prisoners
on death row in Zimbabwe as the country looks set to continue with its
moratorium on executions.
In 2013, as Justice
Minister then, President Mnangagwa publicly declared his disdain for capital
punishment of prisoners.
“As someone who has
been on death row myself and only saved by an ‘age technicality’, I believe
that our justice delivery system must rid itself of this odious and obnoxious
provision,” he said at the Harare Gardens on October 10 of that year.
In a report at the
ongoing 51st regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the
question of the death penalty, the human rights committee states that article 6
(6) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights reaffirms the
position that State parties that are not yet totally abolitionist should be on
an irrevocable path towards complete eradication of the death penalty, de facto
and de jure, in the foreseeable future. The death penalty cannot be reconciled
with full respect for the right to life, and abolition of the death penalty is
both desirable and necessary for the enhancement of human dignity and the
progressive development of human rights.
“Some 170 States
have abolished or introduced a moratorium on the death penalty either in law or
in practice, or have suspended executions for more than 10 years. In 2020, the
General Assembly adopted resolution 75/183, in which it called upon States to
establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the death
penalty. In their submissions for the present report, several States described
their process of and support for abolition,” reads the human rights committee
report. According to a paper by
Professor of Criminology Carolyn Doyle on Let’s Abolish Death Penalty in
Zimbabwe by The Death Penalty Project in partnership with a local
non-governmental organisation, Veritas, the United Nations considers Zimbabwe
as a de facto abolitionist, having not executed anyone since July 2005.
While the 2013
Constitution failed to abolish the death penalty, it narrowed its scope and
imposed restrictions on its use. Article 48 abolished the mandatory death
penalty and the new discretionary death sentence can be imposed only for murder
where there are aggravating circumstances. The new Constitution also abolished
the death penalty for young people up to and including the age of 21 (at the
time of the crime), for people aged 70 and over, and for all women.
The Death Penalty
Project considered views of opinion leaders of 42 influential persons who could
be considered opinion formers or key influencers, including those who work in
positions of responsibility within the criminal justice process. Interviewees
included politicians, legal practitioners, religious leaders, leading members
of civil society or academia, senior public servants, leading members of trades
unions, those with a background in defence, including war veterans, and
influential members of the media.
“Interviewees were
asked about their views on: the retention and administration of the death
penalty; the likelihood of abolition and how that could be achieved; the
possible benefits and demerits of the death penalty; the implications of
retention or abolition in respect to Zimbabwe’s place in the wider Southern
African region, as well as the international community; and other, more
effective, measures to tackle violent crime,” reads the report. Chronicle
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