Hangman’s post vacant

the State cannot fill the vacant hangman’s post, Senate heard yesterday.
Senators were debating a motion on the first report of the Thematic Committee on Human Rights on the state of prisons and prisoners yesterday.
They expressed concern at the deplorable state of prisons in Zimbabwe.
Homosexuality was rampant in prisons, they said.
Masotsha-Ndlovu Senator Mrs Enna Chitsa (MDC-T) who is a member of the committee said: “Failure to get a hangman has seen someone spending more than 13 years in prison yet he was sentenced to death.
“He said he is being hanged daily because of that thought of knowing that he is going to be executed. There are about 54 more prisoners on death row and they were pleading with the committee why Zimbabwe continues to have this law if we can’t find a hangman,” she said.
Chikomo Senator Morgan Femai (MDC-T) said the post had not been advertised enough. He said Government could consider amnesty if it has failed to fill the post.
“In our country there are so many hangmen. Maybe we are not advertising enough. I think this man’s wife must be going through a painful patch. Even his brothers cannot inherit his wife because he is still alive,” he said.
The last convicts to be hanged were the notorious robbers and murderers Edgar Masendeke and Stephen Chidhumo.
Most death row inmates have had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment without parole.
Chimanimani Senator Cde Monica Mutsvangwa (Zanu-PF) bemoaned the state of prison cells saying the economic hardships Zimbabwe was going through impacted negatively on the facilities.
“The minimum standards for prisoners is to have three blankets but we found them with only one. This also affects people in our constituencies, they are living in bad conditions because of the economic problems.”
Senator Mutsvangwa said ZPS was willing to make living conditions better but were affected by lack of resources.
She said there were 26 prison farms that could be used to produce food for the inmates. Mabutweni Senator Ms Gladys Dube (MDC-T) said men in prison were engaging in homosexuality activities and infecting each other with HIV.
“People get into prisons without HIV but when they get out they would have been infected. Men are engaging in homosexuality and we should stop pretending as if it’s not happening. It is a fact that there are homosexuals in prison. When people are sentenced they should go there for correctional services but the problem is they are mixed with hardcore criminals who instantly engage in sex with them,” she said.