Online Reporter
Nyore Madzianike
Senior Reporter
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Permanent Secretary, Mrs Vimbai Nyemba, has called for the preservation and monetisation of the former execution site at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in Harare, which is set to be transformed into a museum and local radio station under the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service.
Speaking during a tour of the prison yesterday, Mrs Nyemba described the gallows, once a grim site of capital punishment, as a powerful reminder of the country’s colonial past and a potential national heritage attraction.
ZPCS was recently granted a broadcasting license to operate a community radio station — The Bridge Radio — and it will be housed at the same building that sheltered the gallows.
“We were all like impressed, we were all like, what was this?
“But I want to say we are so happy that we will keep that place as a museum. The gallows will be a museum,” she said.
Mrs Nyemba said ZPCS would also establish a community radio station at the maximum prison operating within a 40 to 45-kilometre radius to serve inmates and surrounding communities.
“We will also establish a radio station, a local radio station. I understand it to be going around a 40, 45 kilometres radius.
“So, it will be a community radio station.
“We also want to thank the authorities for allowing ZPCS to have that radio station.
“They will enjoy that and the people around,” she said.
Mrs Nyemba noted that the transformation of the gallows into a museum would not only serve an educational purpose, but could also generate revenue for the Ministry.
“I think we should be able to make money with it as a ministry, because people should know about it.
“I am happy that the museum, I think this will be the first start in our lives to see a museum of this kind in our country,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary’s visit sought to evaluate the impact of resentencing exercises and to engage with former death row inmates, who were spared execution following the landmark legal reform — death penalty abolition.
“The purpose of our tour as a Ministry, our Ministry administers the Act, the Abolition of Death Penalty Act, and because of that reason we are on a tour to evaluate what has been happening, the impact of the resentencing that was done.
“We were engaging with the inmates to find out what they feel after the death penalty was removed on their backs,” she said.
She highlighted that most inmates expressed gratitude to President Mnangagwa and the Second Republic for the abolition of the death penalty, which they said gave them renewed hope and a chance at rehabilitation.
“I am so excited that most of them are very happy.
“They thank His Excellency the President for the Act.
“They also thank the ministry and everyone and the legislators who ran around to make sure that the law was in place,” Mrs Nyemba said.
She described her visit to the gallows as a humbling moment, reflecting on the historical significance of abolishing what she termed a colonial imposition.
“This is quite humane that no one should be sentenced to death.
“We are also saying this was a colonial imposition where people had to be killed, I think, due to political reasons before. But us as a people, we used to do that. So we are happy that we have become ourselves,” she said.
Mrs Nyemba revealed that of the 48 inmates who were on death row before the enactment of the Abolition of Death Penalty Act, only three remain to be resentenced.
“A total of 48 were on death row and as I said, we are only left with three who have not been sentenced as yet,” she said.
Mrs Nyemba expressed optimism that the reformed justice system would continue to uphold human rights and promote rehabilitation over retribution.
“We are optimistic that they may end up out and most of them are saying they have repented. They will never do what they did,” she said.
Mrs Nyemba was received at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison by the ZPCS Acting Commissioner General Social Ndanga and other top correctional services officers.
