President Mnangagwa signs Death Penalty Abolition Bill into law

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has officially signed the Death Penalty Abolition Bill into law, marking a significant milestone in Zimbabwe’s legal and human rights landscape. The move effectively abolishes the death penalty, making Zimbabwe the latest country to take a stand against capital punishment.

The Death Penalty Abolition Act, as published in the latest Government Gazette, amends several key pieces of legislation, including the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Chapter 9:07], the Genocide Act [Chapter 9:20], the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23], and the Geneva Conventions Act [Chapter 11:06].

The new law states that no court shall impose a death sentence on any person, regardless of the offence committed. Instead, courts are required to impose the most appropriate alternative sentence based on the circumstances of each 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 and no sentence of death, whenever imposed, shall be carried out,” reads a section of the Act.

The signing of the Bill marks the formal end of the death penalty in Zimbabwe, a practice that had not been carried out since the execution of Never Masina Mandlenkosi in 2005. Mandlenkosi was sentenced to death by the High Court for the brutal murder of Themba Nkiwane in 2002. Since his execution on July 22, 2005, no other prisoner has been executed in Zimbabwe.

Despite the lack of a hangman for nearly two decades, Zimbabwean courts continued to pass death sentences as prescribed by the 2013 Constitution, which was adopted following a referendum.

Currently, there are 62 prisoners on death row in Zimbabwe. In 2013, then-Justice Minister, President Mnangagwa, publicly expressed his opposition to the death penalty, stating that he was against the execution of prisoners.

The abolition of the death penalty is a significant step toward the protection of human rights and aligns Zimbabwe with other countries that have taken similar actions to eliminate capital punishment.