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Midlands Bureau Chief
AMNESTY International has commended the government for not executing a prisoner on death row in the past 10 years. The international watchdog described the move as “a milestone for the protection of the right to life and the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Zimbabwe.” According to a report on its website, Amnesty International (AI), said although the country carried out its last execution on July 22, 2005, there were still 95 prisoners on death row.
“Amnesty International is now calling on Zimbabwe to declare an official moratorium on executions and totally abolish the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
“Ten years without an execution is a notable milestone on the road to the abolition of the death penalty, but the shadow of the gallows still looms for 95 prisoners currently on death row in Zimbabwe,” reads part of the report on Zimbabwe.
The organisation said the death penalty was a violation of the right to life, adding that Zimbabwean authorities should take urgent steps to abolish the death penalty altogether.
“There’s no evidence that the death penalty is more of a deterrent to crime than other forms of punishment. The world is moving away from the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Zimbabwe should permanently dismantle its machinery for execution and join the majority of the world’s countries by abolishing capital punishment,” reads the report.
It is stated in the report that more than 100 countries around the world have abolished capital punishment and more countries are following suit.
Seventeen countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, read the report, including Angola, Burundi, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa and Togo have abolished the death penalty for all crimes.
“In addition several other African countries have also taken legislative steps towards abolishing the death penalty for all crimes.”
Speaking at an event to mark the Anti-Death Penalty Day last October, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who oversees the Justice Ministry, said no executions would be carried out under his watch.
“I want to pronounce myself clearly that the death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights and a cold-blooded and abhorrent killing of a human being by the state in the name of justice,” he said.
His strong position against the death penalty probably stems from the fact that he came within a whisker of being hanged by Ian Smith’s regime during the liberation war, only to be saved by his age.
High Court judges are still handing down death sentences in cases as under Section 48 (2) of the Constitution, a law may permit the death penalty to be imposed on a person convicted of murder committed in aggravating circumstances.
In October last year, in the State versus Isaac Mlambo, High Court judge Justice Francis Bere passed a death sentence verdict on the accused saying: “As stated earlier on 48 (supra) has generated much debate in this country on the propriety or otherwise of the imposition of death penalty. My brother Judge Hungwe, in a recent case of State vs Jonathan Mutsinze expressed the view that until such a time an Act of Parliament is promulgated defining ‘the terms on which courts will impose the death penalty’, including the definition of aggravating circumstances, it may not be proper to impose a death penalty.”
“Consequently the accused shall be returned to custody where the sentence of death shall be executed against him according to law.”
Online Reporter