By Nathan Guma
ZIMBABWE is inching closer towards abolishing the death penalty, with parliamentarians taking turns to support the Death Penalty Abolition Bill which seeks to amend the Criminal Law Code and the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, amid indications of an increase in death sentences compared to the previous year.
The private members Bill introduced in December by Dzivarasekwa MP Edwin Mushoriwa has gone through its second reading with support from MPs of all sides of the National Assembly.
While Zimbabwe carried out its last executions in 2005, courts have continued to impose the death sentence, with an increase being realised in 2023, according to new statistics by Amnesty International.
The country is amongst countries with recorded death sentences as at December 2023, in the Sub-Saharan region.
According to Section 48 (c) the constitution, the penalty applies to people aged between 21-70, with 48 (d) exempting women.
Zimbabwe had a male population of 7,960,696 (49.3%) out of 16 139 018 as of Dec 31, 2023, according to Countrymeters, part of the demography which is eligible for the death penalty.
In Parliament, Lilian Zemura Zanu PF proportional representation MP for Mashonaland East, said the death sentence should be removed as it signifies murder.
“I stand to support what has been done by the Parliament and what it is planning to do in 2024 about the abolishment of the death sentence,” Zemura said. “The issue regarding the abolition of the death sentence is that indeed, everyone is capable of committing a crime. The death penalty in Zimbabwe should be removed.”
“We saw this coming when there was no hangman. So I want to appreciate the fact that we do not encourage death sentences even for those who commit abortion.
“Abortion is a crime to God, killing is killing. Murder is just murder, whether you have killed an old person or an infant who is killed and thrown into the bin like what some women are doing in Zimbabwe. They must be arrested, they must get a life sentence, and they deserve to be incarcerated because they would have committed a crime.”
Zanu PF proportional representation MP for Midlands, Perseviarance Zhou said the law should be removed due to its selective nature.
“Executing people is not good, it pains us,” Zhou said. “Again, this Bill is segmented stipulating that from 21 years to 70 years, these people could be killed. So because the law selected the young, people felt that it was not good.”
“Women also were not killed because looking at the law, you find that people are saying we do not want the execution, so we need to find alternative ways. Sometimes we might kill a breadwinner; whether it is the father or uncle, it is painful.”
Another MP Rossy Mpofu, a proportional representation legislator for Matebeleland South said the sentence should be removed said the government should opt for other methods of punishment.
“If a person commits a grievous act, they should be sentenced to life in prison. Even church leaders cannot allow a person to be sentenced to death. The Lord is the one who has the life of a person in His hands. The Holy Spirit would intervene for a person,” Mpofu said.
“Some of the people who kill themselves are afraid of killing someone else. Would someone kill a disabled person just because they are ashamed of them? With these few words, this law should be abolished.”
Sub Saharan Africa
Executions have been rising exponentially over the past decade, with recorded executions more than tripling while recorded death sentences increased.
While Somalia was the only country known to have carried out executions, death sentences were recorded in 14 countries, a decrease of two compared to 2022.
In Kenya, four bills to abolish the death penalty were introduced in Parliament between August and September 2023.
First, the Preservation of Public Security (Amendment) Bill, 2023, introduced in August, seeks to abolish the death penalty for offences related to the preservation of public security, while another, the Legal Aid (Amendment) Bill, 2023, introduced in September, seeks to delete references to the death penalty in the Legal Aid Act (No. 6 of 2016).
Third, the Prisons (Amendment) Bill, 2023, introduced in September, seeks to amend the Prisons Act, CAP 90 Laws of Kenya, in order to abolish the death penalty and the manner of its execution.
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