The Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs says it will seek public opinion on the issue of capital punishment at the grassroots level this month as it drafts a Death Penalty position in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries that have the death penalty on its statute books.
In Zimbabwe, the law says that the death penalty must be carried out by hanging the condemned person by his neck until he is dead.
Now the Ministry of Justice wants to establish whether the death penalty is still widely supported by Zimbabweans or whether the majority now consider it barbaric. A statement issued by the Ministry of Justice reads:
The Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs with the support from Centre for Applied Legal Research (CALR) and the Embassy of Switzerland is in the process of drafting a death penalty position in Zimbabwe.
After convening a High-Level Consultative meeting on the subject matter to inform policy formulation and law reform agenda, several recommendations were proffered in the meeting. One major reason highlighted was to amass public opinion on the subject matter.
Against this backdrop, the Ministry shall hold consultations at the grassroots level in March 2023 across the country’s provinces.
Additionally, the Ministry will conduct preliminary Training of Trainers with Case Care Workers, Village Health Workers and Youth Officers in anticipation of the actual consultations to capacitate the cadres on mobilisation of participants ahead of the consultations.
The aim is to capacitate the cadres on mobilisation of participants ahead of the actual consultations to obtain a clear and unbiased representation of the community.
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