The Death Penalty Abolition Bill has successfully passed through the Senate and is now awaiting President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s approval to become law, reported NewZimbabwe.com.
The last execution in Zimbabwe occurred nearly two decades ago, in 2005, and currently, there are over 60 prisoners on death row.
Mnangagwa has publicly opposed capital punishment, sharing his own experience of having a death sentence commuted to 10 years in prison for a crime committed during the 1960s.
After a lengthy debate in the Senate, the Bill was read for the second time with minimal amendments and subsequently read for the third time without any further changes before being passed.
Before the Senate’s approval, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi warned members about the sensitivity of the issue. He said:
I stand before this House to seek the abolition of the death penalty. The deliberation will be emotional.
Not of this or that other human being but as part of human beings whose crimes are such of a heinous nature that our society is called to legislate that they must die if found guilty by the court of law.
Almost all cultures in Zimbabwe have marked out certain crimes to be deserving capital punishment. Our indigenous culture had less problems and messier than any foreign culture. The deserving of death has been perceived to be inhuman.
Culturally and historically, before colonisers came to our country, we had no death penalty. In vernacular, we would say “Mushonga wengozi kuiripa, kwete kuuraya”.
Our culture does not allow us to kill someone because they have murdered someone. In Shona we would say, “Ngozi inoripwa”. That is the point that I am trying to put across Mr. President.
Can the death penalty actually deter crimes or not? Also, let us not forget that the death penalty is irreversible.
Senator Sukai Tongogara described the death penalty abolition as a “landmark piece of legislation” aimed at fundamentally transforming Zimbabwe’s criminal justice system.
She said the Bill reflects a global trend toward abolishing capital punishment and highlighted the responsibility of legislators to uphold justice and human dignity.
Tongogara noted that 112 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, with 142 being abolitionist in law or practice.
By adopting this Bill, she argued, Zimbabwe would reinforce its commitment to human rights and position itself as a progressive nation.
However, Senator Linda Sibanda shared her personal connection to the death penalty abolition.
She revealed that her cousin, Hilary Muleya, had recently been murdered, and the perpetrator remains unknown.
Sibanda, who will soon attend her cousin’s funeral, conveyed her pain at the thought of sparing a murderer who shows no remorse for their actions, particularly towards vulnerable people. She said:
It is so painful to just spare a murderer who does not even show any remorse to a helpless young lady on the streets who just knocked off from work.
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