Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe would not see an official execution under his watch.

Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe would not see an official execution under his watch.
Mnangwagwa was addressing delegates at a function organised by the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO). The meeting was held to observe the Anti-Death Penalty Day.
“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,” Mnangagwa said.
He added: “Since time immemorial the death penalty has been a contentious issue the world over. Its barbarism, sadism and inhumanity coupled with the inevitable fallibility of the human judgement on the part of those pronouncing the verdict is persuading an increasing number of governments both developed and developing to move away from the imposition of the death penalty.”
“I take pride in the fact that Zimbabwe has also recently become a de facto abolitionist country given that we have not carried out any executions in the past 10 years and there is not a likelihood of that happening under the current circumstances,” Mnangagwa said.
Minister Mnangagwa said his initial bid to have the 97 death row inmates saved from death collectively failed with Cabinet saying each case should be considered on its own merit. “Now I have been allowed to bring their cases in batches of 10 ... Some will be given 20 years or so in prison, others may even be sentenced to life in prison depending on the circumstances of each case. But I would have loved to see all the 97 escaping capital punishment.”
Speaking at the same function, Chief Nyakunhuwa of Zaka said the Chief’s Council was against capital punishment adding that it was brought about by colonialism in the country. “As chiefs, we do not support the death penalty at all. Before colonialism, we used to be governed by our traditional leaders and we did not have the death penalty,” he said. “Traditionally, we believed compensation was the best way to manage or to stop the avenging spirits and we would perform rituals and solve the issue peacefully without further bloodshed,” Chief Nyakunhuwa added. “With the coming in of the whites, we started using the Roman-Dutch Law that calls for ‘an eye for an eye’ and people are now being sentenced to death,” said Chief Nyakunhuwa, who called for restorative justice to prevail in Zimbabwe.