The former Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary...

The former Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa, now the Speaker of Parliament, has since independence spoken strongly against capital punishment.
In 1989, Cde Mnangagwa announced that Zimbabwe was moving away from the concept of mandatory death penalty.Almost 13 years later, the Speaker is still against capital punishment.
"I don't uphold to it... I would instead favour life imprisonment. But the current law, as it stands, allows the passing of the death sentence," he said in an interview recently.
When he was in the justice ministry, Cde Mnangagwa spearheaded the removal of six offences that attracted capital punishment.
Cde Mnangagwa, who is also the Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration, said the party had not taken a position on the death penalty.
"We, of course, uphold the current law as it stands," he said.
The MDC secretary-general and former law lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, Professor Welshman Ncube, says the death penalty is unjustifiable.
"We as academics at the university have always been opposed to the death penalty because all arguments in favour of it are invalid.
"It is said that it acts as a deterrent but there is no evidence, which shows that where it exists it deters criminality."
However, not everyone is for the abolishment of capital punishment.
Zinatha's secretary for Public Relations, Information and Publicity, Mr Peter Sibanda, favours the death penalty and feels that it should be extended to cover other crimes just as in the Sharia law.
"The penalty is in accordance with our African culture and the law of God which states that 'an eye for an eye'. It should be upheld and extended to cover cases of witchcraft and rape... Otherwise how does a country penalise offenders in gruesome cases?"
Mr Sibanda, however, recommended that rituals be carried out before the hangings are done "to avoid future complications.
"Appeasement of evil spirits would reduce crime by at least 50 percent but our law doesn't allow that."
The death penalty, however, does not conform to Christian values.
The Catholic Church, which has denounced alleged selective application of the justice system, has led the campaign for abolition of the death penalty.
Former general secretary of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and chairperson of the Heads of Christian Denominations Reverend Murombedzi Kuchera has called for the abolishment of capital punishment.
"People should learn from their mistakes so that they can help others. In the African culture, we didn't kill murderers but we order them to compensate the victims' families.
"Killing is bad and should not be done even as a form of punishment," said Rev Kuchera.