Rights groups urge Zimbabwe’s president to sign bill abolishing death penalty

Rights groups are urging Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa to sign into law a bill that would abolish the death penalty, following the bill’s landmark passage Thursday by the country's senate, after earlier passage by the lower house of parliament.

In an interview with VOA, Zimbabwe's justice minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, said passage of the death abolition bill is welcomed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who, since coming to power in 2017, has refused to sign death warrants for those facing capital punishment.

"He is a man who has not been an advocate of death penalty," Ziyambi said.

"The passage of the bill by the senate towards Christmas is an early Christmas present to him, as he has been an advocate to say, 'We can't do this.' And that's the reason why I said he is the man who is going to appreciate the work that has been done by both houses."

Human rights groups are now calling for Mnangagwa to sign the bill, among them Lucia Masuka, the head of Amnesty International in Zimbabwe.

"Amnesty International commends the progressive legislative efforts made so far to make the abolition of the death penalty from the country’s statutes a reality," Masuka said.

"We urge the president to take heed of this historic landmark decision by signing this bill without delay and commuting all death sentences to prison terms. The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and has no place in our world."

In the past Mnangagwa has refused to sign some bills after parliament had passed them. But Ziyambi said that will not happen this time.

"How would I say it’s an early Christmas present if he does not want to sign it?" Ziyambi said.

"He has lived the trauma of being on death row and was saved by a technicality. He is ready to sign like yesterday."

But not everyone is happy with this latest development. One of them is Zachariah Choga, an attorney in Harare.

"I still believe adequate to search was not properly done on this regard," he said.

"If you look at the increase in crime in Zimbabwe at the moment, especially violent crimes, robberies, armed robberies to be specific house-breaking, it's only going to escalate further with the death penalty off the table because it appeared with the death penalty on the table. It could have been the only deterrent that we had at this particular point, but now with the death penalty gone, we're going to see a rise in violent crimes of that nature."

According to Amnesty International, 24 countries across sub-Saharan Africa have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, while two additional countries have abolished it for ordinary crimes only.

Zimbabwe’s last known execution was in 2005, though courts continue to impose death sentences – for cases of murder committed under aggravating circumstances.

In April, all those condemned to death had their sentences commuted to life in prison by President Mnangagwa.