HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's cabinet on Tuesday agreed to abolish the death penalty following months of debate in parliament, choosing instead to impose lengthy prison sentences for the worst offences.
The cabinet passed a private member's bill introduced last year in the National Assembly to abolish the death penalty inherited from British colonial rule.
"In view of the need to retain the deterrent element in sentencing murderers, it is expected that the new law will impose lengthy sentences without violating the right to life," the cabinet said in a statement.
"The existence of aggravating circumstances may attract life sentences."
Zimbabwe carried out its last execution in 2005.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa (pictured), who was once put on the death row during the struggle for independence against British rule, has been pushing to end the death penalty.
Government records show that there are still 62 inmates on death row.
The last inmates to be hanged in 2005 were notorious criminals, Stephen Chidhumo and Edgar Masendeke, the duo that launched the only successful prison break at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in 1995.
Zimbabwe at present does not even have a hangman, despite interest in the job by applicants in 2022, two of whom were women.
As of last year, the death sentence was still used in 30 countries on the continent.
But no executions had taken place in the previous decade in 16 of these states or territories. In 14 countries, the death penalty was regularly used.
These included Nigeria, Botswana, Somalia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Egypt, and Libya.
Capital punishment has now been abolished in 26 African countries.
Source: Reuters, News24, Staff, February 6-7, 2024
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