HARARE – At least 63 inmates convicted of various crimes including murder will have their sentences commuted to life. This was after Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Member of Parliament for Dzivarasekwa, Edwin Mushoriwa brought the proposed law to Parliament through a Private Members Bill.
The Government has already gazetted the bill after it sailed through the lower and upper houses. Zimbabwe last had execution in 2005 and 61 inmates have been on the row since then until Tapiwa Makore’s two murderers were sentenced to death by Judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi.
However, Mushoriwa said the death penalty must be abolished in totality since there is a high risk that future Parliamentarians might re-enact the law because the constitution provide for that.
“I am worried that other MPs who might come in the future could re-eanct the law because our constitution has that loophole. So, I hope the death penalty is going to be totally abolished,” said Mushoriwa.
The move was lauded by Amnesty International Zimbabwe as the right step towards ending the inhuman punishment. Amnesty International has been opposing the death penalty for a long time without exception because it violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
South African-based lawyer, Advocate Tererai Rector Mafukidze who is a member of the Johannesburg Bar buttressed Amnesty International Zimbabwe’s position on death penalty and told journalists that the abolishment of the death penalty was overdue as the law is archaic.
“The death penalty serves no purpose. It has been used as a polictical tool to victimise black opponents particularly during the colonial era and post independence,” said avocate Mafukidze.-Mirror
63 Zimbabwe inmates escape the hangman’s noose
