Harare residents voice support for abolition of death penalty at hearing

HARARE – Harare residents solicited for views on the death penalty on Tuesday unanimously supported its abolition in Zimbabwe saying offenders should get a chance at rehabilitation and correction.

At a public hearing to gather views on the death penalty abolition bill, residents said the country should expunge the punishment from the constitution and use other ways of punishing offenders.

“I agree with the bill for the abolition of the death penalty because in as much as murdered should be punished, the death penalty is heavily flawed. It is applied to average men only,” said Genius Mutete.

Angela Munyai supported the abolition arguing that offenders should be given a second chance through rehabilitation and correction.

Another participant said the death penalty should be abolished in line with international treaties which Zimbabwe is party to.

“Death penalty should be done with,” he said.

“Practically, we have gone for over ten years since the last execution so the death penalty must go because it goes against the principles of justice,” said Benhilda Manyame.

Chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Energy Mutodi said the contributions from Mbare were unanimous that they want the death penalty expunged.

“We have 100 percent respondents in support of the bill, so it means at Mbare, you want the death penalty to be expunged from the constitution; you don’t want capital punishment to be imposed anymore,” he said.

As it is aptly named, the Death Penalty Abolition Bill seeks to remove the death penalty from the Zimbabwean constitution.

In February this year, Cabinet agreed to abolish the death penalty for murder offences, almost two decades after the last execution.

Zimbabwe has been on a de facto moratorium on executions for about 17 years with the last having been conducted in 2005 while the vacancy for hangman has not found any takers.

The Constitution maintains the death sentence but excludes women, men under the age of 21 and men over the age of 70 from being sent to the gallows.