Ziyambi takes death penalty debate to the people

The Ministry of Justice is in preparation to seek public opinions on the issue of the Death Penalty at grassroots level this month.

It will show whether the Death Penalty is still widely supported in Zimbabwe or people have moved from an eye for an eye.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information Publicity and Broadcasting Services Nick Mangwana confirmed the public debate.

“The Ministry of Justice is in preparation to seek public opinions on the issue of the Death Penalty at grassroots level this month. Surely it will be interesting to know whether the Death Penalty is still widely supported in Zimbabwe or people have moved from an eye for an eye,” he said.

Apparently, President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa has been a key opposer of death penalty.

He survived it during the liberation struggle, he was saved by his age which was below age of majority.

Within four months of assuming office, Mnangagwa commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences of prisoners who had been on death row for more than ten years.

While the country’s constitution adopted in 2013 did not to abolish the death penalty, it narrowed its scope and imposed restrictions on its use.

Article 48 abolished the mandatory death penalty and the new discretionary death sentence can be imposed only for murder where there are aggravating circumstances.

The new Constitution also abolished the death penalty for young people up to and including the age of 21 (at the time of the crime), for people aged 70 and over, and for all women.

Zwnews