Zimbabwe’s government backs a move to abolish the death penalty having last hanged someone in 2005

FARAI MUTSAKA

Zimbabwe’s Cabinet has agreed to back a move in Parliament to abolish the death penalty, a punishment that was last used in the southern African nation nearly 20 years ago.

Zimbabwe used hanging as its means of execution, but hasn’t hanged anyone since 2005, partly because no one had been willing to take up the job of state executioner — or hangman — for years. In 2022, Zimbabwe’s Sunday Mail newspaper reported that several people did apply for the role, including two women. No one was hired.

Zimbabwe is one of more than a dozen countries in Africa and more than 50 across the world that have the death penalty enshrined in law without any moratorium on it.

The Cabinet’s decision to support a change to the law was made at a meeting on Tuesday and is a key step. It still needs to be passed by Parliament.