President Emmerson Mnangagwa on December 31 signed into law the Death Penalty Abolition Act, which abolishes the death penalty for all crimes and provides that dozens of people currently under a death sentence in Zimbabwe will now be resentenced.
Passed by the Senate on December 12, the bill provides that “no court shall impose sentence of death upon a person for any offence” and “no sentence of death, whenever imposed, shall be carried out.”
Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told the BBC that the abolition of the death penalty was “more than a legal reform; it is a statement of our commitment to justice and humanity.”
Zimbabwe has not executed anyone since 2005, but it has continued to impose the death penalty in some murder cases.
At least 59 people were known to be under sentence of death in Zimbabwe at the end of 2023, Amnesty International reports.
The High Court must now resentence every person currently under sentence of death, taking all relevant circumstances into account—including each individual’s personal circumstances, how long they have been sentenced to death, and how they were treated while under a death sentence.
Over 60 people will have their death sentences commuted, according to New Zimbabwe, which also noted that military death sentences will be changed to life with possibility of parole after 20 years in a civilian prison.
The move is “a beacon of hope for the abolitionist movement in the region,” Amnesty International Zimbabwe Executive Director Lucia Masuka said in a statement that called out a provision in the law that allows capital punishment to be reinstated during a public emergency. Abolishing the death penalty in Zimbabwe, she continued, represents “a major milestone in the global collective pursuit for an end to this ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment.”
As of today, Amnesty International reports that 24 African countries have fully abolished the death penalty.