Hangman finally found

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THE government has finally found a hangman after a protracted search.

THE government has finally found a hangman after a protracted search.

REPORT BY NUNURAI JENA His grim appointment hangs in the balance, however, as government is seriously considering abolishing the death penalty. There are 71 prisoners currently sitting on Death Row, three of them women. The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs has been head-hunting for an executioner for several years. Meanwhile, the number of prisoners awaiting execution has grown to the current huge backlog.

  David Mangota, the permanent secretary in the ministry, disclosed last week that government had finally sanctioned the employment of a foreign hangman hailing from the Republic of Malawi after Zimbabweans gave the grim job of executing their compatriots a collective thumbs-down.

  “We now have a hangman who is raring to go but because there have been some indications that the issue of the death sentence might be dealt with in the new constitution, for now the government has embraced a moratorium in anticipation of abolishing it altogether,” said Mangota.

  Mangota was speaking at a Universal Periodic Review Implementation Plan of Action workshop held in Kadoma last week to evaluate undertakings of implementation made by the government at a United Nations meeting held in Geneva in March this year. Human rights activists and organisations, including Amnesty International, have been lobbying government to abolish capital punishment.

  As a result, the country has implemented a de facto moratorium since 2005, when the last recorded execution was carried out by a hired Zambian hangman.

  Zimbabwe was asked to consider introducing a moratorium on capital punishment or to totally abolish the death penalty, which can be imposed in a range of serious crimes such as murder and treason.

  In the current draft constitution, female murderers are spared from the hangman’s noose. It is stated in the constitution that no woman shall face the death penalty.

  The draft partially abolishes the death penalty with the exception being in cases of aggravated murder. It also abolishes the death penalty for convicted prisoners under 21 years of age and those above 70.

  Mangota said he could not divulge the name or remuneration of the hangman, only saying that he earned “a substantial amount”.

  State security is part of his package.

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