Death penalty

In a historic move, Zimbabwe has officially abolished the death penalty following the signing of the Death Penalty Abolition Act (2024) by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. This significant legal change follows the approval of the Bill by the Senate and marks a major advancement in the country’s commitment to human rights, recognizing the death penalty as a violation of dignity and the right to life. The abolition of the death penalty comes after nearly two decades without executions, with the last death sentence carried out in 2005. Despite this, courts in Zimbabwe could still impose death sentences for aggravated murder, leaving individuals on death row to endure years of uncertainty and harsh conditions. The new law ensures that those currently sentenced to death—approximately 62 individuals, according to reports—will have their sentences either reduced or commuted, effectively ending the practice of death row in the country. The path to abolition began in November 2023 when Edwin Mushoriwa, a Member of Parliament for Dzivarasekwa, introduced the Death Penalty Abolition Bill as a private member’s initiative. The government’s commitment to abolishing capital punishment was solidified with Cabinet approval in February 2024, and the Bill successfully passed through the National Assembly and Senate. President Mnangagwa’s final assent on December 31, 2024, brought the Bill into law. This achievement is the result of nearly a decade of sustained advocacy and collaboration between Zimbabwe’s government and civil society. The Death Penalty Project, along with local partners such as the Zimbabwean NGO Veritas, worked closely with Mushoriwa to support the development and passage of the Bill. The initiative gained additional momentum through empirical research by the Death Penalty Research Unit at the University of Oxford, which explored public attitudes toward capital punishment, and extensive engagement with Zimbabwe’s political leaders. With the abolition, Zimbabwe joins 29 other African countries that have removed the death penalty for ordinary crimes or all crimes, adding to the continent’s growing momentum toward universal abolition. In this decade alone, countries such as Chad, Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Zambia, and Ghana have followed suit, making Africa the fastest-moving continent in abolishing the death penalty. Zimbabwe’s decision marks an important turning point for other abolitionist de facto states in Africa, where the death penalty is still retained in law but executions have not occurred in over a decade. Among these are Zimbabwe’s regional neighbors, including Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, which may now be encouraged to take similar steps toward permanent abolition. This historic moment is a testament to the power of political will, civil society collaboration, and sustained international advocacy, as Zimbabwe steps into a new era of human rights protections.