News / National
Mnangagwa suffers defeat
11 Oct 2014 at 07:17hrs | Views
JUSTICE Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa failed to gain support from the Cabinet over the death penalty.
"I took the matter to Cabinet. Firstly, I put all the 97 inmates in about three pages of argument saying I wanted all of them removed from death row.
"Cabinet rejected the argument directing me to give the circumstances of each single inmate individually for assessment," he said in Harare yesterday, during commemorations of World Day of the Anti-Death Penalty Campaign.
"I lost that bid because I had bundled everyone of the 97 inmates so that I could get what I wanted.
"Now I've been allowed to bring their cases in batches of 10 and I believe next Tuesday will be the first day of the assessment. When we decide, some will succeed while others will fail.
"Some will be given 20 years or so in prison, others may even be sentenced to life in prison depending on the circumstances of each case. But I'd have loved to see all the 97 escaping capital punishment."
Minister Mnangagwa was once sentenced to death by the white minority regime during the struggle for Zimbabwe's independence, and is an opponent of capital punishment.
Zimbabwe has not carried out any executions since 2004, in part because there was no hangman but last year Justice Secretary David Mangota announced the government had secured a hangman who was "raring to go".
Little is known of the hangman, who is rumoured to be from Malawi.
Zimbabwe's new constitution adopted last year does not permit the execution of women and those above the age of 70.
Responding to a question by the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) programmes director Tecla Ponde, Minister Mnangagwa said the only female inmate on death row was off-the-hook because the new constitution exempted women from capital punishment.
Currently, 58 countries around the world actively execute criminals, with 90 percent of all executions taking place in Asia.
Despite suffering a setback in Cabinet, Minister Mnangagwa launched himself as a key voice against capital punishment, insisting that it was "abhorrent" and had not deterred criminals.
Minister Mnangagwa said he would do his best to see to it that no-one was hanged during his tenure as Justice Minister.
"I took the matter to Cabinet. Firstly, I put all the 97 inmates in about three pages of argument saying I wanted all of them removed from death row.
"Cabinet rejected the argument directing me to give the circumstances of each single inmate individually for assessment," he said in Harare yesterday, during commemorations of World Day of the Anti-Death Penalty Campaign.
"I lost that bid because I had bundled everyone of the 97 inmates so that I could get what I wanted.
"Now I've been allowed to bring their cases in batches of 10 and I believe next Tuesday will be the first day of the assessment. When we decide, some will succeed while others will fail.
"Some will be given 20 years or so in prison, others may even be sentenced to life in prison depending on the circumstances of each case. But I'd have loved to see all the 97 escaping capital punishment."
Zimbabwe has not carried out any executions since 2004, in part because there was no hangman but last year Justice Secretary David Mangota announced the government had secured a hangman who was "raring to go".
Little is known of the hangman, who is rumoured to be from Malawi.
Zimbabwe's new constitution adopted last year does not permit the execution of women and those above the age of 70.
Responding to a question by the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) programmes director Tecla Ponde, Minister Mnangagwa said the only female inmate on death row was off-the-hook because the new constitution exempted women from capital punishment.
Currently, 58 countries around the world actively execute criminals, with 90 percent of all executions taking place in Asia.
Despite suffering a setback in Cabinet, Minister Mnangagwa launched himself as a key voice against capital punishment, insisting that it was "abhorrent" and had not deterred criminals.
Minister Mnangagwa said he would do his best to see to it that no-one was hanged during his tenure as Justice Minister.
Source - chronicle
