Hangman position still vacant since 2006 despite high unemployment rate. No one has been officially executed in the country since 2005, according to reports in the African nation, leaving 81 unsure when they will be hanged. Dozens of criminals are languishing on Death Row in Zimbabwe unsure when they will die – because the country has no executioner.
Despite the high level of unemployment in Zimbabwewhich has seen citizens scramble for any kind of job available, no one seems interested in applying for the position of executioner – a position that has remained vacant since the country’s last hangman retired in 2006.
According to the Zimbabwean Death Penalty Database, the official method of executing prisoners is hanging. Zimbabwean law states that women, and people aged under 21 and over 70 cannot be hanged.
Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Southern Africa, Muleya Mwananyanda, said: “President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s has taken a very progressive step in deciding to spare the prisoners from the hangman’s noose.
His action is commendable, but he must build on this positive momentum by ensuring that Zimbabwe abolishes the death penalty completely.
“Countries around the world, including in sub-Saharan Africa, are moving away from using the death penalty. “There is no credible evidence that the death penalty has a greater deterrent effect on crime than imprisonment.”
