The international human rights organization Amnesty International says three sub-Saharan African countries considering ending the death penalty should do it now and pave the way for others around the world to follow in their footsteps.
There hasn’t been an execution in Gambia, Kenya or Zimbabwe in over a decade, Amnesty has said, and all three nations have commuted multiple death sentences during that time.
Lucia Masuka, head of Amnesty in Zimbabwe, said most countries in the world are moving away from the death penalty, and she urged African countries to follow suit.
“It’s time for all countries to move away from this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment once and for all,” Masuka said. “Zimbabwe’s president himself was sentenced to death for terrorism, as a young man, due to his involvement in Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle. He narrowly avoided execution. He was below the age of 21 at the time, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison instead.
“The president knows what it is like to be facing the death penalty, and he now has the opportunity to ensure that no one else goes through that.”
Addressing Parliament this month, President Emmerson Mnangagwa stuck to his 2017 promise that he would not allow the death penalty to stand in Zimbabwe.
“Parliament has an obligation to expedite the enactment of all bills that, for one reason or another, are outstanding from previous sessions,” he said. “You can carry the burden.” Bills relating to death penalty abolition “should be passed.”
Casten Matewu, a legislator from the country’s main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change, and a member of the justice, legal and parliamentary affairs committee, said Mnangagwa should not be worried about the death penalty abolition bill.
“I am for the abolition of the death penalty, and this must be abolished before December,” Matewu said. “This is going to sail through seamlessly through Parliament, because there is a majority of parliamentarians, both from both sides of the house, who are actually in support of this bill.”
But not everyone agrees. Zachariah Choga, an attorney who formerly practiced in South Africa and is now practicing law in Harare, said the death penalty “should not be abolished.”
“I’ve had the privilege to practice in the South African legal system,” he said. “If you look at statistics since 1994, when the death penalty was abolished in South Africa, the increase has been a super-increase in heinous crimes, violent crimes and crimes of passion. So I’m actually of the opinion that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. I think the fear of one losing their life can assist, or can be a deterrent, when one considers committing a crime.”
Amnesty International’s Masuka has a different opinion.
“Countries that still retain the death penalty in their laws often resort to the death penalty, believing the punishment can make their people and communities safer,” she said. “However, that is a misconception. The death penalty does not have a unique, deterrent effect, and it violates the right to life, as proclaimed in the universal declaration of human rights. The small minority of countries that insist on using this punishment must move with the times and abolish the death penalty once and for all.”
According to Amnesty International, 24 countries across sub-Saharan Africa have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, while two countries have abolished it for ordinary crimes only. Zimbabwe’s last known execution was in 2005, though courts continue to impose death sentences. All of the condemned were sentenced to life imprisonment by Mnangagwa’s amnesty in April this year.
