Zimbabwe has officially done away with the death penalty, nearly twenty years after the last execution was conducted in the nation.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa gave his approval for the legislation after a cabinet decision to abolish capital punishment in June, as detailed by Chief Secretary to the Cabinet Martin Rushwaya in a recent government announcement.

“No court shall impose the death penalty upon any individual for any offense, regardless of the time of commission, and shall instead issue a suitable alternative sentence tailored to the particular circumstances of the case,” as stated in an act released in the official Government Gazette.

Read: Zimbabwe abolishes death penalty 19 years after last execution [Feb 2024]

President Mnangagwa, who was sentenced to death by the former Prime Minister Ian Smith’s white-minority government during Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle, has been a staunch opponent of the death penalty.

With this action, Zimbabwe joins over two-thirds of nations across the globe that have either eliminated the death penalty in law or practice.

Presently, there are 65 individuals on death row in Zimbabwe, with the last execution occurring in 2005.

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