22 May 2023 :

Zimbabwe has begun releasing more than 4,000 prisoners under a presidential amnesty that authorities say will help ease congestion in some overcrowded jails.
About 800 prisoners were released on May 19 from the Central Prison and Chikurubi Maximum Prison in the capital, Harare.
Jails in other parts of the country began releasing prisoners who qualified for the amnesty on May 18, said Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services spokeswoman Meya Khanyezi.
She said the amnesty would “go a long way in reducing the prison population.” Zimbabwe’s prisons have a capacity of 17,000 but hold more than 20,000 inmates.
Former prisoners have in the past complained about overcrowding and other harsh conditions such as a lack of food and proper health care. Amnesty International has previously described the conditions as “deplorable.” The southern African nation of 15 million people regularly uses the presidential amnesty to decongest prisons.
A beneficiary of the latest amnesty, John Mafararikwa, who was serving a 17-month sentence for theft, expressed relief.
“It’s overcrowded and the food is bad. Most of the time we would eat food prepared without cooking oil,” said the 71-year-old, boarding a prison bus taking him and other amnesty beneficiaries away from Harare Central Prison.
Song, dance and prayers marked the event. Some people of advanced age walked with the aid of crutches. A small group wore graduation robes after receiving diplomas in bible studies.
At Chikurubi Maximum Prison, freed women prisoners hugged prison officers, while men rushed for the back of an open truck waiting to transport them from the jail. Others thanked President Emmerson Mnangagwa for showing mercy.
All females imprisoned for non-violent crimes and who served a third of their sentences are to be released. Terminally ill people will be released regardless of the crime committed, while blind prisoners and those “who are physically challenged that they cannot be catered for in a prison” had their remaining sentences fully remitted.
Prisoners aged 60 years old and above and juveniles are among beneficiaries of the amnesty, while those who have been on the death row for the past 10 years had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
Zimbabwe still has the death penalty but has not hanged anyone since 2005. President Mnangagwa has previously said he is against the death penalty.
Those serving life in prison but have been in jail for the past 20 years will also be freed.
Prisoners who committed violent crimes such as murder, carjacking, human trafficking and sexual offenses but have served three quarters of their sentences are also being released. Those locked up for crimes such as treason, robbery, public violence and sabotaging electricity infrastructure were ineligible for release.

15 May 2023 :

An amnesty has been granted to thousands of prisoners serving time for non-violent offences with President Emmerson Mnangagwa exercising executive clemency to release inmates who had served at least one third of their jail term by Independence Day last month as a measure of decongesting prisons now holding more than 22 000 prisoners.
The country’s prisons have a carrying capacity of 17 000 and Presidential clemency has been used several times in the past to reduce the prison population.
The Clemency Order No 1 of 2023 was gazetted on May 12 under General Notice 672B of 2023 issued by the Permanent Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mrs Virginia Mabiza.
The order excludes a range of prisoners, mainly violent criminals and men serving more than four years, while qualifying more women, juveniles, those with terminal illnesses and prisoners over 60. Some men serving longer sentences can have their sentences reduced and some, but not all, excluding violent prisoners, can be released if they have served at least three quarters of their effective sentence.
All prisoners under sentence of death and on death row for 10 years have had their sentence reduced to life imprisonment and those serving life imprisonment who have served at least 20 years can be released. Blind and disabled prisoners also go free.
The reduction of sentences to time served for those who qualify is not a pardon, since the record of their conviction and sentence stands and will almost invariably mean a much longer sentence should they reoffend in future.
Even in the present clemency order, those who were released early as a result of previous orders but then reoffended cannot benefit this time and must stay to serve the full sentence. Executive clemency is one of those presidential powers that require Cabinet consent and usually originates in a recommendation from the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
Prisoners barred from clemency and who have to stay in jail and serve their full terms are: those previously released on amnesty; those sentenced by courts martial; those with a record of escaping from lawful custody; and those convicted of committing one of the specified offences, which include most violent crime.
The specified offences listed in the order include: murder, treason, rape or any sexual offence, carjacking, robbery, public violence, human trafficking, unlawful possession of firearm, contravention of the Electricity Act, contravention of the Postal and Telecommunications Act, contravention of the Public Order and Security Act or the Maintenance of Peace and Order Act.
The order makes it clear that those who conspired, incited or attempted any of the specified offences also stay behind bars. According to the order, a full remission of the remaining period of imprisonment is granted to all convicted female prisoners, save for those convicted of specified offences so long as they had served one third of the sentence by 18 April this year. All juveniles under the age of 18 go free so long as they had served a third of the sentence by 18 April with only those convicted of public violence staying inside. Age determination will be based on the birth certificate or dental age estimation.
Male prisoners who were sentenced to 48 months and below and have served one third of their sentence by April 18 can be released provided they were not convicted for specified offences. Those serving effective sentence above 48 months and have served at least one third of the sentence, will have their sentences reduced by a quarter unless they are inside for specified offences.
Terminally ill prisoners certified by a correctional medical officer or a Government medical officer go free regardless of offence but the Department of Correctional Services must liaise with Social Welfare so that they continue treatment after release.
Inmates at open prisons were also pardoned regardless of offence.
Those aged 60 years and above and have served one tenth of their sentence by April 18 go free unless sentenced to life imprisonment, death or convicted for public violence.
For some of the specified offences, the prisoner can go free “provided the inmate would have served three quarters of the sentence after the usual one third remission by 18 April.
But those in jail for public violence, robbery, treason, Electricity Act, Postal and Telecommunications Act and Public Order and Security Act or Maintenance of Peace and Order Act are excluded. The qualifying period of at least 20 years for prisoners serving life sentences includes any period where they were under sentence of death before their sentence was altered to life imprisonment.
The disabled, those medically certified as blind and those physically challenged to the extent that they cannot be catered for in a prison or correctional environment, will regardless of the offence, go out.

19 July 2023 :

A Zimbabwean High Court Judge on July 12, 2023 sentenced two convicted murderers to death for the killing of a 7-year-old boy, Tapiwa Makore, three years ago in the country’s Mashonaland East Province in rural Murewa area.
Judge Munamato Mutevedzi delivered the sentence, providing closure to the murder case that underwent nearly three years of trial since the incident occurred.
The convicted killers are Tapiwa Makore, a 60-year-old uncle of the deceased, and Tafadzwa Shamba, a 40-year-old herdboy.
The duo committed the murder in a proven case of ritualistic killing, as established in court. The details of the crime were revealed by Shamba during police investigations and in his confessions.
During the trial, it came to light that Shamba and Makore were under the influence of drugs when they murdered and mutilated the boy.
All pleas for leniency from the lawyers representing the killers were strongly rejected by Mutevedzi, who subsequently handed down a death sentence. The judge emphasized that no prison term could adequately match the severity of the crime.
Makore was murdered in September 2020, following which his body was dismembered into multiple pieces.
The two murderers however denied the allegations of murder levelled against them during trial although Shamba had confessed earlier on, giving vivid descriptions on how they killed the boy.
Section 48 of the Zimbabwe Constitution indicates that the death penalty may be imposed only for murder committed in aggravating circumstances and only on men aged between 21 and 70 years – not on women.
Zimbabwe last executed convicts in 2005, with the death sentence still being challenged on whether or not it should be scrapped, leaving scores of death row prison inmates after they were sentenced to death in the country’s jails.

30 March 2023 :

Zimbabwe’s government has started two weeks of nationwide consultations on whether to abolish capital punishment for people convicted of premeditated murder.
The consultation period began on March 27 and will run through to until April 7, 2023.
Public discussions on the death penalty are being held all over the nation by the Ministry of Justice.
The consultations’ goal is to assemble the opinions of the people and different stakeholders.
The opinions gathered will have an impact on how the proposed death penalty legislation is written.
The Ministry has been criticized for holding public consultations on the death penalty as the country gears up for general elections in a few months.
Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold elections between July and August this year.
Historically, the election period is associated with violence and intimidation leading to loss of life and voter apathy.
However, the ministry officials in response affirmed that the inquiry had nothing to do with elections further adding that the elections are not supposed to stop the law-making process.
In Zimbabwe, the last execution took place in 2005, and since then, death penalties have been changed to life in prison.
Currently 62 people are on the death row in Zimbabwe.