ZIMBABWE’s’s cabinet has supported proposed legislation to end the death penalty, marking a pivotal point in abolishing capital punishment in the southern African country.
Information Minister Jenfan Muswere on Tuesday said that the cabinet’s decision was made following countrywide consultations.
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Should parliament approve the bill, life imprisonment will serve as the maximum sentence.
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President Emmerson Mnangagwa has previously criticised capital punishment.
He was sentenced to death in 1965 following accusations that he bombed a train while fighting against white minority rule.
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Mr Mnangagwa’s death sentence was, however, commuted after his lawyers argued that he was underage.
Zimbabwe’s death penalty is a remnant of a colonial-era law. The country has not carried out an execution since 2005.
