It was gathered from Zimbabwe that the country’s Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, has called for the abolition of death penalty as 89 people were discovered to be on death row.

He disclosed this while speaking with anti-death activists at a celebration organized to mark the World Day Against Death Penalty in Harare, describing the act as inhuman and degrading.

“As someone who has been on the death row myself and only saved by an ‘age’ technicality, I believe that our justice delivery system must rid itself of this odious and obnoxious provision.

“The mental torture occasioned by the mere knowledge that ‘it is all over’ coupled with the experience of being treated as the ‘scum’ in the society, bring with them utter hopelessness and despair,” he said.

The programme was jointly organized by the Amnesty International, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, the Women’s Coalition, the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association and the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender.