Death Penalty Abolition Act [Chapter 9:26]

The Death Penalty Abolition Act [Chapter 9:26], Act 4 of 2024, ends capital punishment in Zimbabwe. Section 2 does the core work: notwithstanding any other law, no court may impose a sentence of death for any offence whenever committed and must impose whatever other competent sentence fits; the Supreme Court may not confirm a death sentence on appeal and must substitute another sentence; and no sentence of death, whenever imposed, may be carried out.

The Act then strips the machinery out of the statute book. In the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Chapter 9:07] it repeals section 336(1)(a), and sections 337 to 342 — sentence for murder, persons on whom a death sentence may not be passed, sentence of death, transmission of evidence to the President, examination of a woman convicted of certain offences, and the manner of carrying out a death sentence — along with section 377 on presidential commutation, and it cleans up references in sections 345, 354 and 355.

Sentences are recast in the substantive offences. Genocide under section 4 of the Genocide Act [Chapter 9:20] now carries imprisonment for life. Treason under section 20 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23] loses the death option, as does insurgency, banditry, sabotage or terrorism under section 23, which becomes imprisonment for life or any definite period. Murder is rewritten: where committed in aggravating circumstances, life imprisonment or a definite term of not less than twenty years; otherwise life imprisonment or a definite term of not less than fifteen years, or not less than five years where there are special circumstances. Grave breaches under section 3(2)(a) of the Geneva Conventions Act [Chapter 11:06] also lose the death penalty.

Military law is treated differently, and this is the Act's most significant qualification. New sections 115 and 116 are inserted into the Defence Act [Chapter 11:02]. The death penalty under that Act is suspended rather than abolished, and the suspension is automatically lifted for the duration of any state of public emergency declared under section 113 of the Constitution, coming back into force when the declaration is revoked or lapses. Outside an emergency, any death sentence a military court lawfully imposes is automatically commuted to life imprisonment in a civilian prison, subject to a non-release period of twenty years or such shorter period as the court martial specifies, and must be referred without a formal appeal to the Court Martial Appeal Court for confirmation, resentencing or other disposal in the interests of justice.

The transitional provisions deal with death row. The Minister of Justice, the Prosecutor-General and the Commissioner-General of the Prisons and Correctional Service must do everything within their powers to bring every prisoner under a confirmed sentence of death before the High Court to be sentenced afresh as soon as practicable after the fixed date. The prisoner is entitled to legal representation, at State expense if necessary, exactly as on a murder indictment, and the hearing proceeds as nearly as possible like sentencing at the end of a trial. The High Court may impose any sentence other than death, taking into account the offence, the prisoner's personal circumstances, the interests of society, how long the prisoner spent under sentence of death and how he or she was treated during that time, and the risk of reoffending. The court may backdate the sentence, and the new sentence is appealable. Nothing limits the President's power of mercy under section 112 of the Constitution.

The Act was gazetted on 31 December 2024. It states that the 'fixed date' is its date of commencement but does not itself print that date, so the commencement should be checked against the gazette notice.