A Malawian national has taken the job of Hangman for the Zimbabwe government ending an eight-year search for a hangman.
There are about 71 executions in Zimbabwe waiting to be implemented but there has been no hangman for a long time.
Zimbabwe government started advertising for the job last year but locals were reluctant to apply despite the high rate of unemployment estimated at over 80%.
Justice and Legal Affairs ministry permanent secretary, David Mangota, confirmed at the weekend that the vacancy had finally been filled.
But he said executions were not due to start anytime soon because there were proposals to scrap the death penalty in the country’s new draft constitution.
“We now have a hangman who is raring to go but because there are indications that the issue of the death sentence might be dealt with in the new constitution, for now the government has embraced a moratorium in anticipation of abolishing it altogether,” Mangota said at a workshop on human rights.
He refused to divulge the identity of the hangman or his working conditions but said the salary would be “substantial.”
However, Zimbabwe’s proposed new constitution would abolish the death penalty except in cases of “aggravated murder.”
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