Mnangagwa pardons women, juveniles and inmates with disability

HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa has ordered the release of women, juvenile inmates and prisoners with disabilities, among targeted beneficiaries of Clemency Order 1 of 2024.

It is the second such presidential amnesty inside a year, with over 4,000 inmates having been pardoned last year.

“It is hereby notified that His Excellency the President has, in terms of section 112(1) (a) and (d) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, made the order set out in the Schedule. This order may be cited as Clemency Order No. 1 of 2024,” read part of a government gazette published on Monday by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Vimbai Nyemba under General Notice 467 of 2024.

The pardon also benefits prisoners sentenced 48 months and below, who would have served one third of their sentence by April 18, provided they are not convicted for specified offences.

The specified offences include murder; treason; rape or any sexual offence; carjacking, robbery, public violence, human trafficking, unlawful possession of firearm and contravention of the Electricity and telecommunications Acts as well as contravention of the Public Order and Security Act/ Maintenance of Peace and Order Act.

Also targeted for clemency are prisoners aged 60 years and above, while those who have been on death roll for 10 years and above will have their sentences remitted to life imprisonment.

Inmates to be excluded from the proposed general amnesty include any inmate who was previously released on amnesty; any inmate serving a sentence imposed by Court Martial and any inmate who has a record of escaping from lawful custody.

Qualifying inmates are expected to be released from the country’s prisons beginning this Wednesday.

In 2023, President Mnangagwa released 4,270 prisoners on amnesty, a move also aimed at decongesting the country’s correctional facilities.

The amnesty however triggered a backlash after it benefitted some inmates including convicted sexual offenders such as 59-year-old Bobby Makaza who raped a minor in 2018.