The Zimbabwean justice system has sent a strong message against violent crime, upholding the death sentence for Doubt Mathe, a Gokwe armed robber, convicted of murdering a security guard during a 2008 robbery.
Mathe’s appeal, seeking either acquittal or a commutation of his sentence to 10 years in prison, was rejected by the Supreme Court, leaving the convicted man facing the ultimate penalty.
The case stems from a brutal attack on Taurai Mache, a 24-year-old security guard stationed at Grafax Cotton Company offices in Gokwe. On June 15, 2008, Mathe and his accomplices, one now deceased and another still at large, entered Mache’s house and launched a vicious assault, using a hoe handle to inflict fatal injuries.
While Mathe was acquitted of robbery, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by the High Court. The Supreme Court, comprised of Justices Tendai Uchena, Samuel Kudya, and Felistas Chitakunye, upheld the death sentence, citing the presence of aggravating circumstances.
“It is clear that the determination of aggravating circumstances is independent of whether the accused was convicted of another offense,” the court stated in its ruling. “The appellant [Mathe] and his accomplices unlawfully entered Winnie Sigwala’s house and severely assaulted the deceased. Although Mathe was acquitted of robbery, a conviction for that crime was not necessary for the imposition of the death penalty.”
The court further ruled that Mathe did not experience double jeopardy, as his sentence was not contingent on a separate conviction. The judges commended the High Court for its adherence to the law in sentencing Mathe to death.
However, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, the execution of the death sentence remains uncertain. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has been a vocal opponent of capital punishment throughout his career, has consistently stated that he will not sign any death warrants.
“Fortunately, my signature as justice minister is required for them to be hanged and I am not giving it. That is why execution has not been done,” Mnangagwa stated in 2014, while serving as Justice Minister. He has repeatedly cited his own experience as a teenager sentenced to death by the Ian Smith regime in 1965 for bombing a train during the liberation struggle. Though spared due to his age, Mnangagwa has spoken about the mental torture he endured during that time.
“The death penalty brings utter hopelessness and I remember the mental torture I experienced upon receiving the sentence in 1965. I was fortunate that I was saved by the age technicality (since the law prohibited capital punishment for persons below 18). For me, it does not matter where I am, I will always speak against the death penalty,” Mnangagwa said in 2013.
Earlier this year, Mnangagwa’s Cabinet agreed to back a move in Parliament to abolish the death penalty, a punishment that was last used in Zimbabwe nearly 20 years ago.
Zimbabwe has used hanging as its means of execution, but hasn’t hanged anyone since 2005, partly because no one has been willing to take up the job of state executioner — or hangman — for years. In 2022, Zimbabwe’s Sunday Mail newspaper reported that several people did apply for the role, including two women. No one was hired.
Zimbabwe is one of more than a dozen countries in Africa and more than 50 across the world that have the death penalty enshrined in law without any moratorium on it. However, the country’s current political climate and the President’s strong stance against capital punishment suggest that even with the Supreme Court’s ruling, Mathe’s fate may ultimately be determined by factors beyond the legal system.
