Source: 12 death row inmates resentenced | The Sunday Mail
Nyore Madzianike
TWELVE former death row inmates, including individuals convicted of brutal and high-profile murders, have been resentenced by the High Court following Zimbabwe’s historic abolition of capital punishment.
The latest rulings are part of a broader judicial review affecting 39 prisoners, whose sentences are being reconsidered under the new legal framework.
Among those resentenced is Bernard Mazhandu Mucheka, a Harare man who killed his ex-girlfriend and her three daughters by setting them on fire in a revenge attack.
Mucheka was originally sentenced to death in 2023, but will now serve four life sentences for the murders and four additional counts of attempted murder.
The tragic events unfolded in April 2013 in Epworth.
After being dumped by Lorraine Mtetwa (40), who ended their relationship upon discovering he was married, Mucheka vowed to “fix” her.
On the night of April 20, he went to her home with five litres of petrol, broke a bedroom window and doused the room where Mtetwa and her children were sleeping.
He set it ablaze, injuring multiple people in the process.
Mtetwa died three days later at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital.
Her daughters — Colleta Gohodza (17), Shamiso (16) and Rutendo Mukarati (12) — succumbed to their injuries within days.
Visitors who were at the house during the attack also sustained injuries, leading to additional charges of attempted murder.
Another resentenced inmate is Bernard Chivenga, a teacher who raped his 14-year-old learner and later murdered her while out on bail in an effort to destroy evidence.
He was resentenced to life in prison by Justice Happias Zhou.
In Midlands province, siblings Freddy Dube and Thinkwell Moyo, who were convicted of killing a taxi driver in Bulawayo and a shop owner in Inyathi in April 2018 before stealing goods worth over US$6 000, were each given one life sentence.
Justice Nicholas Mathonsi also resentenced Garikai Zvawanda Tabarinda of Old Ascot, Gweru, to 30 years in prison for the double murder of his ex-girlfriend, Nancy Sibanda, and her cousin Cynthia Hlabangana.
Tabarinda had hired co-accused Itai Manyoka to drive him to the victims’ residence, where he set their bedroom on fire using nine litres of petrol.
Both women sustained severe burns — Sibanda suffered 60 percent burns, while Hlabangana had 55 percent — and died two days later.
Manyoka, who remained in the getaway vehicle, was convicted as an accessory to murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Other death row inmates resentenced include: Themba Moyo (28 years); Emmanuel Mapfumo (30 years); and Patrick Mutikiti (35 years).
According to the Judicial Service Commission, the High Court has so far completed 12 out of the 39 resentencing cases.
Twenty-seven are pending.
Zimbabwe took a historic step in 2024 by abolishing the death penalty, becoming one of the latest African countries to move away from capital punishment.
The death penalty had long been part of Zimbabwe’s legal framework, although executions had not been carried out since 2005, effectively making the country abolitionist in practice.
However, courts continued to hand down death sentences, leaving many inmates on death row for years in legal limbo.
The abolition followed extensive consultations and advocacy from civil society, legal experts and international human rights organisations.
It also aligned with President Mnangagwa’s long-standing opposition to the death penalty, having once been on death row himself during the liberation struggle.
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