Hangman or ‘hangwoman’? Dozens apply for job as Zim executioner




Spread the love

Harare – More than 50 people, including women, have applied for the post of hangman in Zimbabwe, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The post has been vacant for years, amid reports that former justice minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa was reluctant to have it filled because of his opposition to the death penalty.

“People are very interested [in the job],” a top official in the justice ministry, Virginia Mabhiza, told NewsDay.

“The response has been overwhelming and the applications have been from both men and women interested in taking up the position of hangman. We have received over 50 applications in the past few months,” she told the paper.

Zimbabwe hasn’t hanged anyone in 12 years, and in 2013 it adopted a new constitution that outlaws the death penalty for women, and for men who were aged below 21 or over 70 at the time they committed their crime.

Nevertheless, more than 90 people remain on death row.

“It’s a horrible job. I wonder what kind of a CV do you hand in,” asked @ThatZimbabwean_ on Twitter.

Quipped @shonatiger: “Obvs we need a woman ‘hangman’. A hangwoman.”