This comes at a time when 55 murderers, one of whom was convicted 13-years-ago, are in prison awaiting execution, Zimbabwe's Herald Online reported on Thursday.

Acting Secretary for Justice and Legal Affairs Maxwell Ranga said relevant documents for the execution of the murderers had been sent to Cabinet for approval, but Cabinet was yet to act on them.

Ranga suggested that Cabinet could be waiting for the completion of the constitution-making process before acting on the papers.

Addressing a court-reporting workshop in Harare, former Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele described the death penalty as irrational and extreme and should be scrapped.

"In Zimbabwe, we should do away with that kind of sentencing. At least life imprisonment would be reasonable. The penalty is imposed by human beings who also make mistakes. In a case of wrong conviction, one is executed and even if the truth is later discovered, the penalty cannot be reversed."

Constitutional lawyer and chairman of the Department of Public Law at the University of Zimbabwe Professor Lovemore Madhuku, described the death penalty as an old method of punishment that failed to deter would-be murderers.

The Roman Catholic Church condemned the death penalty, saying it was against their teachings.

Secretary-general for the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Council, Fredrick Chiromba, said: "As the Catholic Church, we respect human life as sacred. Life is in God's hands and no one can determine someone's death."

It was suggested that the death penalty be replaced with life imprisonment.

By The Times (SA)