By Takudziridzwa Nyama
The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe has commuted the death sentences of Tafadzwa Shamba and Tapiwa Makore, convicted of murdering 7-year-old Tapiwa Makore (Junior) in 2023, to life imprisonment.
The court’s decision on May 12, 2025, followed the abolition of the death penalty in Zimbabwe.
The young victim shared the same name as his uncle, the second offender.
The crime came to light when the boy went missing on September 17, 2020. Despite an immediate search by his parents and villagers in Makore village, Murewa, their efforts were unsuccessful.
Tapiwa Makore’s mutilated body was discovered at a villager’s premises, with the head, hands, and legs severed, being dragged by dogs.
This discovery suggested the boy had been killed for ritual purposes. Several of his missing limbs were later found in various locations, including a disused village pit latrine.
Following their conviction for murder in 2023, Shamba and Makore had an automatic right of appeal to the Supreme Court.
However, before the appeal could be heard, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed the Death Penalty Abolition Bill into law on December 31, 2024, after it was passed by the Senate on December 12, 2024, thereby preventing the Supreme Court from confirming the death sentence handed down by the High Court.