HARARE, Aug. 17 (NewsDay Live) — Zimbabwe is moving to operationalise its coronial system nearly two years after the Coroner’s Office Act came into force, with the Justice Ministry convening a week-long workshop to finalise regulations governing investigations into unnatural and suspicious deaths.
The write-shop, underway at Ochi Safari Conference in Domboshava, brings together legal drafters, forensic pathologists, investigators, prosecutors and policy specialists to refine draft regulations governing the day-to-day operations of the Coroner’s Office.
Permanent Secretary Vimbai Nyemba said the regulations should ensure investigations are conducted with care, professionalism and impartiality while protecting the rights of affected parties and preserving the dignity of the deceased and grieving families.
Zimbabwe formally moved from the former Inquests Act to the modern coronial system established under the Coroner’s Office Act, which came into operation in September 2024 after being passed by Parliament in 2019.
Under the Act, officers in charge of prisons, police stations and health institutions are required to report and record sudden or unexplained deaths. Tampering with records or failure to comply can attract a prison sentence of up to five years, while medical practitioners who refuse to conduct post-mortems when directed by a coroner face up to six months in prison.
However, Nyemba said legislation alone was insufficient to make the system effective.
She said the regulations should provide practical procedures for the mandatory notification of reportable deaths within prescribed timeframes, preservation of death scenes and maintenance of a secure chain of custody for forensic evidence.
The framework should also strengthen coordination among the Zimbabwe Republic Police, health institutions, forensic pathologists, the National Prosecuting Authority and the judiciary, including clearly defining how responsibility for cases moves between the institutions.
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Acting Coroner General Dr Innocent Zimbwa, who was appointed in April 2025, said effective coronial investigations require the integration of medicine, forensic science, investigation and law to produce credible, evidence-based findings.
He described the Coroner’s Office as a young institution whose operational systems and standards would depend heavily on the regulations being developed, urging participants to test the proposed provisions against conditions on the ground.
Zimbwa said comparative research had shown that Zimbabwe could not simply replicate coronial systems from other jurisdictions, but needed to adapt international standards to its constitutional and institutional environment.
The regulations will cover the notification and reporting of deaths, handling of bodies, custody of forensic evidence, records management and the conduct of inquests.
They are also expected to preserve the inquisitorial nature of coronial proceedings, allowing coroners to independently establish the circumstances surrounding a death rather than adopting the adversarial approach used in ordinary court proceedings.
Officials said the broader objective was to establish a coronial system capable of providing accurate and impartial answers to families and the public, particularly in cases involving deaths in police custody, prisons or health institutions.
The regulations are expected to provide the operational foundation for a more coordinated and credible investigation of deaths requiring official inquiry.
