A quiet life on death row

In a country where most people have no job, and those who do are rarely paid, you would expect a horde of applicants for an occasional position that requires only basic skills and pays US$3,500 a go, plus a nice house to live in and a Lexus to drive.

But the job's been vacant for 12 years. Finally the government has given up searching for an applicant at home, and has gone abroad to find someone. And its search has been successful.

From this week, Mr Jonas Chilembe, 34, of Zambia, is the official Zimbabwean State Executioner.

Mr. Chilembe will not find himself that busy. There are only seven condemned men on our death row at present, even though no-one has been executed here since 1995.