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Thread: South Africa

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    South Africa

    Gallows to be restored

    Pretoria - After leaving their families behind, following a brief service in the chapel, the 140 political prisoners sentenced to be hanged at the Pretoria Central Prison, got ready to take their "final walk" - 52 steps to the gallows.

    The freedom songs, sung by them, in defiance of the oppressive system, as they clumsily shuffled up the 52 steps, can still be heard as eerie whispers along the narrow path, if you concentrate hard enough. One cannot help but wonder what the last thoughts of the prisoners were as they climbed the 52 steps - one by one - each one taking them closer to their inevitable end.

    Who would have thought that any good could be turned out of something that was once a hellish nightmare?

    When the South African Constitutional Court voted unanimously for the abolishment of the death penalty in June 1996 the gallows and cells used for executing those given the death penalty were destroyed.

    It was thought the building would be locked and the key thrown away forever - becoming a beacon of the pain and torture the prisoners, their loved ones - as well as the prison guards - experienced during those years.

    But the Minister of Correctional Services, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, has ordered that the gallows be restored and opened to the public as a museum, in a move aimed at not only preserving the history of the country for future generations but also giving families the chance to make peace with the past.

    Sibongile Khumalo, Head of Communications at the department said the gallows had been seen as a weapon of terror, used against thousands of working people in South Africa by the apartheid regime.

    "As a result, Minister Mapisa-Nqakula believes they should be revamped because they are an important part of the history of this nation."

    "This section of the correction centre will become a museum, which will assist to teach many generations to come about the history of this country and the sacrifices that were made by many who lost their lives for the liberation of our country."

    The museum, which is currently under construction, is expected to be launched on 8 December by President Jacob Zuma along with the minister.

    It will include the death row cells, the chapel, the famed last "52 steps", the gallows itself as well as the mortuary rooms below.

    The 140 political prisoners are among the thousands who were hanged at the prison. Some of them include Solomon Mahlangu, Vuyisile Mini, Zinakile Mkaba, Khuzwayo Joe Mlangeni and Msayineke D. Khuzwayo.

    Visiting the building and recounting the steps of these freedom fighters who were sentenced to be hanged will be a lingering experience for any South African, once it is opened as a museum.

    At the landing at the top of the stairs, the prisoners were asked to say their final words before a cloth hood was shoved over their heads, before being led to the gallows.

    In this small room, a telephone stands daringly to the left - a life line - in case a reprieve was granted at the last minute. To the right - four small windows with grey steel bars and a cupboard.

    In the middle of the cement floor is a wooden trap door, above it, the seven steel loops with nooses tied to it. At the time, there were footprints stencilled on the wooden platform indicating where the prisoners would have to stand. Seven prisoners could be hanged at a time; seven lives taken at one go.

    A guard would put the noose around their neck and pull down the hood. The final moment arrives and the lever is coldly pulled.

    On the other side of the room, stairs lead to a downstairs area where the prisoners were declared dead, cleaned up and stored in fridges until the mortuary van arrived for collection.

    Many of them were buried in one of the four cemeteries used by the prisons at the time. They were given a pauper's burial.

    "[The restoration of the gallows] is aimed at honouring heroes and heroines who died fighting for humanity and freedom, as well as symbolic of the contribution by department to the new South African identity of a nation that triumphed over the repressive system," said Khumalo.

    The department is also expected to launch a campaign requesting those who know that their families were executed at the gallows to come forward to tell their story.

    "As a token of our appreciation and gratitude, the families of these fallen fighters must know that their fathers, brothers, relatives, sons and daughters did not die in vain. We owe our freedom to people like Tata Vuyisile Mini, Solomon Mahlangu and many others who died in the struggle for our freedom and democracy," said Khumalo.

    A toll-free number will be set up whereby families can call and submit the names of their loved-ones who died in the shadows of that once notorious Pretoria prison gallows.

    "Ultimately, the aim of restoring the gallows in correctional centres is to foster social cohesion among South Africans by acknowledging defining moments, people and places in the country's historical struggle for democracy and equality.

    "Reclaiming our cultural and historical identity and celebrating the triumph of the human spirit over all evil system that characterised previous regimes are central to the Department's campaign to restore all gallows in our correctional centres," she said.

    http://www.buanews.gov.za/news/11/11110115451001

  2. #2
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    Former chamber of death opens to public

    On November 7 1989 warders on Pretoria Central Prison's death row shouted the eerie "baadjies en adres" call for the very last time.


    The gallows at Pretoria Central Prison, which has been out of use since 1989. This was South Africa's last execution chamber. Today, President Jacob Zuma will officially open the first phase of South Africa's Gallows

    The dreaded call was a signal that the sheriff of the high court had arrived at the prison with warrants of execution. Prisoners for whom the warrants were intended would be hanged in seven days.

    "Baadjies en adres", literally "jacket and address", meant the prisoners should bring their personal belongings and two addresses to which the belongings should be sent after their execution.

    On that fateful November day, prisoners knew that death was sure and certain. What they didn't know was that the curtains would be falling on the death penalty, and that Solomon Ngobeni would be the very last person to hang in South Africa.

    Warders made their way to Ngobeni, whose crime is not recorded but who was not a political prisoner, and took him to the "feedback room" where a sheriff and the prison head informed him that his appeal had failed.

    Following the meeting, which lasted barely 15 minutes, the condemned man was weighed and his height measured so the hangman could prepare the right size and length of rope.

    Ngobeni was hanged on November 14.

    Three months later, in February 1990, then president FW de Klerk placed a moratorium on all executions. Five years after that, capital punishment was abolished.

    The death row, built in 1966, saw the execution of more than 3500 people, of which at least 134 were political prisoners.

    In 1996, the gallows fell into disrepair and were dismantled.

    More than 20 years after Ngobeni's execution, South Africans will get the opportunity to relive its horrors.

    Today, President Jacob Zuma will officially open the first phase of South Africa's Gallows Memorial, a project conceived by Correctional Service Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.

    Visitors will be able to walk the 52 steps of the four-storey staircase to the death chamber.

    Each landing will feature a short biography of the lives of political prisoners hanged there, including the African Resistance Movement's John Harris, hanged in 1965, Zibongile Dodo, hanged in 1968, Vuyisile Mini, hanged in 1964 and Solomon Mahlangu, executed in 1978.

    In the death chamber, a rack is suspended from the ceiling and fitted with seven nooses. Under the rack is a trap-door with seven pairs of painted foot soles, reserved for the maximum number of inmates who could be hanged at once.

    Next to the door is a phone that never rang - meant for last-minute acquittals, pardons and amnesty. The chamber's walls now bear plaques with the names of the 134 political prisoners who were executed there. The youngest was 18. The oldest, 70.

    The hangman would double-check, for the last time, the identity of the prisoner. Hoods were placed over their heads, they were walked to the trap-door and nooses were placed around their necks.

    The hangman would pull the lever and the condemned would fall three storeys down to a "catchment area". They would hang there until the prison doctor declared them dead.

    Families were not allowed to see the corpses. The final journey was to the prison grave site, where they were buried according to race.

    http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/201...pens-to-public

  3. #3
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    South Africa: Zuma says "no" to death penalty

    South African President Zuma was asked during question time in the National Assembly whether he would consider establishing a judicial commission to probe whether giving the high courts the freedom, after due legal process, to impose the death penalty for murder.

    A clearly surprised Zuma responded: "Did I hear the honourable member [say] the freedom to sentence people to death? Is that what he's saying? I don't think I'll take a decision and establish a judicial commission of inquiry on that issue. I will not.

    "This is a decision that was taken by the Constitutional Court. And it is left like that, I won't do it. Absolutely, very clear," he said.

    http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com...-to-death.html
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  4. #4
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Capital punishment in South Africa was abolished on 6 June 1995 by the ruling of the Constitutional Court in the case of S v Makwanyane, following a five-year and four-month moratorium since February 1990.[1]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capita...n_South_Africa
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  5. #5
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    Calls for return of death penalty amid rising crime

    Pretoria News

    THE latest crime statistics have raised concern throughout the country, with some calling for a parliamentary debate on the reinstatement of the death penalty.

    On Tuesday, the Police Ministry released crime statistics which showed an increase in various offences, including murder and rape. Hijackings dropped slightly. However, the ministry insisted the country hadn’t reached a state of lawlessness.

    Lizette Lancaster of the Institute for Security Studies said although the murder rate was alarming, the police were not solely responsible.

    A lot of the murders were driven by social fabric-type crimes, she said. “These are arguments in private spaces that go wrong, assaults that go too far, and police can’t be there.

    “Violence has become so much part of our DNA that it is hard to keep a 24-hour eye on it. We first need to denormalise violence before we point fingers at the police."

    Police Minister Bheki Cele also blamed the escalated crime rate on the lack of police officers. He said the police were 10000 officers down compared to 2010. “This creates lack of police visibility.” In the same breath he warned officers that they were “dropping the ball”.

    In the capital, Pretoria Central, Sunnyside, Brooklyn and Mamelodi East police stations were the busiest in the country between April 2017 and March 2018.

    Executive mayor Solly Msimanga said residents had lost faith in the police. They claimed that they reported crime incidents but the police were apathetic and not doing enough to keep the people safe, especially women and children.

    He said the SAPS was under- resourced, under-trained, under-equipped and understaffed, and losing the battle to keep South Africans safe.

    “Funding to make sure we have a professional and effective police service is available. However, the ANC has chosen to allocate R9.1million to protect each VIP rather than increase what they spend to keep ordinary South Africans safe,” he said.

    AfriForum also weighed in, especially with the 62 farm murders, saying the only way to curb crime was to restructure the entire SAPS and put measures in place to get the National Prosecuting Authority to a standard where criminals could be prosecuted effectively.

    “Trust in the ability of the country’s law enforcers to fight crime is injured year after year thanks to the high level of serious crimes."

    The ANC said the latest crime statistics painted a worrying picture of a continual rise in contact crime. The party’s parliamentary caucus said it appreciated the police’s efforts to fight crime, but the upward trend in the murder rate was of grave concern.

    The ANC said provinces with the highest population figures, such as Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, continued to be the most unsafe.

    https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/...crime-17064838
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
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    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
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    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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  6. #6
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    ‘SA has become a war zone’

    Pretoria News

    MPs and parties have been shocked by the increase in the murder rate in the country with calls for the police to jack up its systems.

    Police Minister Bheki Cele also warned his top officials in the police yesterday that they face being fired if the situation does not improve in a year.

    Members of parties in the portfolio committee on police said they were shocked at the spiralling crime rate and that the police were not fixing their own house.

    Cele said murders had increased from 19000 to 20000, which is a 6.9% increase.

    The head of crime statistics in the police, Norman Sekhukhune, said the number of murders had increased for the sixth year in a row.

    Sexual offences increased from 49000 in the 2016/17 financial year to 50000 this year.

    Rapes increased from 39825 to 40035 this year.

    Cash-in-transit heists increased by 56.6% - from 162 cases to 238.

    The ANC caucus in Parliament said it was concerned by the increase in crime.

    The IFP said the increase in violent crime and murders was an indication that South Africa needed the death penalty. IFP chief whip Narend Singh described the statistics as chilling.

    He said it was of concern that Cele had informed the nation that the “murder rate borders on a war zone”.

    ANC Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu said the police must jack up their systems.

    “While we appreciate the SAPS’ continued efforts to fight crime, the upward trajectory in the murder rate, which has increased by 6.9%, is a matter of grave concern.

    “This translates to a shocking 57 people being murdered every day,” said Mthembu.

    Chairperson of the portfolio committee Francois Beukman said a new approach was needed to clamp down on crime.

    “What is important is that the murder increase of 6.9% is alarming and unacceptable. We need strategic interventions. It is clear from the statistics we need specialised units,” said Beukman.

    Zakhele Mbhele of the DA said the police were facing a shrinking budget and fewer members on the ground.

    He said it was ironic that police spent R9.1million to protect one VIP and R1500 for every citizen.

    But Cele denied this, saying the VIP unit is under-funded and most of the houses of ministers are not protected.

    He said he gets calls from ministers about this issue all the time.

    Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald said it was of concern that there has been an increase in the murder rate over the past six years.

    He said violent crime had taken hold of South Africa. This was unacceptable.

    Cele said the last time police had the edge on rampant crime was in 2011 when the number of murders was about 15000, but it had been a downward spiral since.

    The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union also slammed the high crime rate, saying it was unacceptable that the murder rate was on the rise.

    It said the fact that there has been an increase of 6.9% in murders showed there were many firearms in the hands of criminals in the country.

    https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/...-zone-17023199
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #7
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    Cabinet will discuss calls for return of death penalty

    Justice minister Ronald Lamola has promised to take calls for a referendum for the return of the death sentence to the cabinet.

    The calls have been made amid the background of rising violence against women in the country, particularly in the wake of the brutal rape and murder of student Uyinene Mrwetyana, which brought the question of gender-based violence and femicide back into the spotlight.

    Lamola and minister for women in the presidency Maite Nkoana-Mashabane were addressing the media on Tuesday.

    Lamola said he could not decide alone whether or not to bring back the death penalty, but that all he could do was to take the matter to cabinet for discussion - and then for approval or disapproval.

    “Whether we are open to referendum or not, at this stage I cannot say... It is something we can take further as a discussion to the cabinet,” said Lamola.

    https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/s...ronald-lamola/
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    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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