What is the Death Penalty?
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned practice of killing a person as a punishment for a crime, usually following an authorized
What Is the Death Penalty In South Africa?
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.
Why was the death penalty declared unconstitutional in South Africa?
The death penalty was declared unconstitutional by the South African Constitutional Court in S v Makwanyane & Another 1995 3 SA 391 (CC)
because it infringed against the so-called ‘interim’ Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 200 of 1993.
When was the last person executed in South Africa?
The last execution carried out by the South African government was the hanging of Solomon Ngobeni in November 1989.
The last woman executed was Sandra Smith on June 2 of the same year along with her boyfriend Yassiem Harris, in all cases following an aggravated murder conviction.