26 Years Since Death Penalty Abolished In SA

Sunday, 6 June 2021, marks 26-years since the Constitutional Court ruled against the death penalty.

It followed a five-year moratorium.

Between 1959 and 1989, almost 3,000 people were executed by hanging in South Africa.

Many of them were political prisoners, like Solomon Mahlangu.

Others were murderers, such as the last man put to death in South Africa, Solomon Ngobeni.

The decision to scrap the penalty was unanimous among the 10 judges, who gave different reasons for it to be done away with.

The high incidence of crimes against women has more recently prompted calls to bring back the punishment.