South Africa
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Under white minority rule, the apartheid-era National...
- News items in the archive
- 202
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
South Africa is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 202 news items on South Africa, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- FEBRUARY 13, 2001South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
South African Head of Communication in the Foreign...
South African Head of Communication in the Foreign Affairs Unit Ronnie Mamoepa, said that President Thabo Mbeki after being approached by the family of death row inmate Marietta Bosch, "is applying his mind and will and when necessary take the right steps
- FEBRUARY 11, 2001South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
President Mbeki would consider a request by the South...
President Mbeki would consider a request by the South African Human Rights Commission to intervene on behalf of South African Mariette Bosch, who is on death row [for murder] in Botswana, presidential aide Bheki Khumalo said
- FEBRUARY 2, 2001South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Jody Kollapen, commissioner of the South African Human...
Jody Kollapen, commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission, said that calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty were futile from a legal and political point of view, nor was such a penalty a proven solution to crime
- FEBRUARY 1, 2001South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
The South African Prisoners' Organisation for Human...
The South African Prisoners' Organisation for Human Rights send a letter with an appeal to Botswana President Mogae, to commute the death penalty imposed on Mariette Bosch to life imprisonment
- JANUARY 29, 2001South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
January 29, 20001: about 100 white farmers accompanied...
January 29, 20001: about 100 white farmers accompanied by their children protested outside the Koster Magistrate's Court in the North West where Lazarus Raseroka and Daphnie Mogaswane, two men who allegedly killed a farmer were appearing
- JANUARY 1, 2001South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Under white minority rule, the apartheid-era National...
Under white minority rule, the apartheid-era National Party, the New National Party's (NNP) predecessor, executed an average of about 100 people a year in the 1980s, peaking at 187 in 1987 when 21 people were hanged in a single week at Pretoria's notoriou
- DECEMBER 14, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
The Cape High Court ordered the ministries of justice,...
The Cape High Court ordered the ministries of justice, home affairs, foreign affairs and the national directorate for public prosecutions to furnish alleged Tanzanian bomber Khalfan Khamis Mohamed with all that he needed relating to his alleged unlawful a
- NOVEMBER 26, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Farmers' leaders requested a meeting with President...
Farmers' leaders requested a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki to convey the findings a memorandum and discuss urgent steps to stop the attacks on farmers
- NOVEMBER 18, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Municipal police forces were the answer to the current...
Municipal police forces were the answer to the current spate of attacks on South African farms, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said
- NOVEMBER 15, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Thousands of people from Klerksdorp, Nigel and Carletonville...
Thousands of people from Klerksdorp, Nigel and Carletonville marched in Pretoria from Church Square to the Union Buildings to protest against crime
- NOVEMBER 5, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Parliament gave the go-ahead for South Africa to conclude...
Parliament gave the go-ahead for South Africa to conclude revamped extradition and anti-crime treaties with the United States geared to swifter action against international crime syndicates and money laundering
- OCTOBER 2, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Dullah Omar, architect of the amnesty process came...
Dullah Omar, architect of the amnesty process came face to face with Ferdi Barnard, the apartheid assassin who tried to gun him down in 1989
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Hundreds of black protesters gathered at the court,...
Hundreds of black protesters gathered at the court, hoping to catch a glimpse of Pieter Odendaal, 44, a white South African accused of tying a black employee to the back of his pick-up truck and then dragging him five kilometres to his death
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Chinese and Taiwanese residents in Newcastle in northern...
Chinese and Taiwanese residents in Newcastle in northern KwaZulu-Natal took to the streets to protest against the murder of local Taiwanese businessman Shin-Chih Liao, who was shot dead at a factory in Field Street
- AUGUST 24, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Jonny Steinberg, an opponent of capital punishment...
Jonny Steinberg, an opponent of capital punishment and a consultant at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation wrote about capital punishment in South Africa
- JULY 28, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Piers Pigou, a representative of the Community Agency...
Piers Pigou, a representative of the Community Agency for Social Enquiry, spoke at a conference on crime and human rights at the University of the Western Cape
- JUNE 20, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
President Thabo Mbeki and several South African political...
President Thabo Mbeki and several South African political parties expressed their sorrow at news of the death of Chief Justice Ismail Mohamed
- MAY 30, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
On May 30, 2000, Parliament ratified the African Charter...
On May 30, 2000, Parliament ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
- MAY 30, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
The New National Party (NNP) leader, Marthinus van...
The New National Party (NNP) leader, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, stated that "A crackdown on rapists and child abusers in South Africa is long overdue
- MAY 2, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Themba Makwanyane and Mvuso Mchunu, who were sentenced...
Themba Makwanyane and Mvuso Mchunu, who were sentenced to death in 1992, had their penalties commuted to life imprisonment in the Appeal Court in Bloemfontein
- APRIL 26, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Anglican Church archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane criticised...
Anglican Church archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane criticised community leaders calling for the return of the death penalty
- APRIL 24, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
South Africa was one of three African countries that...
South Africa was one of three African countries that co-sponsored the resolution at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to universally abolish the death penalty
- APRIL 14, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
A survey showed that the public believed crime had...
A survey showed that the public believed crime had risen since 1994, while justice system had deteriorated
- MARCH 31, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
An angry crowd tried to storm a court where three men...
An angry crowd tried to storm a court where three men faced charges over a night-club teargas attack that led to the death of 13 school children
- MARCH 27, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
The Pretoria High Court sentenced Farao Ramaposha,...
The Pretoria High Court sentenced Farao Ramaposha, a 20-year-old gardener from Zimbabwe, to 25 years in prison for stabbing a Laudium mother of three to death in August 1998
- MARCH 24, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
At its annual congress in Centurion, the right-wing...
At its annual congress in Centurion, the right-wing Herstigte Nasionale Party said that the death penalty would be reinstated and carried out in public under an Afrikaner government
- MARCH 15, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Cedric Maake, a serial killer convicted of 27 murders,...
Cedric Maake, a serial killer convicted of 27 murders, 14 rapes and robbery was sentenced to 1,340 years in prison by the Johannesburg High Court
- MARCH 6, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Graham MacIntosh, a KwaZulu-Natal MP, recommended that...
Graham MacIntosh, a KwaZulu-Natal MP, recommended that the party's federal council call on government to establish a commission to investigate the re-imposition of the death penalty
- MARCH 1, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Centurion psychiatrist Omar Sabadia lost his appeal...
Centurion psychiatrist Omar Sabadia lost his appeal against his effective 50-year jail term, which he was serving for the 1996 kidnapping and murder of his wife, Zahida Sabadia
- FEBRUARY 24, 2000South AfricaDEATH PENALTY
Dozens of people moved to the command centre where...
Dozens of people moved to the command centre where Johnny Jooste was being held and called for his execution