The SA Human Rights Commission released its report...

The SA Human Rights Commission released its report on prisoners still on death row despite the abolition of the death penalty seven years ago. Following complaints of undue delays in death row prisoners' applications to have their sentences commuted, the Constitutional Court Registrar approached the SAHRC to investigate and make recommendations on the causes how the process could be speeded up. According to the SAHRC's findings a total of 133 cases are still outstanding, with inmates still reflected as awaiting a date with the hangman. In terms of the courts where the guilty had been sentenced, Gauteng province has the highest number with 47, followed by KwaZulu-Natal 33, Eastern Cape 17, Free State 16, Western Cape 11, Northern Province (6) and North West 3. According to the commission, official records indicated that 430 inmates had been listed as awaiting execution at the time of the Constitutional Court judgment (in 1995 n.d.r.) , and a large number of them were unaware of the changed circumstances. One of the leading reasons for the slow pace is the "intricacy" of the procedure and the fact that it involves quite a number of roleplayers who each have to perform in order for the process to move forward, the report says.