South Africa has been criticised for not taking a stronger stand against executions
Roshila Pillay
The South African government will not intervene to save South African Mariette Sonjaleen Bosch from the gallows.
However, the Cape High Court is considering an application by Tanzanian national Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, the man allegedly responsible for the bomb that destroyed the United States embassy in Dar es Salaam three years ago, to save him from death row.
Mohamed’s lawyers brought an urgent application to the court asking to have the terms of his extradition modified to ensure that he is not executed. The argument is that South Africa was bound by its Constitution to make it a condition of his extradition that Mohammed not be sentenced to death and failed to do so.
In Botswana Bosch awaits her fate. Her appeal against conviction for murder failed and she will now be hung for her crime shooting her best friend and then marrying the dead woman’s husband.
To date the South African government’s involvement in the case, other than the assistance provided through the South African consulate in Botswana, has been purely as a spectator. The government’s stance has its roots in the principle of respect for another state’s sovereignty.
“South African prisoners held in other countries are provided for by the consulate services and this is the only service we offer,” explains Robert McBride, head of operation services in the Department of Foreign Affairs. These services include aiding the prisoner to communicate with her family and ensuring a fair trial.
On the night of June 26 1996, Bosch shot Ria Wolmarans twice in the head so that she could marry Tienie Wolmarans.
Judge Isaac Aboagye sentenced her to death after finding the evidence against her overwhelming.
After her appeal failed despite hiring British barrister Desmond de Silva, QC, renowned for saving prisoners from the gallows Bosch’s only hope now is an appeal for clemency to Botswana’s President Festus Mogae.
The South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights has attempted to help Bosch by penning an urgent letter to Mogae, pleading with his government to reverse the death penalty imposed on Bosch.
“This is not the South African government’s tradition all governments in the world have the same principle of non-interference in another country’s sovereignty. It is an international convention,” says McBride.
Lawyers for Human Rights national director Dr Vinodh Jaichand insists the South African government could have put in a lot more effort on the quiet diplomacy side.
“[Lawyers for Human Rights] has always taken the stance that abolition of the death penalty is in keeping with both the international norms and a necessary requirement for our criminal justice system with regard to punishment,” says Jaichand.
Jaichand says the government should not be prescriptive of neighbouring countries’ criminal justice systems, but adds that countries like Botswana should consider the emerging international norm on the anti-death penalty issue.
Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa’s execution in 1995 for ordering the deaths of four chiefs drew sharp criticism from the international community. His hanging, on the day the Commonwealth Conference opened in New Zealand, was slammed by then-president Nelson Mandela.
South Africa abolished the death penalty in 1995 on grounds that it was unconstitutional. Jody Kollapen, a commissioner for the South African Human Rights Commission, says: “Since South Africa has abolished the death penalty and is confronted with the prospect of a South African citizen facing the death penalty in another country, the government can make an appeal for clemency on humani-tarian grounds.”
Shirley Mabusela, Human Rights Commission deputy chair, agrees: “I would imagine South Africa could encourage other countries to review their position on the death penalty despite the importance of its relationships at diplomatic level.”
Samkelo Mokhine, press officer for Amnesty International South Africa, adds that the abolition of the death penalty in South Africa makes it all the more important for the country to intervene. “One would expect for South Africa to ask that the sentence be commuted to a life sentence.”
When 17-year-old South African Azi Kambule was sentenced to death in 1996 in Mississippi, then archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote a letter to the state’s district attorney appealing for his human rights to be upheld and protected on the grounds that he was a minor.
Kambule had been found guilty of being an accessory to a murder committed by an acquaintance who turned state witness and was given a life sentence. The South African government did nothing for Kambule.
In 1997 Kambule successfully appealed against his sentence and is now serving a 35-year sentence without possibility of parole.