The justice ministry said on Wednesday it will comply with a Constitutional Court order that death-row prisoners receive alternative sentences as soon as possible.
Welcoming the judgment, it said it will liaise with all the relevant institutions to expedite the process.
The Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that prisoners still on death row should have their death sentences set aside and replaced as soon as possible, with August 15 the deadline for a progress report to the court.
There is no need for another trial as the prisoners were already tried and sentenced in an open court.
Concerns that the substitution will not be done in an open hearing with opportunity to present argument were noted, but the court felt that circumstances taken into account when determining a sentence would have been led during the trial.
The decision of the president, who is part of the process, is also subject to judicial control and review.
The court also found that there is no separation-of-powers conflict because the president is obliged to carry out what a judge advises, and he does not set the sentences himself.
”The process is sufficiently fair to cater for the exceptional circumstances of the case,” the judgement read.
A moratorium was placed on the death sentence in 1989. On June 5 1995, it was declared unconstitutional with the order that death sentences be substituted with appropriate alternative sentences.
When four death-row prisoners — Willy Sibiya, Purpose Khumalo, Jacobus Geldenhuys and David Nkuna — applied to the court in March regarding their resentencing, there were still 62 people waiting to have their sentences changed.
”The process of substitution of sentence generally has not been satisfactory and has taken far too long,” said Judge Zak Yacoob, reading a unanimous judgement.
The justice ministry said that while it acknowledges that there was a delay in finalising the process, it has already ordered an audit of the people on death row since the 1995 judgement.
So far, 59 cases are still pending.
According to the South African Human Rights Commission, 430 people were facing the death sentence when it was abolished in 1995.
The Democratic Alliance said it is ”outrageous” that 10 years after the 1995 decision, there are still prisoners on death row whose sentencing has not been dealt with.
”The Constitutional Court was quite right in calling the government to order and insisting on a progress report by mid-August. Assurances given by the justice department to Parliament at the time the 1997 legislation was passed, that the death-row prisoners would be resentenced speedily, have been exposed for a sham.
”Perhaps the Constitutional Court demands will command greater respect,” read a statement from DA justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer.
The court ordered that the August report must include:
- the name of every person detained under a sentence of death by June 5 1995;
- the name of every person whose sentence has been replaced; and
- the names, sentence dates, case numbers and names of courts of all those still detained on death row.
By that date, an affidavit should also state why each death sentence has not yet been set aside and what will be done to replace the sentence. — Sapa