Mashaba makes a U-turn on death penalty

ActionSA Herman Mashaba has U-turned on calls for the return of the death penalty amid the country’s high murder rate, saying it would disproportionately affect poor people.

Mashaba said, after consultations with experts, he believed his earlier calls for the death penalty was premature. 

He told more than 600 delegates at the ActionSA’s policy conference at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Johannesburg. 

READ MORE: ActionSA wants rapists and murderers to do hard labour, attorney says idea is ‘shallow’

He said the party would look at a different tough-on-crime approach that would focus on the rights of victims and society instead of criminals.

“We cannot tolerate a South Africa where law-abiding citizens live in fear while criminals act with impunity. Central to addressing this is ensuring that criminality is met with harsh consequences,” he said.

Justice is not equally applied

Mashaba has been vocal about his stance on the death penalty. However, he said justice in the country was not equally applied, as some people with resources could buy their way out of punishment.

“It is certainly true that I have been a believer in capital punishment as I have watched law-abiding South Africans being raped, murdered, and pillaged by violent criminals who should never have been set free,” he said.

“When our senate came together last month to consider the outcomes of our policy consultative processes that saw us engage with experts, the public, and our internal structures, an argument emerged which compelled me to reconsider my own belief in capital punishment.

“Chief among these concerns is the highly flawed state of our criminal justice system and the costs associated with navigating it. The government has a long way to go in terms of becoming a capable, efficient, and trustworthy matrix of institutions.”

Who lives and dies

Mashaba said the question of who lives and dies should not be entrusted to a “wholly dysfunctional government”.

“It is equally apparent that the implementation of capital punishment in South Africa would disproportionally prejudice the poor, leading to their conviction and execution, while the wealthy, accused of the same offences, would have the resources to avoid such a sanction.

ALSO SEE: ActionSA hosting policy conference to provide alternative in next year’s elections

This fact was conveyed to me by experts who demonstrated relatively disadvantaged experiences by poor South Africans. This is why I believe the right approach is rather to change the minimum sentencing so violent criminals may never be released to harm another person. Lifetime imprisonment should mean exactly that,” said Mashaba. 

Mashaba maintained criminals should do hard labour to earn their keep in society.