Striking Down Death: S. v. Makwanyane

Abstract

In Makwanyane delivered on 6 June 1995, the Constitutional Court, in
its first politically important and publicly controversial holding, struck
down the death penalty. Although there had been a moratorium placed
on executions from the end of 1989, as part of the initial moves towards
a negotiated democratic transition, approximately 400 persons were
awaiting execution at the time of the Court’s ruling. Declaring capital
punishment as provided for in s 277(1 )(a) and (c)-(f) of the Criminal
Procedure Act unconstitutional the Court emphasized that the transitional Constitution establishes a new order in South Africa. One in
which human rights and democracy are entrenched and in which the
Constitution is supreme.

Keywords: south africa, constitutional court, constitution, case study

JEL Classification: K10, K33