South Africa : Pretoria Gallows Restored As A Museum

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/525/66861.html

Pretoria gallows restored as a museum

9 Nov 2011 07:29

The gallows in Pretoria's Central Prison - where hundreds of people, many of the political activists were put to death - is now being restored and turned into a museum and tourist attraction, reports IOL.

The South African Constitutional Court voted unanimously in June 1996 that the death penalty should be abolished in this country and at the time it was thought that the building would be locked and forgotten.

However, the Minister of Correctional Services, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqukula has ordered that the gallows be restored and opened to the public as a museum to preserve South Africa's history and give bereaved families a chance to make peace with their past.

The museum is to open in the first week of December.
















Anne

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/africa/news/article_1681062.php/South-Africa-turns-gallows-into-anti-apartheid-memorial

South Africa turns gallows into anti-apartheid memorial

Dec 15, 2011, 17:17 GMT

Johannesburg - The gallows where 134 South African political prisoners were hung during the apartheid era were transformed on Thursday into a memorial for those who died.

President Jacob Zuma said the transformation was a chance to allow people the 'opportunity to know and understand the painful history of the executions that were carried out by the apartheid state.'

A museum at the site of the gallows and prison in Pretoria would be opened to the public next year.

Including common criminals, approximately 4,000 people were executed by the former regime, which was dismantled in 1994. South Africa has since banned the death penalty.

'The right to life and dignity are the most important of all human rights in our country. The South African State does not need to kill people to show that killing people or committing serious crimes is wrong,' said Zuma.

Zuma used the speech to offer a hand of reconciliation to the former executioners, saying many of the wardens were recruited as minors into the service of the apartheid state.

'They need healing too,' said the president, who himself sat in jail for over a decade during the years of white minority rule.

Zuma also acknowledged the violence perpetrated by South African fighters who battled against apartheid.

'In any war there are casualties. Today we remember all of them, as we know that it cuts both ways,' he said.

The country has several museums focused on the years of racist rule, including the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg and Robben Island near Cape Town, where many political prisoners, including former president Nelson Mandela, were incarcerated.
























Anne

[leopard32]

An interesting video tour is here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16192840

[john]

I know several South Africans and they all want the DP restored.  Maybe it's just the people I hang around with. 

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/zuma-will-not-bring-back-death-penalty-1.1258234

SA Time: vendredi 16 mars 2012 23:22:29

Zuma will not bring back death penalty

March 16 2012 at 12:36pm

By Gaye Davis

 - Political Bureau

President Jacob Zuma was incredulous on Thursday when he was asked if he would consider bringing back the death penalty for murders.

Cope MP Graham McIntosh put the question to the president in Parliament during question time on Thursday. He wanted to know if Zuma would consider appointing a judicial commission to investigate whether this would reduce the number of violent crimes and come up with amendments to the constitution.

“Did I hear the honourable member say, the freedom to sentence people to death?” a shocked Zuma asked.

“I won’t do it. Absolutely not,” he said, after explaining the abolition of the death penalty was a decision of the Constitutional Court.

Zuma also held his ground on the government’s controversial decision to review the decisions of the Concourt.

IFP chief whip Koos van der Merwe asked him if it was true that the ANC wanted Parliament, rather than the constitution, to be supreme.

Zuma said the three arms of government – the legislature, the judiciary and the executive – had “very clear” functions and were all part of “one and the same” state – which was why this needed to be “co-ordinated”.

Any arm of government could make mistakes and it was not the duty of the judiciary to review itself, Zuma said.







Photo : Jacob Zuma, Presidrnt of South Africa




Anne

[Elric of Melnibone]

Just wait till he starts using it for his enemies.  It will be made legal retroactively.