While communities have called for the death penalty to be imposed for those guilty of the rape and murder of four-year-old Bokgabo Poo, justice minister Ronald Lamola says the death penalty does not serve justice.  

Speaking at the No Justice Without Life: 13th International Congress of Justice Ministers conference in Rome, Lamola said the death penalty was not in the interest of justice but made the world more violent and inhumane.  

“It goes without saying that where there is a death penalty crime is not deterred. In fact the consensus is now substantial, there is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than long terms of imprisonment.  

“As we gather here today (Wednesday) there is consensus among us that state-sponsored vengeance in the form of the death penalty does not alter society. If anything, it makes the world even more violent and inhumane,” Lamola said.  

Countries such as China, India, the US, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan still impose death penalties. 

According to an international digital crime stats research website, Wise Voter, two countries that have death penalties are in the top 10 countries with the most violent crime. 

Lamola said in death penalty cases, at times the presumption of an accused person’s innocence is pitted from the beginning.

This raised the possibility that an innocent person may find themselves being subjected to the death penalty.

He said the justice ministry was amending the Extradition Act to ensure no accused extradited from South Africa to countries that have the death penalty would be killed. 

“Our Extradition Act makes it clear that where an offence is punishable by death or any other inhumane or degrading punishment under the laws of the requesting state, South Africa will be obliged to engage the requesting state to provide assurances so that the death penalty or other inhumane or degrading punishment will not be imposed, or if imposed, will not be carried out,” he said.  

Lamola said he believed this approach would enable the country to uphold a human rights culture.  

“At the heart of the criminal justice system is not a pursuit of vengeance but justice,” he said.

Communities have been calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty in South Africa, and despite the demands gaining momentum after the gruesome killing of eight-year-old Tazne van Wyk in Cape Town, it is apparent the country will not accede to those in the near future.

TimesLIVE reported that a postmortem showed Van Wyk had been raped and also found that “the removal of the hand and wrist were done with a straight cut and not with surgical precision”.  

Moyhdian Pangkaeker, the man convicted of her murder, cut off Van Wyk's hand in an attempt to get rid of evidence after she scratched him. He was sentenced to nine life terms.