Striking Down Death: S. v. Makwanyane

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.