A VIEW OF THE WEEK: An unofficial death penalty

In his 1961 book on corporal punishment, British Parliamentarian Leslie Hale asked, “Has an innocent man ever been hanged?”

South Africa may have abolished the death penalty in 1995, but the debate over it rages on 30 years later.

At the heart of the call for its reinstatement is the country’s crime crisis.

Frustrated at peaceful interventions that go nowhere, repeat offenders, and a slow justice system, police and residents often take matters into their own hands.

When officers are gunning down suspects in a shootout or residents are overturning a car to try to reach alleged criminals, they are fighting violence with violence and adding to an already violent society.

They are creating an unofficial death penalty that is fueled by vengeance and retaliation, not deterrence.

Return to the good old days?

Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald this week suggested the formal return of another channel of violence: corporal punishment.

Corporal punishment in prisons has been illegal since 1996, but the minister believes its return may alleviate overcrowding.

His suggestion comes from a frustration that so many suspects are awaiting trial and, because thousands of them can’t even afford the cheapest of bail, are clogging up prisons and resources.

Alleged criminals are flooding into prisons, but courts can’t deal with the number, so it causes a bottleneck that needs to be addressed, or it risks further destabilising the system.

While deporting foreign suspects is one option, the diplomatic, legal, and administrative headache it would bring will add to an already unbearable migraine for the justice system.

This and corporal punishment are both compelling arguments, but are populist and shallow when more balanced and thoughtful solutions to the issue are needed.

Expanding public works and basic maintenance projects, labour or production camps, and increasing prison farms would all serve awaiting-trial inmates and the country better.

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Blood and violence everywhere

Dealing out violence is not a workable solution. Countries that have taken such an approach have not seen a marked improvement, but rather a spiralling of the problem into further lawlessness.

South Africa’s Apartheid past is soaked in blood from all sides, justified through suppression, resistance, and tribalism. Events like the Marikana Massacre post-1994 have shown we have not outgrown the scourge.

The prevalence of domestic violence and violent crimes on a daily basis points to a population psychologically damaged, and who have been taught the only way to express their point or solve disputes is with a weapon.

For centuries, innocent men and women were hanged, and many more were beaten. Returning to corporal punishment will add to those assaulted wrongly and, even if dealt to those guilty, keep us trapped in the never-ending cycle of violence.

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