EDITORIAL: No turning back on the death penalty
Outrage over violence against women puts focus on court ruling that section in Criminal Procedure Act allowing for capital punishment is incompatible with the constitution
05 September 2019 - 05:08
The rape and murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana in Cape Town rightly sparked an outburst of anger in a country that one would have thought has grown inured to gender violence.
But no one would have expected the justice minister turning it into a discussion about the sanctity of the constitution and inadvertently highlighting how populism is especially dangerous in a time of crisis. When a nation is mourning and angry, constitutional niceties can seem a luxury, and politicians, having seen their own impotence exposed by such events, cannot be counted on to defend it...
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