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Thishin Moodley
12A | 10573 | Alexandra High School
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Figure 1: Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area, previously known as Pretoria Central Maximum Security Prison, in Pretoria, Gauteng.
The Gallows are situated at Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area renamed from Pretoria Central Maximum
Security Prison on the 9th of April 2013 in the Tshwane Metropole. It was built according to strict standards in 1967,
with some labour being supplied by the South African Defence Force. Its outer walls are bomb-proof, as were many
large structures commissioned in the 1960s by the Apartheid regime in light of their security threat from resistance
movements within the nation.
The prison is famous for having held some of South Africas most wanted, including Chris Hanis killers Clive DerbyLewis and Janusz Walus, who carried out their historic assassination 20 years ago.
The Gallows were South Africas official location for hangings outside of the so-called homelands between 1967 and
1989. It is associated with the Apartheid government, and has been referred to as South Africas factory of death
by numerous liberation movements including the ANC. It was converted into a memorial museum which was
officially opened by President Zuma on 15 December 2012.
The Gallows were constructed to hang up to 7 people at a time
a capacity to which the Gallows were often used.
The execution room is made of smooth, easily cleanable
surfaces, with a hose on standby to clean the mess often left by
prisoners in their final moments, which include urine as well as
other forms of excrement. A single lever resides in the room for
use by the hangman, which opens the trapdoor upon which the
prisoners stood to allow for the long drop.
In the corner of the room stood a telephone, which was a last
minute life-line with which the state communicated the
cancellation of a death sentence, which sometimes occurred in
light of new evidence produced by lawyers or the prosecution.
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The sheriff of the high court would visit the prison 7 days before to President Jacob Zuma, amongst other officials, at the
opening of the Gallows Museum.
the intended date of a prisoners execution, and call the
infamous phrase "Baadjies en adres", literally translated from
Afrikaans as "jacket and address". Prisoners were expected to
hand in personal belongings and provide two addresses to which
they can be sent. They were kept in a section of the prison
called the pot to be monitored. Lights were never switched
off.4
On the morning of the execution, prisoners would be addressed
individually in the feedback room to be told if their appeals had
failed. While they ascended the 52 stairs to the execution room,
prisoners would sing Christian worship in solidarity with each
other.5
Figure 5: The last casket produced for the prison, now a part
of the museum's display.
4
5
Robert Adams (1998). The Abuses of Punishment. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 178. ISBN 0-312-17617-1
Frontline: Hangman: http://www.coldtype.net/frontline/Frontline.Hangman.pdf
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Figure 6: Never again to be used in South Africa, thanks to a progressive constitution and a strong constitutional court.
Whites were sent to Zandfontein in Pretoria, coloureds to Eersterust, the Indians to Laudium and the blacks to
Mamelodi.
Only one exception to the burial policy was ever made, which was for Solomon Mahlangu, who was a prominent
member of MK. His body was sent to Atteridgeville, as the state feared his burial site would become a shrine to
members of the MK resistance.6
The last execution in South Africa was the execution of Solomon Ngobeni in November 1989.7
In a speech marking the opening of the museum, Advocate George Bizos pointed out that until 1958, the death
penalty could be imposed for only three crimes: murder (without extenuating circumstances); treason; and rape. It
was imposed in a number of murder cases. More critically, however, was what he said just a few minutes later:
Following the accession to power of the apartheid regime, between 1958 and 1967, the number of capital offences
went from three to eleven, including robbery, house-breaking with aggravating circumstances, sabotage, kidnapping,
participation in terroristic activities, receiving training that could further the objects of communism or advocating
abroad economic or social change in South Africa by violent means through the aid of a foreign government or
institution where the accused is a resident or former resident of South Africa, and others.
6
7
http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/sandra.html
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Figure 7 : Information revealed by the Department of Correctional Services upon the opening of the Gallows Museum.
http://cdn.bizcommunity.com/f/1111/Pretoria_Gallows.pdf
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http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/sandra.html
http://chs.revues.org/index312.html
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http://www.iol.co.za/saturday-star/inside-sa-s-factory-of-death-1.1197003#.UWXBNJP7CTs
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