HRC chairman Jody Kollapen

SOUTH AFRICA. DEATH PENALTY WOULD RENDER CONSTITUTION HOLLOW

March 11, 2008: the return of the death penalty would turn the Constitution into a "hollow shell", the South African Human Rights Commission said. Addressing the Johannesburg Press Club, commission chairman Jody Kollapen discussed human rights issues which have emerged in the public domain in recent months. Among these was the idea of a referendum on the death penalty, an issue which was reportedly raised by ANC president Jacob Zuma. The Human Rights Commission had a "principled opposition to the death penalty", and the notion of a referendum raised the issue of South Africa's Constitution and the rights therein versus populism, said Kollapen. He said 11 Constitutional Court judges found the death penalty unconstitutional, yet a referendum may yield a result in favour of it. Such a situation would result in a number of amendments to the Constitution and undermine not just the right to life enshrined in it but many other rights as well.
Kollapen said the Constitution would be rendered a hollow shell for the perception of a safer society. (Sources: South African Press Association, 11/03/2008)