| Time | Summary | |
| 08:07 | Ten years ago the top five hanging nations in the world were China, Nigeria, Iran, the United States and of course South Africa. By the end of 1989 when a moratorium was placed on the death penalty in South Africa over 2500 people had been hanged in this country. The Truth Commission now has to investigate whether or not the death penalty constituted a gross human rights violation. | Full Transcript |
| 08:33 | I was nearly hanged for something I didn’t do, I didn’t know anything about. I asked myself that how many people have been hanged who are innocent. Even today I’m not able to believe that I was in death row. // Duma Khumalo was granted a stay of execution 24 hours before he was to be hanged. | Full Transcript and References |
| 09:03 | 95% of the people who were sentenced to death in this country were black and a 100% of the people who were sent them to death were white. You were much more likely to receive a death sentence if your victim was white. // ANC activist and lawyer Paula McBride knew and worked with numerous prisoners who died on death row. | Full Transcript and References |
| 09:26 | It doesn’t matter if its black or white when one walks into the gallows room it’s absolutely professional. You don’t think about white or black. One could say that it was holy, you respected that place. // Warrant Officer Johan Steynberg escorted condemned prisoners to their death for over two years. On Tuesday Khumalo, McBride and Steynberg gave the Truth and Reconciliation Commission a realistic account of life and death behind these walls at Pretoria Maximum Security Prison. In her submission to the TRC McBride says that Pretoria Maximum Security Prison was a prison designed for death. Its sole purpose was to imprison persons condemned to death, clothe them, feed them and keep them whole until they were killed. She also urged the TRC to investigate the racist manner in which the death penalty had been imposed. | Full Transcript and References |
| 10:30 | Some judges in the sixties and seventies boasted about the fact that they had sentenced x number of men to death for the rape of white women which was considered the most heinous crime ever, but for the rape or murder of black women, there was one judge who boasted he had never sentenced anybody to death for that. | Full Transcript |
| 10:53 | Khumalo and his co-accused known as the Sharpeville Six were sentenced to death for murder, subversion and public violence in 1985. He’s still battling to come to terms with what he calls the unique horror of having to contemplate one’s final moments on the gallows. | Full Transcript and References |
| 11:15 | There were strong men but at night people cry. When you ask them why are you crying they said I was dreaming I’m on my way to the death row. | Full Transcript |
| 11:33 | The prison drama Vyfster was the first locally produced TV series to give South African viewers a glimpse of what went on behind the walls of a maximum security prison. Twenty year old John Steynberg had just started his career as a prison warder on death row when he appeared as an extra in the popular TV series nearly a decade ago. | Full Transcript |
| 11:58 | It was a more mature Steynberg who appeared before the TRC this week; this time he is no extra. He’s the first death row prison warder to speak out. Steynberg joined the Department of Correctional Services to learn a trade and further his rugby career. Three days after he started working in the prison service he was sent to work in ‘the pot,’ a special section inside the prison where condemned prisoners spent their last seven days of their lives. That day he witnessed his first execution, seven men hanging; an experience which still haunts him. | Full Transcript |
| 12:37 | At around ten to seven, we moved down the passage with them. There was a deathly silence. Only they sang and prayed and greeted their loved ones. Then we moved to the gallows through all the gates. They were lined up against the wall facing us. Then the executioner arrived and asked if they had any last wishes. Then they thanked us for the time that they had spent with us. Many said, God bless you and then we put on their hoods. | Full Transcript |
| 13:35 | Steynberg described in chilling detail how a noose would then be tied around each man’s neck. The prisoner would be made to stand on a trap door. It would give way when the hangman pulled this lever. The men would fall, their spines would rupture; they would lose control over their bowels and Steynberg and his colleagues who were sworn to secrecy then had to clean the dead bodies. | Full Transcript |
| 13:58 | I can’t force you to say things you’d rather not talk about, but we would be the poorer if you are not able to tell us in much more detail the things that affected you. // It’s as though there’s something missing in one’s life, something you’d been chasing after. You tried to silence it with alcohol; you tried to silence it with aggression. It’s very difficult to talk about. | Full Transcript |
| 14:39 | The former death row warder still lives in Pretoria and works in the kitchen at Pretoria Maximum Prison. He maintains that he and his fellow warders were just doing their job on death row and should not be seen as inhumane or barbaric. // At that time you didn’t notice it. You thought it was normal, but when you look back now you can tell you were another person. You messed up. // How would you describe the relationship between the condemned prisoner and the prison warder? // Everyone was your friend, warder and prisoner. There were no specific cases. You could not allow yourself to become emotionally involved. You couldn’t afford it. Otherwise you couldn’t do your job. // Do you believe that the death penalty should be reinstated? // That’s my personal feeling. If they bring it back it should be in another form. That’s all I’m saying. | Full Transcript |
