I Afrikas sidste enevældige kongedømme, Swaziland mellem Sydafrika og Mozambique, sidder adskillige på dødsgangen, men der er ikke henrettet nogen i 30 år – det kan ændre sig nu; især en massemorder står til at blive hængt.
King Mswati III’s Swaziland government is in search of a hangman so prisoners presently on death row may be executed, writes the Swaziland Newsletter in its latest edition Friday.
The Swazi Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze said a job vacancy advert (jobopslag) would be placed as soon as possible.
Gamedze told the Weekend Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, an advert had been placed last year but no suitable (passende) applicants had put their name forward.
The Observer reported that taxpayers, whom the newspaper did not name, had complained about the cost of keeping death-row inmates in prison.
Gamedze said his ministry was waiting for permission to place the hangman’s advert again. Immediately they got the instruction, they would definitely re-advertise the post.
The Observer wrote, that “some concerned members of the public” wanted to see David Simelane executed. He had been sentenced to death last year (2012) for killing 28 people.
At least five other people are thought to be waiting execution in Swaziland.
The Observer reported that families to victims who were murdered by the convicts … said they were comforted when the courts issued the [death] sentences but it pained them to see that the convicts were still enjoying full benefits for inmates at the correctional institutions’.
In October 2011, Swaziland was heavily criticised at the UN Universal Periodic Review into human rights in the kingdom for continuing to have the death penalty.
Gamedze told the UN that although the death penalty existed in Swaziland the last execution had been in 1983. He said this showed that the kingdom was abolitionist (indstille eksekveringen) in practice.
See also http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/12/death-penalty-test-for-human-rights.html
Kilde: News from and about Swaziland, compiled by Africa Contact (Denmark) in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com), and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland – free of charge.
Swaziland Newsletter Compilation (samling) 2012
Newsletters from 2012 have been compiled into a single volume, available to download to laptop, computer or any e-book reader free-of-charge. To get End of the Beginning? 2012, a year in the struggle for democracy in Swaziland click here http://www.scribd.com/doc/119762994
