Durban – THE call by the IFP for a national debate on the reinstatement of the death penalty to reduce/deter the high rate of violent crimes would be a premeditated discussion that a country needs the death penalty, said a political analyst.
Bukani Mngoma felt the country should, instead, be discussing ways to curb the high violent crime rate and then make the death penalty one of the recommendations.
“We should also be discussing why people are being murdered and why there is an escalating number of violent incidents,” he said.
Mngoma said there was no evidence to suggest that the lack of the death penalty contributed to the increase in the rate of violent crimes.
He said although there were other countries, such as China, that practise the death penalty, the dynamics of South Africa, as a third world country, were completely different from that of China with the largest population, different cultures and practices.