REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA COMBINED SECOND PERIODIC REPORT UNDER THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLE`S RIGHTS and INITIAL REPORT UNDER THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA equal concern and respect across difference. It does not presuppose the elimination or suppression of difference. Respect for human rights requires the Affirmation of self, not the denial of self. Equality therefore does not imply a levelling or homogenisation of behaviour or extolling one form as supreme, and another as inferior, but an acknowledgement and acceptance of difference. At the very least, it affirms that difference should not be the basis for exclusion, marginalisation and stigma. At best, it celebrates the vitality that difference brings to any society”.18 25. In essence, the judgments of our courts are continuously being factored into the policies of Government to ensure the strengthening of a human rights culture in the country. Constitutional rights awareness: 26. In order to further combat unfair discrimination it is imperative that people and communities are made aware of their constitutional rights. In this regard, various programmes have been undertaken by government to raise human rights awareness, provide constitutional education and advance social cohesion. Article 4: The right to life and personal integrity 27. Section 11 of the Constitution entrenches the right to life. It is important to note that in South Africa the right to life is unqualified and right to life vests in every person, regardless of their actions.19 28. As reported in the first periodic report, the death penalty was abolished in South Africa. The Constitutional Court ordered that the provisions of s 277(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act, 197720 and all corresponding legislation and provisions were declared to be unconstitutional and therefore invalid. It was further ordered that the state and all its organs were forbidden from executing any person already sentenced to death. Official records indicate that there were 430 people who had been under sentence of death at the time of the Makwanyane judgment. As a result of that judgment, legislation was passed to provide for the procedure to be followed in setting aside the death sentences and the substitution of such sentences with an appropriate sentence.21 Two years after the decision in Makwanyane had been given, Parliament passed a law prescribing the procedure for the replacement of any death sentence with an appropriate alternative sentence.22 18 Para 60 S v Makwanyane 1995 (3) SA 391 (CC) 20 Act No. 51 of 1977 21 South African Human Rights Commission, Report on the Substitution of the Death Penalty, October 2002 22 Section 1 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1997 (Act No. 105 of 1997). 19 14