The King's Journal

Life in death row is the depth of hell. There is more hell after the appeal because then you know that anytime the prison guards may knock on your cell to announce the death warrant. Everything happens so fast after the warrant is read out in the cell. It is read out in the presence of the other cellmates waiting their day. The prison guards immediately cuff the prisoner with leg irons and escort him to the death house where the gallows is located. This place of sacrifice is just around the corner of the prison building that house the regular death row cells. The hanging room is located adjacent to and above the regular cells, in such a way that every small movement, sound and activity that takes place in the hanging room can be perceived clearly from the regular cells. In this way, the prisoners in these regular cells get to participate fully in the ritual of hanging taking place in the room above them. The entire design is arranged as if with some morbid purpose in mind in order to harvest maximum fear and anxiety from the prisoners awaiting death. On this fateful day for the three cellmates, the guards stormed into the cell in the manner described by Gwara and Tlhabologang of the first story. Simon Douglas and others were dragged to the death house that morning. In afternoon and evening leading into the night preceding execution, Mothusi heard much of what went on upstairs. He heard the gallows trap door being prepared. He says they tripped it thrice before laying it to rest. He heard the night vigil performed on behalf of the condemned by the other prisoners in the prison compound with the participation of the condemned. The morning of execution was terrifying. Mothusi says he heard the feet shuffle, as the first batch of two was lead to the trap door. He heard the sobs and other sounds of terror -then crack –boom! , as the trap door sprang open. It is a very unique sound from outside this world, he says. It is like the sound of a fierce thunderclap. He knew two were dangling just across the wall of his cell next door. His head swirled in madness of what was going on upstairs. After a little while, about 30 minutes later, another crack-boom! The last one was dangling. The gallows machine in Botswana takes two prisoners at a time. Thus, where there are three Souls to dispatch, two go first followed by a last one who is usually made to watch in horror as the first two dangle. My father Kgosi Linchwe ii has witnessed an execution at the Gaborone prisons in the late seventies. He told me what he has seen and confirmed this procedure I have explained. One of the prisoners then was called Lesolebe, meaning horrible death. My father told me how they (witnesses) all looked down the gallows pit at the black hooded heads of the hanging prisoners as they dangled down the pit; and how they all waited for the lapse of the standard 20 minutes of hanging before taking the dead bodies down. He said some of the witnesses they puffed on their cigarettes as they waited. The hangman then was an Afrikaner from South Africa. My father says this hangman had a morbid calmness about his job. He chatted with the witnesses and described the art of his ropes as if they were something so dear. In the meantime as the waiting went by, the third prisoner was made to stand on the side watching with everyone else whilst waiting his turn. My father says the last of the three hanged at his time took a long time to die. He jerked himself up in macabre spasms, akin to a snake wringing out its last juice of life. The prisoner made this display just as the hang team of the prison guards was about to take him down. They had to wait a little while. Later after taking him down, the junior prison guards struggled to free the rope from the dead man’s neck. The rope was tightly trapped on the hood cloth. My father dashed to his vehicle outside to bring back pliers from his tool kit that helped the officers to release the rope. Apparently, he said, the officers were stuck from their own shock and did not know what to do with the trapped noose when the suggestion of the pliers came through from him. My father says the junior prisons officers were terrified by this experience. One of them was particularly jumpy. He sprung out of his skin each time anyone touched him from behind during this entire execution ritual. My father has ever regretted seeing the execution. The memories of the hooded heads dangling down the pit continued to haunt his dreams for many years after. He has cautioned me never to accede to an invitation by government to watch the horrible ritual. I learnt a complementing side of the story experienced by Mothusi Phiri from my client Mr Kinsley Sebele. He attended the execution of Simon Douglas and others, as Mothusi was listening from his cell. That is to say, as Mothusi was listening from his cell downstairs, Mr Sebele was upstairs with the execution team. Mr Sebele told me the story of how one of the condemned staggered into the noose, praying frantically loud in Ikalanga language. Mr Sebele says the depth of meaning in the man’s prayer emotionally moved him. You could tell from the prayer (he says), that the poor man was cleared of all doubts about God and the devil. He says this man prayed until the noose was tightened around his neck. At that point of tightening, the prayer came to a strangely abrupt end, as the prisoner anticipate the next moment. The experience of witnessing an execution whilst waiting your own crushed Mothusi’s soul.