Corrections and Punishment Approaches in South Africa

Background

To contextualize the diversity of punishment influences in corrections and the current criminal justice machinery of South Africa one needs to briefly look at South Africa’s history. South Africa has a rich and diverse history and with that history came different eras of punishment and philosophies. South Africa has a very broad and complex history that has greatly influenced the unique, diverse and democratic South Africa citizens know today. This one of its kind history has influenced South Africa in all facets of life including the current and past punishment philosophies of the country. Historical scripts indicate that South Africa was first habituated by the San and Khoekhoe people (otherwise known individually as the Bushmen and Hottentots or Khoikhoi; collectively called the Khoisan). Both were resident in the southern tip of the continent for thousands of years and both had their own unique systems of punishments before its written history began with the arrival of Africans and Europeans. The Bantu-speaking people or African people moved down into South Africa from the North (West Africa) into the north-eastern and eastern regions before the arrival of the Europeans (Brand South Africa, 2016).