Section 186: Death penalty – Constitutionality—The appellant was convicted of

186. Death penalty – Constitutionality—The appellant was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death. The appellant appealed contending that the death penalty violated the Constitution since it was mandatory, and was unreasonable and disproportionate to the offence. HELD while section 4 (1) of the Constitution permits Parliament to provide for the death penalty, even on a mandatory basis, it is always open to the Courts, no doubt pursuant to other constitutional provisions regarding inhuman punishment, to determine that any form of punishment is unconstitutional in certain cases. CON – 215 [Issue 1] The Constitution To hold that, notwithstanding the clear terms of section 4 of the Constitution, a mandatory death penalty, if it had not been struck down on other grounds, is unconstitutional because it amounts to inhuman punishment would be tantamount to usurping the functions of Parliament, which is the only body entitled to debate the pros and cons of the principle of a death sentence. Amasimbi v State (1992).