FROM DOUBLE DEATH ROW TO FREE MAN

PIGG’S PEAK – Not many people can claim to be a free man after being on two death row sentences for two murders. 
Khazi Mkhwanazi lived in suspense of not knowing when he would die but despite that, he remained positive.

He could be the luckiest prisoner as he escaped both death sentences and walked free after being pardoned on two instances during his jail time.
In 1998, at the age of 29, Khazi was sentenced to death for the double murder committed on August 28, 1997 at place known as Mountain View while with three others.

He was incarcerated at the Matsapha Maximum Security Prison
The others include Justice Magagula, Sipho Magagula and the late Mainstay Mavimbela.
Khazi did not have information about his former partners in crime. 

He was further slapped with two concurrent sentences of 15 years each for murder, plus another 15 years for robbery and an additional five years for possession of an unlicensed firearm.

Hanging

When asked how he felt upon hearing the words ‘sentenced to death by hanging’, Khazi said he was positive about it.
He heard the words twice as he was convicted for a double murder.

He said getting angry or frustrated would not have helped him in anyway and that was why he spent most of his time reading magazines and newspapers or the Bible.

There were about 12 other death row inmates, according to him, when he got prison; each in his own room with a slight opening for the purpose of shouting out when assistance was needed.

The country’s most famous death row inmate, David Simelane, whom Khazi referred to as ‘Mdavu’, had not arrived at the time.
Khazi said he spent three years in isolation since he was on appeal and was let out after a successful appeal. 
Through the appeal, the death sentences were reduced to 35-year sentences meaning that he was expected to be released from behind bars in 2023.

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