South African man has been saved from the gallows after successfully appealing against his death sentence in Botswana.

RELIEVED: Michael Molefe has been on death row in Gaborone prison since 2008


Michael Molefe has for years been haunted by the words "you shall be hanged by the neck until you die".

It was with these words, in the Lobatse High Court on March 7 2008, that Judge Maruping Dibotelo condemned Molefe to death.

The Soweto-born former soldier and a Botswana national, Brandon Kgotso Sampson, were arrested on Christmas Day in 2000 for the murder of two Zimbabweans, Robert Ncube and Sam Hombarume, in Mogoditshane. Molefe shot Ncube and Sampson stabbed Hombarume.

Now the 50-year-old father-of-three is counting the days to his release from a Gaborone prison after the country's court of appeal overturned his death sentence two weeks ago.

The court found there were extenuating circumstances, including that the murder was not premeditated.

Molefe and Sampson had gone to the victims' home to recover money they believed had been stolen from Molefe's aunt in SA.

Molefe's sentence has been commuted to 20 years' jail - backdated to the day of his arrest in 2000, but he could be a free man as early as 2014.

Fighting to stay alive has been a long, hard journey.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times at Gaborone's First Offenders Prison, where he has been since winning his appeal, Molefe admitted he had made a "mistake".

"I killed someone. That's unacceptable. Taking a life is not a good thing. I have apologised to the families of the victims."

But he did not want to die. "I don't have words to describe how I feel. Facing death was a frightening experience."

Molefe was previously held at Gaborone's Maximum Prison - where all death-row inmates are held in a single cell.

Sometimes, he said, a fellow death-row prisoner would be taken away - and while the rest of them were shielded from this scene, the screams of that prisoner would be a sign that he was on his way to be hanged.

What was worse for those on death row was that they got notice of when they would be hanged and prison staff would not ask them about their final wishes. "I'm so happy my life has been spared," said Molefe.

Molefe would have been the third South African to be hanged in Botswana. In 2001 Mariette Bosch was executed after she was found guilty of murdering her friend, Maria Wolmarans. Her execution made international headlines as she was the first white woman to be hanged in Botswana.

Another South African, Lehlohonolo Kobedi, was executed in Botswana for murdering a police sergeant in 2003.

The Botswana Centre for Human Rights and other organisations have been calling for the abolition of the death penalty in the country, where more than 40 executions have been carried out since 1966.

Recently, Judge Terrence Rannowane of the Botswana high court sentenced Zibani Thamo to death for murdering his lover, Sihle Dube. An appeal is pending.

Molefe said he had started writing a book to be published once he is released from prison - which will cover how a death sentence had changed his life. He began writing it the day Bosch was hanged in 2001.

Molefe, whose entire family is in South Africa, relied mainly on the support of his Botswana girlfriend, Tshidi Banda, 41, during his years on death row.

She never gave up hope that his life would be spared and spent every little bit of money she had to support him.

She said this week: "They said I should just accept that he was going to be hanged. I could not do that to Michael. That did not even cross my mind. I love him too much."

Banda added: "When the judge was sentencing them I told myself this is just a human being talking. He is just reading the laws of Botswana. God is above all."

Molefe's daughter Madiale Mokgojoe, 32, who lives in Soweto, was equally thrilled that her dad's life had been spared.

"This is a miracle. When he was sentenced to death I thought his life was over. This was the best birthday present my father could ever ask for.

"He has been given a chance to live again," said Mokgojoe.