A former cellblock and gallows at the Pretoria Central Correctional Centre has been opened as a new museum and memorial by South African president Jacob Zuma.

At least 4,000 prisoners, 134 of which were political prisoners, were executed at the gallows before the Constitutional Court approved the abolition of the death penalty in June 1996.

The gallows and cells used for the execution of prisoners between 1961 and 1989 had been destroyed but have been restored as part of the museum, which opens to the public in 2012.

Zuma said: "Together with other monuments, such as the Robben Island, the Nelson Mandela, and the Apartheid Museums, this place will forever be embedded in our history and heritage.

"There are many more that we should still build as we create a liberation heritage route that gives a true account of where we come from, as a people."