Office of the Commissioners

Commissioners provide guidance in developing the vision of the institution by setting its priorities and ensuring that its policies, programmes and allocated resources are consistent with their vision. This is done through exercising good corporate governance and providing leadership and guidance on the professional work of the Commission. Commissioners hold fortnightly performance reporting meetings with the CEO to oversee the quarterly plenary reporting processes.

The Commissioners are the public face of the Commission, representing the organisation not only at national, regional and international forums, but also interacting with local communities and stakeholders at the national level, as required, to mainstream human rights issues. In addition to the policy and legislative mandates of the Commission, Commissioners adopted a document called the Human Rights Matrix.

This document tracks the various human rights obligations of South Africa at the international, regional and domestic levels. It is a tool that assists in facilitating, through the guidance of human rights legal instruments, the principles and pronouncements, and the identification of the Commissioners’ strategic focus areas and priorities. It also assists in identifying the unique role of the Commission as a national human rights institution.

The strategic priority areas which are in line with the Human Rights Matrix were identified, discussed and integrated into the Strategic Plan. The Commissioners also assigned specific provinces and United Nations treaty bodies amongst themselves. These strategic priority areas, treaty bodies and provinces are set out in below.