01 March 2022

The mayor of eThekwini municipality, Mxolisi Kaunda, has described the killings in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal, during last July’s unrest as “a racist act” that should be dealt with as a criminal offence.

Testifying on Monday before the South African Human Rights Commission’s ongoing hearings into the violence, Kaunda said he became aware through social media of the killings in Phoenix of 36 mainly black people said to have been racially-profiled by residents as possible looters.

02 March 2022

The chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has told the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) that the army was deployed last July as the country was burning and that the riots were unprecedented.

General Rudzani Maphwanya on Tuesday night told the SAHRC hearing into the unrest, which caused destruction and led to widespread looting in July last year, that the military was roped in to defend and protect the people of the country.

01 March 2022

The chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said on Tuesday night that it was not his place to categorise the July 2021 unrest as an attempted insurrection, or anything else for that matter.  

01 March 2022

Residents of the Kwa-Madala hostel in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, say they are optimistic that the visit by the Human Rights Commission in the area will assist in speeding up the development and delivery of basic services.

The commission visited the hostel and businesses that were impacted by the July 2021 unrest to conduct an in-loco inspection. Most of the people living at the hostel are unemployed youth.

01 March 2022

The CEO of Business Unity South Africa believes last year's unrest didn't start in July.

"We believe they started months before when we had the problem of trucks burning, and we believe that what this was - July - was a frontal attack on the entire supply value chain of the country," Cas Coovadia said.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

O2 MARCH 2022

The Mpumalanga Provincial Office (MPO) will be launching a report of the dialogue which was held on 11 August 2021 on the impact of human trafficking on human rights amid COVID-19. The dialogue took place following media reports and concerns that Mpumalanga is being used as a gateway for trafficking persons, particularly women and children, from neighbouring countries to other provinces in the country and beyond.

02 March 2022
Attention: Editors and Reporters

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (The Constitution, 1996) provides that all people are equal before the law and that they have the right to the equal enjoyment and protection of the law.

02 March 2022

ATTENTION: Editors and Reporters

On 2 to 4 March 2022, the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) North West Provincial Office will convene a provincial investigative enquiry into allegations of inadequate infrastructure in public schools in the North West Province.

01 March 2022

ATTENTION: Editors and Reporters

On 1 March 2022, the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) North West Provincial Office will conduct training for the Department of Health’s officials on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“the CRPD”).

01 March 2022

Attention: Editors and Reporters

The South African Human Rights Commission (The Commission) has an embedded responsibility of ensuring that human rights continue to be at the centre of debates and dialogues in the country and that the rights as enshrined in Chapter 2 (The Bill of Rights) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 are transformed into a reality for people who need protection. It is similarly important that citizens should also claim and assert their rights, while accepting the responsibilities that correspond with having those rights.