27 Oct 2023

HRC to calm UP race row Reitumetse Mahope The SA Human Rights Commission SAHRC has received a string of racerelated complaints about the University of Pretoria. Spokesperson Wisani Baloyi said these complaints would be addressed with the university to quell the tensions. He said the commission has written to the university to raise concerns over its recent challenges and offered help in finding a solution. "The complaints are being handled by the Gauteng office, in line with the commission's complaints handling procedure," Baloyi said.

25 Oct 2023

Failing to improve literacy levels robs children of a future Call for urgent action to address instruction in schools SUE MACLENNAN Failing to ensure SA's children can read and understand what they're reading is condemning them to a life without a future. In a damning comparison, Rhodes University vicechancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela suggested there was little difference between apartheid education's goal of restricting opportunities for black people and the current shocking statistic that only 19% of SA's Grade 4 pupils can read for meaning. Mabizela was the keynote speaker at the Eastern Cape launch of Right to Read at Fikizolo Primary School in Makhanda recently. The campaign is spearheaded by the South African Human Rights Commission SAHRC , which holds that failing to ensure children have the skills needed to understand basic concepts is not just an educational handicap, but a fundamental violation of their constitutional and human rights. Guests were welcomed to the launch by SAHRC commissioner, advocate Andre Guam. In May 2023, minister of basic education Angie Motshekga revealed the statistic from a Progress in International Reading Literacy Study Pirls 2021 that only 19% of SA's Grade 4 pupils could read for meaning. Mabizela pulled no punches. Apartheid was a system to limit the opportunities available to black people, and control their social and political ambition, he noted. "Apartheid education was designed with the express purpose of entrenching and supporting apartheid ideology" he told the audience of teachers, academics, education officials and activists. He said the results of the Pirls study were shocking: "It amounts to condemning the young people of our country to a life without a future, a life with no hope." Reminding his audience that the right to a basic education is set out in Section 29 1 a of the constitution, Mabizela said: "It is therefore not just a social justice matter: it is a constitutional imperative. "The preamble of our constitution speaks of our intention to use it to 'heal the divisions of the past' and 'free the potential of each person'. "Fulfilling the right to a basic education is what unlocks all the other rights enshrined in the constitution." The Legal Resources Centre's Cameron McConnachie said: "It's not like this is a new problem." Referring to the projection that it would take 86 years to correct the deficit, he said: "That's 2108: surely something has to be done!" He said SA was not short on policies, frameworks and strategies that had been developed in the past 20 years to address the reading crisis in the foundation phase. McConnachie referred to the February 2023 document he and Sipumelele Lucwaba of Funda Wande authored, "Moving from inputs to outcomes". Past campaigns and strategies included Drop Everything and Read, Read to Lead, the Early Grade Reading Studies, the 2008 National Reading Strategy the Eastern Cape's Reading Plan 20192023 and the Western Cape Reading Strategy 20202025. Unlike regulations, these were not laws. "They represent what national and provincial governments hope to achieve their good intentions and aspirations with some principles and methods that the state hopes will be used to achieve them. "As excellent as many of these policies may be, they are not binding. "They do not set standards or procedures that must be followed. "There is also a real threat of policy overlap and contradic tion, with multiple role players pushing different policies and interventions." The campaign proposes binding regulations to improve literacy levels as quicldy as possible. "It's our collective responsibility" Mabizela said. He noted the significant social progress in various areas that had been made by civil society entities, such as the Treatment Action Campaign and universally available ARVs, Equal Education and school infrastructure, and the media's role in exposing corruption. McConnachie emphasised that while the campaign sought legal reform as a way to secure children's rights, it recognised this needed the support of the whole community including parents and teachers. The campaign was also intended to be realistic in what it could push for. "We might not be able to make it a rule that every parent spends 30 minutes a day reading to their child, but there are things that can be regulated," McConnachie said. The campaign proposes the regulations include the socalled four T's: time, text, teaching and testing. "Much of this is already there in the department's policies but is not carried out," McConnachie noted. He said the proposed regulations were not intended as a guide to best teaching practice, or another level of bureaucracy, or as a cure for the problem. "This is just one thing that we could adjust in helping to move the dial. "We are also not replacing the good work already done on literacy: this is adding another layer." The Right to Read campaign aims to make earlygrade literacy a national priority through legislative reform and the development of binding regulations for the first three grades. SIZWE NIABIZELA Apartheid education was designed with the express purpose of entrenching and supporting apartheid ideology

Source: Daily Dispatch

26 Oct 2023

FESTIVAL Music, art, storytelling on the menu STAFF WRITER THE Cape Town Arts Festival, formerly the Cape Town Festival, returns in December. Held against the backdrop of the Castle of Good Hope, the festival will include live music performances, poetry readings, storytelling, Zumba, yoga, tai chi, live painting, art exhibitions, visual art installations, workshops, sculpting, food markets, and a Cape craft exhibition. Festival chief executive Yusuf Ganief said:

25 October 2023

'Funelani Nganeno' under the spotlight in Mangweni Sesane Mabuza MANGWENI The Kwalugedlane Tribal Authority was put under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons on Thursday October 12 during the stakeholders' engagement held in the trust. The meeting, which was facilitated by the Human Rights Commission of South Africa HRCSA , was attended by the SAPS provincial commissioner's office, the Department of Social Development, the Department of Basic Education, Octopus Network, the Nkomazi Paralegal Services Hub, the Hawks, the Gender Commission and the Kwalugedlane Tribal Authority.

27 Oct 2023

Modjadjiskloof water problems continue Anwen Mojela Despite numerous attempts by residents to improve the water situation in Modjadjiskloof, the town still experiences major interruptions. Chantel Du Toit, a resident from Panorama in Modjadjiksloof says the lack of water is ongoing and there has been no improvement since the Herald reported on the issue last year. "This month alone we have been without water for seven days. It is a huge problem, especially if you do not have a water tank," she says.

27 Oct 2023

'Almost a third of Limpopo residents have no access to piped water By Steve Kretzmann and Bernard Chiguvare About 1.4million people in Limpopo have no piped water. Thousands of people scoop their drinking and cooking water from rivers and streams. All six of the local and the four district municipalities in the province responsible for treating and supplying water to residents are failing to provide water to communities within their areas. Seven of the 10 municipalities do not comply with the provisions of the Water Services Act. Some of these municipalities are also failing to spend grant funding for water infrastructure, with "millions of rands being returned to the National Treasury" at the end of the financial year.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

8 November 2023

The South African Human Rights Commission’s (the Commission) Eastern Cape Provincial Office (ECPO) responding to compelling concerns about malnutrition within the province, undertook an investigative inquiry. This inquiry took place from August 8^th to August 12^th, 2022, in response to grievances received by the Commission, coupled with media reports highlighting tragic cases of children succumbing to Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) due to hunger.

07 October 2023

By Wisani Baloyi

Our children live in a world that presents them with many challenges that they have to navigate. In South Africa, girls are impregnated by teachers and older men, get bullied, discriminated against in schools based on their religion and culture, navigate ukuthwala cultural practice (abducting a girl to force her family to endorse marriage negotiations), racism, violence, drug abuse, gangsterism and other societal ills which pry on their vulnerabilities.

02 November 2023

Attention: Editors and Reporters

The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission) in the Northern Cape Province will be conducting a stakeholder engagement to address a range of pressing issues pertaining to land rights, indigenous communities' concerns, and the alleged illegal mining activities within the Namakwa district.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

30 October 2023

The South African Human Rights Commission (‘the Commission’) Gauteng Provincial Office in partnership with Out LGBT Well-Being, will be conducting a series of workshops on Accessing the Equality Courts. Based on the complaints received by the Gauteng Provincial Office, equality remains one of the top human rights violations reported in Gauteng. There is thus a need to empower citizens on how to use the equality courts as a tool to advance their human rights and obtain justice.