Attention: Editors and Reporters

27 February 2023

The SAHRC Eastern Cape provincial office will be embarking on various monitoring activities in Ingquza Hill Local Municipality and O R Tambo District Municipalities. Section 184 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa states that the Commission must monitor and assess the observance of human rights in the Republic. 

Attention: Editors and Reporters

23 February 2023

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) Mpumalanga Provincial Office is conducting a workshop to popularise and raise awareness about the Constitutional Court judgement which declared Section 10 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992 invalid and inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (“the Constitution”) the extent that it prohibits an unmarried father from giving notice of the birth of his child under his surname, the absence of the child’s mother or without consent.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

22 February 2023

Over the years, the Commission in the North West has received many complaints about unfinished and inadequate RDP houses in the North West. The complaints of unfinished houses include those that were not built beyond the foundation stage, those whose walls were built up to the halfway point, and those which were built to almost completion but are left without the roof. These houses make it impossible for the owners thereof to take occupation. As a result, these houses are vandalized. The complaints of inadequate houses relate to buildings that are inaccessible to persons with disabilities. They also relate to the use of inferior building materials and poor workmanship, and, as a result, this poses safety threats/risks to the livelihoods of the occupiers.

22 February 2023

Attention: Editors and Reporters

Government must respect, protect, and promote human rights. It must play a vital role in determining how to allocate and spend fiscus. If government has to deliver specific services, then this must clearly be reflected in the budget.  The work on human rights budgeting also allows us to ask who participates in budgeting and how different social groups are affected. This means that priority must be given to critical areas such as education, social security, access to healthcare, housing, and employment. It also means focusing not only on who has access to goods and services, but also on continually improving the quality, availability, and affordability of those goods and services.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

21 February 2023

The South African Human Rights Commission in Gauteng Province is conducting a monitoring roadshow from the 20^th of February 2023 to the 24^th of February 2023.

Attention: Editors and Reporters
20 February 2023

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in Mpumalanga will be conducting a human rights capacity building workshop for faith-based organisations as strategic stakeholders on Mental Health – Promoting and Protecting Human Rights.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

20 February 2023

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in Western Cape will be conducting outreach work in the Central Karoo District including stakeholder engagements and human rights champions workshop.

The objective of the stakeholder engagements is to engage with government departments, civil society organisations and communities with the view to heightening awareness about human rights and institutions that can help with redress for human rights violations, with a specific focus on the role of the Commission in promoting, monitoring and protecting human rights.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

20 February 2023

The SAHRC Eastern Cape provincial office will be embarking on various monitoring activities in Sarah Baartman District and Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality this week. Section 184 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa states that the Commission must monitor and assess the observance of human rights in the Republic. 

17 February 2023

Attention: Editors and Reporters

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution) recognises equality as a value which informs basic rights, and it also protects the right to equality as enshrined in section 9. Section 9 prohibits discrimination on the basis of amongst others, gender, sex, and sexual orientation. In line with section 9(4) of the Constitution, the State has promulgated a legislation which promote equality and prevent unfair discrimination, namely, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act No. 4 of 2000 (Equality Act). The Equality Act makes it unlawful to unfairly discriminate against anyone on the prohibited grounds of gender, sex, and sexual orientation. The Act also prohibits harassment, hate speech, and the dissemination and publication of unfair discriminatory information on the basis of these discriminatory grounds.

15 February 2023

Attention: Editors and Reporters

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution) provides that everyone has the right to have access to sufficient food and water. Section 27(2) of the Constitution further states that the State must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of the right of access to water. In order to give effect to the right of access to water, the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa (the Parliament) enacted the Water Services Act No. 108 of 1997 (the Water Services Act, 1997).

14 February 2023

Attention: Editors and Reporters

In the past year, the Free State Health Department has recorded an alarming number of hundred and fifty (150) births in just four months for girls aged between ten and fourteen in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District. This has been recorded the highest number of teenage pregnancies in the Free State province. 

 

Attention: Editors and Reporters

14 February 2023

The South African Human Rights Commission Gauteng provincial office will conduct a human rights awareness and capacity building workshop for the Ikaneng Old Age Home. The capacity building workshop is aimed at empowering Human Rights Awareness in the province by training Community Based Organisations and Non-Profit Organisations about human rights and structures that can help with redress for human rights violations with a specific focus on the role of the Chapter Nine Institutions in promoting, monitoring and protecting human rights. 

14 February 2023

Attention: Editors and Reporters

 

The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission) in the Northern Cape Province will be investigating complaints received and conduct monitoring in the Namakwa District from Tuesday, 14 February to Friday, 17 February 2023.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

13 February 2023

SAHRC Western Cape provincial office to conduct stakeholder engagements and human rights champions workshop in the West Coast district.

The objective of the stakeholder engagements is to engage with government departments, civil society organisations and communities with the view to heightening awareness about human rights and institutions that can help with redress for human rights violations, with a specific focus on the role of the Commission in promoting, monitoring and protecting human rights.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

Friday, 10 February 2023

The SAHRC KwaZulu Natal provincial office will hold engagements with various disaster management centres in the province to assess governments response to the KZN April 2022 Floods. This follows reports provided by the Provincial Government to the Commission on the progress of relief measures undertaken. The Commission has since the advent of the flood disaster been engaged in multi-disciplinary interventions aimed at monitoring and protecting the rights of flood victims.

10 February 2023

Attention: Editors and Reporters

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has taken note of the severe flooding that has impacted the Komani area, in the Eastern Cape. We extend our deepest sympathies to those who have been affected by this natural disaster and have lost their homes and belongings.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

Thursday, 09 January 2023

In 2017 the SAHRC KwaZulu Natal Provincial Office released its investigative report on oncology services within the province. The report emanated from a complaint that alleged, among others, the lack of adequate provision of oncology services in the KZN Province. The report was shared with relevant stakeholders to action and to engage with the findings and recommendations in the report which sought to improve the state of oncology services and to manage the backlog of oncology patients that had arisen at the time. The SAHRC had received reports on the actions that were undertaken to comply with the recommendations in its report.

Date: 07 February 2023  

Attention: Editors and Reporters

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) North West provincial office received several complaints from persons alleging that they have been “blacklisted” by their former employers from securing employment in the mining sector.
The SAHRC will therefore conduct a human rights dialogue on the alleged practice of “blacklisting” in the North West Province.
The aim of the dialogue is to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to clarify how the “blacklisting” practice works, the rationale behind the practice, the parties involved throughout the value chain and the redress mechanisms available to persons affected by this practice.

07 February 2023
Attention: Editors and Reporters

On 12 November 2018, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) released the outcomes of the investigation into allegations of racial tension, unfair discrimination, and harassment at UNISA. Following the release of the outcomes of the investigation, the Commission has held engagements with UNISA where policies, outputs and deadlines were discussed.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

06 February 2023

The SAHRC Eastern Cape provincial office is embarking on various monitoring activities in O.R. Tambo, Amathole and Chris Hani District Municipality this week. Section 184 (1) (c) of the South African Constitution states that the Commission must monitor and assess the observance of human rights in the Republic.  The role of monitoring and assessing human rights and potential human rights violations, provides for an opportunity for the Commission to inspect areas of potential violation, and facilitate redress where required.