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By Tshepo Madlingozi and Lee-Anne Germanos ManuelOpinion
1 July 2025
South Africa hosted its first ever Pride March in 1990, thanks to the likes of Bev Ditsie, Simon Nkoli and Phumi Mthetwa. In 2006, South Africa became the fifth country in the world to legalise same-sex unions, enabling any person to enter into a civil union. A civil union recognises the same rights and responsibilities as Civil Marriages, with the main difference being its acceptance of all types of relationships on an equal basis.
By Tshepo Madlingozi & Naleli Morojele
04 June 2025
As Africa Month ends, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) wishes to draw attention to a key struggle for African self-determination, remembering and “re-membering”. That struggle is the struggle for the full liberation of cannabis.
We need to start calling the deliberate sabotage of supply by watertankers, apparently in cahoots with municipal officials, what it is
11 April 2025 - 04:30
BY HENK BOSHOFF AND PEACEMORE MHODI
Access to sufficient water is recognised as a fundamental human right inSouth Africa. This right is justiciable, meaning it can be vindicated in a court of law. The water supply chain includes several role players such aswater services authorities (WSA), which are tasked by the Water Services Act with water provision at a local level.
Zululand, having been conquered by us, really belongs to Her Majesty the Queen, but as an act of grace to the Zulu people, she has now parcelled out the country into independent chieftainships. It is for her officers, on her behalf, to decide the extent of territory that is by her favour to be allotted to each Chief. This was a right freely exercised by Cetshwayo, as well as by his predecessors, and it is that right which devolves upon the Great Queen by right of conquest, and that must not be disputed.”
Philile Ntuli and Thenjiswa Jonas
One of South Africa’s most devastating tragedies last year was the untimely and preventable deaths of more than 20 children, who allegedly consumed food or snacks purchased from spaza shops.
Subsequent investigations revealed that the food contained traces of the organophosphate pesticide Terbufos, commonly used in agriculture.
Sanitation is dignity, according to the slogan of South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).
16 November 2024
The slogan is true and apposite because without proper hygienic sanitation, the dignity and sense of being a human are compromised. The DWS is not alone in recognising the centrality and importance of sanitation in living a dignified life.
13 October 2024
This milestone year in the life of democratic South Africa behoves us to have difficult conversations about the unfinished business of decolonisation, national unity, and what it would truly take to inculcate a culture of human rights based on a just and egalitarian society. These conversations would be incomplete if we did not debate the continuing use of racial categories by the state.
14 August 2024
The average grade 8 learner today was born in 2010, 16 years into the Democratic era, and has had no real experience of apartheid. These learners are not alone in this though, the 2022 Census suggests that there are more people in South Africa today (30 million) that were born after apartheid than there are those who lived through, or experienced apartheid. Despite this, racism continues to stretch its reach to younger generations, like an infectious illness that is being transferred either through education or socialisation from generation to generation.
By Tshepo Madlingozi and Allan Tumbo
On Wednesday the Grand Chamber at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will hear the case of Caster Semenya v Switzerland. The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has been granted leave to intervene in the matter as a third-party intervener, or friend of the court. The case before the Grand Chamber was referred by Switzerland after the judgment handed down by the ECHR in July 2023. The judgment found in favour of Semenya, indicating that her rights, as enshrined in the European Convention for Human Rights, to non-discrimination, respect for private life, and to an effective remedy had been violated.
IT IS WIDELY established that human rights are indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Similarly, consensus exists that water is the source of all life and therefore the right to water is the force that sustains the intrinsic connectedness of all human rights.
However, in South Africa this vital right is under siege due substantially to neglected infrastructure.The nation is grappling with a growing crisis as the availability of this essential resource increasingly diminishes – leading to inequalities
and adversities. The unfolding crisis is on full display in the rising number of community protests against water shortages. In the province of KwaZulu-Natal, communities living in the eThekwini Metropolitan are particularly despondent with increasing reports of water protests. In recent months, there have been increased protest action in areas such as Phoenix, KwaXimba, Verulam, KwaNyuswa and oThongathi, among others.
11 Feb 2024
Philile Ntuli is a commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission.
The relentless attacks on the lives and credentials of black women in positions of authority could, if not scrutinised, pose a challenge to the extent to which affirmative action, equity and diversity programmes are lauded.
The resignation of Prof Claudine Gay from the position of president of Harvard University – only six months into her tenure – resonated wretchedly for many historically and currently marginalised people and communities across the world. Prof Gay is the first black, and second woman president in Harvard University’s 400-year history.
By Eileen Carter
As a national human rights institution (NHRI), the commitment of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to upholding human rights is unwavering. However, the landscape in which we advocate for these rights is evolving at an unprecedented pace, a phenomenon which was highlighted during the recent EU Disinfolab Conference in Krakow, Poland.
In this age of disinformation, where misinformation and fake news can spread like wildfire, our role as defenders of human rights has never been more critical. There is a need to apply a generational human rights approach to tackle the intersection of disinformation and the rise of generative AI.
08 November 2023
By Philile Ntuli and Peacemore Mhodi
All living beings, including humans, animals and plants, are constituted mainly by water and require water to sustain their existence.
The human body is composed of 70% water and requires sustained access to clean water to remain alive. Indigenous communities globally revere the divinity, femininity and fertility of water. In Zulu cosmology, water manifests through Nomkhubulwane, the goddess of rain, harvest and fertility. Recognising this, myriad international, regional and domestic conventions, including the constitution, affirm the indispensability of the right to water for the purposes of leading a dignified life.
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.
As the country celebrates Heritage Day, there is a greater need to introspect on the meaning of heritage in today’s context. This is 2023, not 1994 when the majority of South Africans were marching on the same line inspired by the dawn of democracy and the Madiba magic. There was unity in the need to reach the common goal of building the spirit of ubuntu (humanity), hence the term or slogan “united in our diversity” was coined.
By Wisani Baloyi
Access to land, land rights and the subject of land in South Africa is a key topical issue which continues to be debated in many forums. It evokes emotions and reminds the country of the painful past in which black people were deprived of this source of life. Indeed, as many have rightfully put it, land is life.
By Commissioner Philile Ntuli:
30 April 2023
Having inherited systemic fragmentation, deep racial divides, massive socio-economic and service delivery inequalities – the local government sphere has faced great challenges in promoting human rights, addressing past backlogs and spatial distortions, and planning for a sustainable future, writes Philile Ntuli.
Across all locales of South African society, there is a general sense of discontent regarding service delivery in general, and the performance of municipal institutions specifically.
By Dr Eileen Carter
12 March 2023
Gender-based violence (GBV) is a growing concern in South Africa, and the rise of the internet and social media has only amplified the problem. During the state of the nation address in February this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa again called on individuals, institutions and leaders to end violence against women. Nevertheless, online spaces, which can be seen as empowering and liberating, are increasingly used to perpetuate harm against users and in particular women.
Online activity has opened new avenues for GBV, such as cyberstalking, cyberbullying and ha rassment.Deepfake technology that can seamlessly stitch women's faces onto a video or footage they never actually participated in. In fact, deepfake technology was initially developed in 2017 to transpose the faces of women actors into pornographic scenes without their consent. Since then, access to these tools has grown.
These forms of violence can severely affect the mental and emotional wellbeing of women and even put their safety at risk. Additionally, the anonymity provided by online spaces allows perpetrators to act with perceived impunity, making it difficult for victims to seek help and support.
Written by Lillian Artz, Veronica Filippeschi and Nokwanda Nzimande
The global female prison population has grown by a staggering 53% over the past decade. Yet little has been done to improve the system so that it supports those whom it incarcerates. South Africa is no different.
The little information we have about women in South African prisons speaks of intolerable overcrowding, unhygienic sleeping conditions, and minimal health and mental health care services, including ‘medical neglect’.
Do the amendments to the law strengthen SA’s fight against GBV?
By Fatima Chohan
As we all know, our country excels in some notorious global indices. The levels of femicide, domestic violence, violence and crime in general are some of the indices in which we have excelled. Government has been under pressure to act to eradicate such crime, and it has, in the best way that it knows how – by amending the law. This is no small matter – there are some laudable changes made to the existing law designed to further expand the ambit of criminalising gender-based violence (GBV), and sexual offences, especially against vulnerable groups, such as older persons in care facilities, young women at universities, children, and persons with disabilities.
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The Human Rights Commission is the national institution established to support constitutional democracy. It is committed to promote respect for, observance of and protection of human rights for everyone without fear or favour.
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