Attention: Editors and Reporters

28 November 2018

In the last few years, the South African Human Rights Commission in Mpumalanga (“Commission”) has received a number of complaints relating to sewerage spillages and waste water treatment challenges in various municipalities in Mpumalanga. The complaints alleged that the sewerage spillages and/or the inadequate treatment of waste water violated the affected communities’ right to an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being (section 24 of the Constitution), as well as the affected communities’ right to clean water (section 27 of the Constitution) and their right to dignity (section 10 of the Constitution).

15 November 2018

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has rejected an apology by Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba for his remarks about ebola.  And the Human Rights Commission says it will be contacting Mashaba about his remarks "which could be regarded as a violation of the constitution".

18 November 2018

Velaphi Khumalo, the man who wrote on Facebook that blacks should do to white people what “Hitler did to the Jews”, on Friday apologised to the nation.
The High Court and Equality Court, sitting in Johannesburg, declared last month that Khumalo’s comments that he made in his January 2006 post were hate speech.

19 November 2018

The inquiry will now investigate what could be causing the contamination.

JOHANNESBURG - The South African Human Rights Commission will begin the second leg of an inquiry into allegations of raw sewage spilling into the Vaal River on Monday.

14 November 2018

Rights body is gunning for Herman Mashaba over his controversial comments about ebola.
Mashaba yesterday apologised for his "insensitive" comments following his "citizen's arrest" of an undocumented foreign national transporting cow heads in a trolley in the Johannesburg CBD.

20 November 2018

Petrochemicals giant Sasol has denied that it is responsible for pollution in the Vaal river.
However, it has admitted struggling to interpret some compliance requirements with regard to regulations on the discharge of waste.
According to a report by the Department of Water and Sanitation Department, three of Sasol's waste incinerators were closed after failing to comply.

20 November 2018

JOHANNESBURG - The Environmental Affairs Department says an inter-governmental approach is needed to deal with the contamination of the Vaal River.

22 November 2018

THE “unacceptably high” staff vacancy rate at special-needs schools and the seeming unwillingness by the authorities to address the problem pose a danger to the pupils.
As a result some abuses won’t be identified or the scourge decreased at the schools’ hostels owing to this dire staff shortage.

22 November 2018

The city made oral submissions at the South African Human Rights Commission on Wednesday, saying they aren’t liable for how raw sewage spillage into the river.

22 November 2018

The South African Human Rights Commission recently expressed its concern over sewerage spilling into the Vaal River.