23 November 2018

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is taking its role seriously as a leader in protecting basic human rights as it steps up to probe a purported case of the violation of the right to access clean water and a clean environment, and to human dignity.
The institution is strengthening awareness of the critical importance of water as a basic human right as it investigates claims that residents in the Vaal region have to contend with raw sewage spillage and environmental hazards.

25 November 2018

Orphaned at a young age, Nolwazi Ndlakazi from the Eastern Cape has been living in poverty for the best part of her adult life.
After the birth of her two children, now aged nine and five respectively, she’s been surviving, like many impoverished rural South Africans on her children’s monthly social grant.

26 November 2018

Cape Town – A single visit by the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to Paarl farmworkers whose water had been cut off without reason for the past two weeks led to the taps suddenly being turned back on.
The farmworkers, who live on Marlenique Estate in Simondium, share taps and communal toilets and said they had been cut from the water grid.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

26 November 2018

On 27 – 28 November 2018, the South African Human Rights Commission (“the Commission”), Western Cape Provincial Office in partnership with GCIS, will be hosting information sessions to amplify basic human rights awareness enshrined in chapter 2 of the Constitution – the Bill of Rights. The information sessions are centered under the theme “Know Your Rights and Responsibilities”.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

26 November 2018

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC or Commission) welcomes the Xolobeni judgment in which the High Court in Pretoria ruled that the permission of the community is required before mining rights are issued.
Community members have been demanding to assert their right to refuse mining companies the right to extract titanium at the Umgungundlovu area in Xolobeni on the Wild Coast. This community raised concerns regarding possible displacement from their homes and grazing lands, as well as environmental degradation.

16th November 2018
Attention: Editors and Reporters

The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission) will convene the second session of the inquiry into allegations of approximately 150 megalitres of raw sewage spilling into the Vaal River daily.

ATTENTION: Editors and Reporters

21 NOVEMBER 2018

The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission) Gauteng Provincial Office in collaboration with the Network or African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI), will host a National Consultation on the African Commission Principles on Decriminalisation of Petty Offences in Africa.

Attention: Editors and Reporters

20 November 2018

On 20 – 22 November 2018, the South African Human Rights Commission (“the Commission”) will be hosting capacity building workshops to amplify basic human rights awareness with the specific focus to the right of access to courts enshrined in section 34 read with sections 38 and 39 of the Constitution. The workshops are centered under the theme “My Right to Use Courts Responsibly”, and are intended to equip rural communities with information on the content of the right of access to courts.

15^th November 2018

Attention: Editors and Reporters

South Africa ratified the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), two decades after it was signed by former President Nelson Mandela. In terms of the Convention, South Africa presented its report about how it was faring in making rights a reality on 12 October 2018 to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The South African Human Rights Commission (Commission), which also has a standing with the United Nations Committee provided its own independent report about the level of progress achieved by the State under the Convention. 

Attention: Editors and Reporters

14 November 2018

On 16-18 November 2018 the South African Human Rights Commission will host roadshows in the Dihlabeng Local Municipality.

In the last financial year the Free State Provincial Office visited the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality. The sites visited highlighted the need to intensify human rights awareness campaigns in rural and far-flung areas of the province. During the visits, the delegation of the Free State Office established that there has been an upsurge in farm evictions and many farm dwellers in these areas visited face many challenges when they are evicted illegally with their homes often being destroyed upon eviction.