16 February 2017

JOHANNESBURG – An investigative hearing into racism and social media kicked off in Braamfontein, Johannesburg on Wednesday at the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC’s) offices.

The SAHRC engaged with key stakeholders, including the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the SA Police Service (SAPS), and Helen Suzman Foundation on their submissions of what measures can be used to punish racial hate speech on the social media platforms.

15 February 2017

Johannesburg - Social media platforms should not be used as a scapegoat for the rise in hate speech online because they only mirror what society already feels, a Facebook representative said on Wednesday.

Blaming social media platforms for this would be unfair, as their main purpose was to encourage freedom of expression, director of public policy for Facebook’s Africa division Ebele Okobi said.

15 February 2017

Former Constitutional Judge Justice Albie Sachs says there is no silver bullet to cure racism on social media.

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is hosting a two day national hearing on the scourge.

15 February 2017

Johannesburg - Once the draft Prevention of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill has been finalised and written into law, it will increase the workload of the NPA, the prosecuting authority says.

The NPA will be tasked with prosecuting all the matters. The Director of Public Prosecutions in Pretoria, Sibongile Mzinyathi, was speaking to reporters at the SA Human Rights Commission on Wednesday during a two-day public hearing into racism and social media.

06 February 2017

Durban - The FW de Klerk Foundation has made its submissions to the South African Human Rights Commission on racism and social media in South Africa.

The foundations spokesperson, Dr Theuns Eloff, said hearings were scheduled to take place on February 15 and 16, this year.

03 February 2017

How long will this licensing office be allowed to continue verbally abusing clients, who will suffer in silence just to keep the peace?

Today I am forced to report some gross racial discrimination at the Port Shepstone licensing office.

On January 26, my wife and I were patiently waiting in a queue of about 35 people at the licensing office, after joining the queue at 9.30am. Initially I calculated that the office was capturing and handling one person every 15 minutes.

From 10.45am, only one person per hour was allowed into the capturing office. We noticed that about 20 candidates who qualified for learners’ licences were treated preferentially in the capturing room.

03 February 2017

Cape Town – Parents of pupils at Uitzig Secondary School, which the Western Cape education department wants to close down, have been urged to seek alternative schools to accommodate their children.

The department said it had sent letters to the parents on Thursday.

On Friday the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) visited the school and said it was in a "deplorable" condition.

Parents of pupils at 'deplorable' Uitzig high urged to seek alternative schools

02 February 2017

“A single short document of 30 articles”—the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights—“has probably had more impact on mankind than any other document in modern history,” said Navi Pillay, then-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in 2008. Half a century ago, in December 1966, the United Nations formally translated the rhetorical promises from that declaration into legally binding obligations with the adoption of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Since then, global efforts to monitor and track human rights violations have grown exponentially.

04 March 2017

The matter of the continuous opposition of the building of a masjid in Knysna by the non-Muslim community in the town will now be dealt with in the Western Cape High court.

While the Knysna Municipality has pledged its full support behind the building of the masjid by the Knysna Muslim Council (KMC) a group of local home owners and concerned citizens have objected to the project.

Pretoria – South Africa will commemorate Human Rights Day on 21 March 2017, in Ginsberg, King William’s Town, in the Eastern Cape.   

Themed “The Year of OR Tambo: Unity in Action in Advancing Human Rights”, the day will be used to raise awareness and promote respect for basic human rights.