In the letter, Mr Jan Bosman, writing in his official capacity as the Chief Secretary of the Afrikanerbond, notes the surge of hateful and divisive speech in South Africa in 2018, and makes specific reference to public statements made by Mr Julius Malema (Economic Freedom Fighters) and Mr Andile Mngxitama (Black First Land First).
Based on the trend in divisive speech and citing the two individuals, Mr Bosman then proceeds to allege that the South African Human Rights Commission is ‘non-functioning’, that the Commission is ‘incompetent to execute’ its constitutional mandate, and is unable to ‘honour or execute’ its duties as set out by the Constitution.  
Noting Mr Bosman’s citation of the SAHRC’s constitutional mandate, the Commission is both surprised and gravely concerned that the Afrikanerbond appears unaware of the extensive work undertaken by the SAHRC in fulfilment of its constitutional obligations - reported on in full and released to the public on 10th December 2018, just 3 days prior to the release of the Afrikanerbond’s statement.  

Had Mr Bosman read the SAHRC’s Trends Analysis Report – or any of the substantive reports on human rights produced by the Commission - he would have been apprised of human rights violations and the findings of the SAHRC over the past five years, and of the extensive work undertaken by the Commission in fulfilment of its broad constitutional mandate to protect, promote and monitor the attainment of human rights in South Africa.  Furthermore, the Trends Analysis Report could have shed invaluable insights into the opportunities, challenges and gaps identified by the Commission which affect its commitment to strengthening protections, and deepening understanding, of human rights.  
On the 13th December 2018 the Commission publicised its intention to approach the Equality Court on complaints related to utterances by Mr Mngxitama.  Having received numerous complaints relating to comments made by Mr Andile Mngxitama at a rally on 8 December 2018 in Potchefstroom, North West Province, threatening to kill whites in this country, the South African Human Rights Commission has resolved to institute litigation against him in the Equality Court. Considering that the Commission published this statement just three days prior to the Afrikanerbond’s statement - it is thus curious that the Afrikanerbond cites Mr Mngxitama as an example of our ‘inaction’.  

The Afrikanerbond in its open letter asserts that “the South African Human Rights Commission must be held accountable for South Africa’s new racism because it allowed viewers to say that hate speech and outrageous speech remain unanswered.”  Had the Afrikanerbond undertaken the most basic research, perhaps it’s open letter could have been greatly enhanced by facts relating to the reality of hate speech and race-based discrimination in the country.  

The Commission’s Report confirms that discrimination on the grounds of race is, unfortunately, one of the top three complaints received during 2016/2017.  Out of a total of 705 inequality complaints received during this period, race-related complaints numbered 486.  However, this indicates a slight decrease from 505 race-related complaints received by the Commission during the year before.  

Notwithstanding this slight dip in race-related complaints, hate speech has remained a matter of serious concern for the SAHRC, a fact outlined in detail in our Report.  The SAHRC – which has one of the broadest mandates of the Chapter 9 bodies – is obliged to fulfil its mandate in full.  As such, the SAHRC does not and cannot cherry-pick aspects of its mandate (hate speech, for instance) to prioritise above any other.  Our task is vast: the Commission is obliged by the highest law of the land to promote respect for human rights, to promote a culture of human rights; to protect human rights, and to monitor the enforcement of human rights in South Africa.  

Contrary to the Afrikanerbond’s characterisation of the SAHRC as ‘non-functioning’, ‘incompetent to execute’ its constitutional mandate, and unable to ‘honour or execute’ its duties as set out by the Constitution, the Commission continues to execute its mandate with commitment and without fear or favour.  

As such, the Commission would welcome a meeting with the Afrikanerbond as an opportunity to assure them of the efficiency, competence and honour with which the SAHRC – staffed by little over 200 people, serving approximately 56 million people, covering a country of 1.2 million square kilometres – executes its mandate.

Ends
Issued by the South African Human Rights Commission
Gail Smith – Spokesperson Tel: 060 988 3792 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.