South Africa continues to struggle with significant inequality, impacting the lives of the poor and vulnerable. The new Cabinet faces the significant responsibility of addressing numerous human rights challenges in the country and therefore, needs to take swift action. The new cabinet must put South Africa first. The Commission urges all public representatives, including those not in the GNU, to actively contribute to advancing the realisation of human rights in South Africa.
Equally, the Commission calls for a human-rights-based approach to tackling these pressing issues and underlines the government's constitutional duty to respect, protect, promote, and fulfill the Bill of Rights. Fighting corruption, addressing unemployment, poverty, malnutrition, service delivery challenges, high crime rates, gender-based violence, and the impact of natural disasters should be at the top of the agenda.
The Commission as part of its mandate, will seek an audience with all relevant ministers whose portfolios align with the promotion and protection of human rights, to table existing systemic human rights issues and explore ways to address these matters through enhanced collaborative efforts. The Commission takes this opportunity to remind Cabinet of the obligation under section 13(4) of the SAHRC's enabling legislation, (the South African Human Rights Commission Act 40 of 2013), which places an obligation on all organs of State to afford the Commission such assistance which may be reasonably required for the effective exercising of its powers and performance of its functions.
The Commission will continue monitoring the observance of human rights and take action to redress socio-economic rights violations. Government and ministries are expected to cooperate with the Commission to ensure the protection of human rights. The SAHRC will use the Constitution and the South African Human Rights Commission Act to address instances where the Government fails to protect human rights.
Section 184(3) of the Constitution states that “each year, the South African Human Rights Commission must require relevant organs of State to provide the Commission with information on the measures that they have taken towards the realisation of the rights in the Bill of Rights concerning housing, health care, food, water, social security, education and the environment”. This information is critical in measuring the extent to which the State has progressed or regressed in realising human rights. The Commission, therefore, encourages the new National Executive to engage proactively with the SAHRC and to place human rights at the forefront of the 7th Administration’s agenda.
ENDS
For further information or inquiries, please contact Wisani Baloyi on 081 016 8308 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Issued by the South African Human Rights Commission