This year, during human rights month, the Commission awarded Citation of Honour to Ms Nomorussia Bonase for her selfless dedication as a human rights activist and gender justice advocate. Her work through Khulumani Support Group and Khulumani Galela Campaign, where she has advocated for the rights of apartheid-era survivors, especially women affected by political violence has been exemplary.

Even though the country’s statistics depict a worrying picture of underrepresentation of women in top management positions, the Commission is proud to celebrate National Women’s Day by noting that its key strategic positions are led by women. The Commission’s acting Chief Executive Officer is a woman and 55 % of provincial managers are women. Women also constitute the majority of the Commission’s staff compliment, constituting 61% percentage. 

The Commission also pays tribute to single household rural women who continue to defy the odds by nurturing families despite facing economic hardships. Reports further states that female-headed households represent a significant portion of the population with estimates ranging from 42.3% - 49.6 %. The Commission, following deep concern regarding the distress and hardship experienced by grant beneficiaries as a result of reported abrupt delay of social grant payments by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) recently wrote to the Minister of Social Development seeking a meeting to be provided with clarity on the implementation of the beneficiary verification process. The Commission remains concerned that the abrupt delay of payment of social grants to about 210 000 beneficiaries without warning or recourse as reported not only violates administrative justice as provided under Section 33 of the Constitution but also places lives at risk by denying access to food, medication, electricity, and other basic necessities. 

The Commission continues to play a pivotal role together with other likeminded bodies to ensure that the rights of women are realised in the country. The Commission’s investigative reports on socio and economic rights such as the report on SAHRCs inquiry into the state of service delivery at local government level in the Free State Province November 2024, Incomplete and Inadequate RDP Houses in the North West report, SAHRC Provincial Inquiry into Child Malnutrition and the Right to Food, Eastern Cape Road Infrastructure Report all surface intersecting human rights violations that predominately affect impoverished women exacerbating gender burdens and harm. The Commission continues to ensure that the state is being held accountable for these gender injustice challenges. 

The Commission remains concerned that Gender Based Violence and Femicide continue to be a thorn that violates the rights of women. Survey by the Human Sciences Research Council show that South Africa faces a persistent epidemic of gender-based violence (GBV), despite efforts to address it. Women in the country continue to face various forms of violence, including physical and sexual violence, psychological, economic and emotional abuse. The SAHRC will jointly conduct an inquiry with the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights Commission, and the Commission for Gender Equality to look into the handling of GBV cases within the criminal justice system. This inquiry is established to assess the extent to which state institutions are fulfilling their constitutional and legal obligations in responding to GBV. Its objectives are, amongst other things, to identify gaps, inefficiencies, and systemic weaknesses across the criminal justice and support services continuum and recommend actionable, evidence-based reforms to strengthen the criminal justice system, institutional accountability, and service delivery.

SAHRC salutes Caster Semenya

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), on 10 July 2025, ruled in favour of Caster Semenya that an appeal to a Swiss Federal Supreme Court against regulations that barred her from competing had not been properly heard. Having refused to undergo the hormone treatment, South African two-time 800m Olympic champion’s Caster Semenya was no longer eligible to take part in international competitions and was ineligible to compete in the Paris 2024 as a result. The SAHRC was granted leave to intervene in the matter at the ECHR as a third-party intervener, or friend of the court.  

The SAHRC made submissions to the ECHR relying on the rich jurisprudence/human rights norms and principles that have been developed through the various mechanism on the issue of unfair discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, sex, and sexual orientation. Broadly, the submissions made by the SAHRC focus on the discriminatory effect of the regulations on the intersecting grounds of race, sex, and gender. We salute Ms Semenya for her leadership and resilience in the fight for gender equality for her and other women in sport and society in general.

As we mark National Women’s Day, the Commission challenges both the public and private sector to not only celebrate the day by pampering women but to introspect on their work in changing the status quo and provide spaces for women to climb the ladder and occupy leadership spaces. 

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ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION