The Commission is deeply concerned about the fact that these four significant reports, which are aimed at addressing critical human rights challenges affecting South Africans, especially the poor and marginalised, have been overshadowed by misconception, misinformation and a deliberate disinformation campaign about the Commission’s work and its staff composition.

 The Commission has been facing this false narrative of its staff composition for a long period of time despite efforts made to correct it.  The persistence of this incorrect and false narrative, especially on social media platforms, necessitated this statement to nullify this disinformation campaign and provide facts.

1.1 The allegation that the majority of SAHRC staff are non-nationals

This misconception that the majority of staff members employed at the Commission are non-nationals is incorrect. The Commission confirms that it currently has a staff complement of 169, of which only 7 employees are non-nationals. 

1.2 The allegation that the majority of SAHRC managers are non-nationals

The misconception that the majority of senior managers at the Commission are non-nationals is also incorrect. The Commission confirms that it has a total of 16 senior managers, of which only 1 is non-national.

1.3 The allegations that the SAHRC serve only non-nationals

The Commission rejects this narrative in totality. The SAHRC discharges its Constitutional mandate to promote, protect, and monitor human rights in South Africa independently and impartially without fear, favour or prejudice. This enjoins the Commission to ensure that human rights in the country are addressed irrespective of one’s national status.

The Commission's complaints statistics for the past 2024-25 financial year indicate that the Commission has successfully finalised 7,516 complaints. As the reports below indicate, the majority of complaints were received from South Africans, and where violations were found, appropriate redress was recommended.

1.4 Employment at the SAHRC

All employees at the Commission were employed in accordance with its own enabling legislation, the Labour Relations Act and other relevant policies and regulations in the country

2. SAHRC Research reports

These respective reports highlight the work of the Commission in the protection and promotion of human rights in South Africa; measures taken by the state to realise the rights identified under Section 184(3) of the Constitution; the trend of complaints received by the SAHRC and redress recommended; and analyses of key developments at international and regional levels regarding human rights while measuring the compliance of the state with same.

Key highlights from the respective reports are indicated below:
2.1 State of Human Rights Report (2024-25)

• The SAHRC finalised 7,516 complaints, conducted 1,394 monitoring activities and undertook 3,180 human rights advocacy and promotion activities.
• The highest number of complaints were related to economic and social rights such as health care, food, water and social security. The second-highest number of complaints related to just administrative action. Insofar as equality is concerned, the highest number of complaints were race-related.
• The three most common entities against which complaints were made were the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Basic Education and the South African Police Service.
• The top municipalities against which complaints were made were e-Thekwini, Rustenburg and Polokwane.
• The leading private entity against which complaints were made is Anglo American Platinum, while Eskom leads insofar as SOEs are concerned.
• The most common human rights issues identified, based on the work conducted by the SAHRC  were: 1) Failure by the state and private parties to observe the human rights of persons who are alleged to be in conflict with the law (2) Inadequate provision of basic services (3) Racism  (4) Xenophobia (5) Local government (6) Climate change (7) The enforcement of petty offences in major cities and its negative impact on the homeless, poor, and informal traders. (8) Accommodation and inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and Older Persons during elections (9) Bullying in Schools (10) Impact of power cuts/load shedding on health-care and schools.

 2.2 Monitoring the Implementation of Recommendations Report (Monitoring Report)

• The Monitoring Report captures salient issues that were recorded during the 2024 General Elections and these are: (1) the need to improve sanitation facilities, (2) address connectivity, (3) train electoral officials on electronic tools usage, (4) improve communication, (5) improved inclusion for person with disabilities, and (6) improved access for older persons.
• The SAHRC provincial offices monitored a total of 367 schools in all provinces. Monitoring focused on the Regulations Relating to Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure (2024). Primary and secondary schools were monitored, and the following findings can be highlighted
• The teacher-learner ratio was 1 teacher for 31 learners. 97% of schools had power, but only 30% had backup power. 97% of schools had water, 92% had acceptable drinking water. 75% of schools monitored had waterborne/flushing toilets. 16% had pit latrines. 53% had a library, 41% had a science lab, 85% had electronic connectivity, 45% had computer access, and 63% had sports and recreation facilities. Most schools (71%) were universally designed to enable access to all persons, including those with disabilities.
• Regarding Health Care facilities, focus was on monitoring the extent of waiting times at hospitals and loadshedding. The average number of staff at the primary health care facility was 33.
• Average national waiting times for patients at a health care facility were 129 minutes, just above the recommended time of 120 minutes. However, at a provincial level, in some cases, waiting times were 195 minutes (Gauteng) and as low as 67 minutes (North-West). 98% of facilities had electricity, but only 49% had backup power.

 2.3 Section 184(3) Report

The Constitution requires, in terms of Section 184(3), that organs of state must annually provide the Commission with information on housing, health, water, social security, education, land and environment. The following were some of the key findings:

• Housing: Under-utilisation of funds and budget rollover; misalignment between budget and housing demand; lack of structured finance for the ‘Gap ’ (those that do not qualify for housing but also cannot get housing loans); Housing backlogs and Informal Settlements. Some of the findings in these respective areas relate to:
• Health: Lack of financial resources
• Water: Lack of sufficient water and decent sanitation
• Social security: Backlog in the provision of child foster grants
• Education: Lack of statistics to support DBE strategic commitments
• Inadequate information was provided on the environment (Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment), and no information was provided on food (Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development) despite repeated requests.

• The South African government appeared before the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee), where it was reviewed and concluding observations were issued to the State for implementation.
• The South African government submitted follow-up information regarding its fifth periodic report (2021) under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
• After a thorough review, the SAHRC was granted re-accredited as an ‘A-status’ national human rights institution in the world, granted by the Sub Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the ICC of NHRIs and was commended for its work in promoting and protecting human rights in South Africa.

Going forward

The Commission will table these reports before Parliament to ensure that human rights issues listed above are timeously and adequately addressed. In other respects, the Commission will subpoena relevant authorities and private actors, institute inquiries as well as engage in litigation to address these critical human rights concerns.

The Commission will further be adding vigour to its current operating public awareness campaigns to dispel the untruths and misinformation and educate the public about its work and its commitment to promote and protect the rights of all South Africans. The Commission recommits to continue undertaking its work in line with its Constitutional obligations and legislative mandate without fear, favour or prejudice.

ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION