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Attention Editors and Reporters
The South African Human Rights Commission (Commission) has put six (6) Provincial MEC’s for Education on terms concerning water and sanitation deficiencies at schools in their provinces. These are the MECs for Education of KwaZulu Natal, North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Free State and the Eastern Cape.
Attention Editors and Reporters
The mandate of the South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission or the SAHRC) is, among others, to promote respect for human rights and a culture of human rights and includes powers to carry out research and to educate.
In line with this constitutional imperative, the SAHRC will host regular, monthly media briefings and use these media briefings as an opportunity to proactively keep all within South Africa abreast of developments in the work of the Commission as well as report on progress made on important matters. The Commission also sees this as an opportunity to highlight work it is doing that may ordinarily receive little media and public attention.
29 September 2021
The South African Human Rights Commission will be conducting a human rights champion workshop on 30 September 2021. The identified human rights champions will be empowered on the mandate of the South African Human Rights Commission.
Attention: Editors and Reporters
The SAHRC Limpopo Provincial Office (LPO) will be conducting a three-day training for human rights champions in the province from the 28th to 30th of September 2021.
27 September 2021
ATTENTION: Editors and Reporters
On 27 September 2021 to 1 October 2021, the North West Provincial Office of the South African Human Rights Commission (“the SAHRC”) will conduct site inspections in various villages and towns in order to investigate allegations of human rights violations by various municipalities. The site inspections are necessitated by hundreds of complaints lodged with the SAHRC relating to allegations of poor service delivery, particularly lack of access to sufficient water, poor water quality, poor sewerage system, lack of access to basic sanitation and poor domestic waste removal.
Attention: Editors and Reporters
The South African Human Rights Commission (the SAHRC or the Commission) welcomes and supports the decision of the Constitutional Court pertaining to section 29(2) of the Constitution in Chairperson of the Council of the University of South Africa v Afriforum. This case concerned a decision by UNISA to discontinue Afrikaans as a language of teaching and learning, and had previously been heard in the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal.
22 September 2021
Over the years, the Commission has received and investigated service delivery complaints against various local municipalities in Mpumalanga. The issues raised in the various complaints included the failure by municipalities to provide water and housing, sewage spillages, sewage treatment challenges, electricity outages, non-collection of refuse and potholes on the roads.
22 September 2021
Attention: Editors and Reporters
The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission) is celebrating and participating in the International Week of Deaf People 2021-Celebrating Thriving Deaf Communities, hosted by DeafSA. The webinar will be led by the Commissioner for the Rights of People with Disabilities and Older Persons, Advocate Bokankatla Malatji and Gauteng Provincial Office Legal Officer, Ms. Harriette Buga.
ATT: Editors and Reporters
The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission or the SAHRC) joins the rest of the nation in mourning the passing of Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Hlengiwe Mkhize who, sadly, passed away on the 16th September 2021 after a short illness.
20 September 2021
Attention: Editors and Reporters
The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission) in partnership with the Health IQ Consulting will be hosting a dialogue on ‘Dignified Rights’ which seeks to raise awareness about the vulnerability of Mental Health Care Users.
ATT: Editors and Reporters
The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission or the SAHRC) will hold a National Investigative Hearing into the July 2021 unrest, which affected especially the provinces of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, the causes of the unrest as well as the impact of the unrest on human rights. The Hearing will commence on the 15th November 2021 and is planned to be heard over a three week period until the 3rd December 2021.
ATTENTION: Editors and Reporters
On 18 September 2021, the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) North West Provincial Office will host the oral round of the National Schools Moot Court Competition (NSMCC). The NSMCC is a collaboration between the National Department of Basic Education (DBE), the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD) and the SAHRC.
16 September 2021
As part of the 2021 Schools Moot Court Competition and following the success of Mpumalanga learners who participated in the essay writing phase of the competition, the Mpumalanga provincial office of the South African Human Rights Commission in collaboration with Department of Basic Education and the Department of Justice in Mpumalanga will be hosting the learners as they now take part in the provincial oral round of the competition.
ATTENTION: Editors and Reporters
The South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) North West Provincial Office, working with the Department of Justice and Community Advice Office South Africa, will conduct capacity building workshops on the right to equality.
13 September 2021
ATT: Editors and Reporters
The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission) launched its Position Paper and campaign on the Right to Read and Write on 8th September at the Constitutional Court (Braamfontein). The Position Paper was prepared by the Section 11 Committee on the Right to Read and Write, a formally constituted sub-committee of the South African Human Rights Commission. The Section Eleven Committee is comprised of esteemed members of academia, organisations and individuals dedicated to the advancement of education, children’s rights, education, literacy, language, disability, economic and constitutional law. The Committee’s work was ably coordinated by Prof Nic Spaull from Stellenbosch University. The project was sponsored by the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation and the Zenex Foundation.
Attention: Editors and Reporters
The South African Human Rights Commission will be hosting a virtual Moot Court preparatory workshop aimed at preparing learners from the ten participating schools, for their provincial moot court oral rounds.
09 September 2021
The South African Human Rights Commission working in partnership with the Eastern Cape Education Department, Walter Sisulu University and Fort Hare University, will host the provincial rounds of the moot court competition.
MEDIA STATEMENT: SAHRC Launches the Right to Read and Write Campaign on Wednesday 8th September 2021
ATT: Editors and Reporters
7 September 2021
The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission) will launch a position paper and campaign on the Right to Read and Write on 8th September at the Constitutional Court (Braamfontein). This paper defines the core necessary conditions as well as the required outcomes or minimum standards of the right to read and write, and outlines what it means to read for meaning.
05 September 2021
The unprecedented conflicts, violence, looting and the destruction of infrastructure witnessed in the month of July 2021 and the resultant deaths in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal necessitated the two Commissions, namely, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to facilitate interventions in line with their respective mandates. Also, these interventions are in line with the President’s clarion call for all structures and organizations to do everything within their powers and mandates to contribute towards the rebuilding, reconstruction, stabilizing and normalizing of communities through partnerships and collaborative efforts that can facilitate peace, stability and community integration.
03 September 2021
The South African Human Rights Commission working in partnership with the Western Cape Education Department, Legal Aid South Africa and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development will host the provincial rounds of the moot court competition.About us
Understanding PAIA
The Human Rights Commission is the national institution established to support constitutional democracy. It is committed to promote respect for, observance of and protection of human rights for everyone without fear or favour.
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