Rural poverty is still endemic in the most parts of the Eastern Cape Province and this in turn produces or exacerbates other human rights violations. Research has shown that vulnerable groups such as women, children and persons living with disabilities are disproportionately affected due to sharp rises in poverty. Lack of human rights education or awareness is one difficulty facing rural people. Knowledge of human rights and of remedies for human rights violations is therefore an essential means of accessing human rights. The nature of complaints the Eastern Cape office would receive include but not limited to the rights to Education, access to health care, housing, Equality matters and access to basic services (water and sanitation).
Achievements
- Scholar Transport challenges- following the investigation by the SAHRC and recommendations made, the Department of Education together with Department of Transport have increased coverage and fleet for transportation of learners at various districts of the Province although there is much more that still needs to be done.
- Access to Emergency Medical Services- the Province of the Eastern Cape has had intense challenges in terms of access to emergency medical services for years, some of the reasons including it being one of the most rural provinces, bad state of roads, bad budgeting and planning at the Provincial government level, insufficient fleet of vehicles.
- The Department has now increased the fleet and emergency medical services are starting to improve and be more accessible.
- Schools Infrastructure- the SAHRC has had a number of complaints in relation to challenges of schools infrastructure, water and sanitation at schools. The SAHRC has put a considerable amount of pressure onto the Department to realise and correct these challenges. To date the Department has developed plans to rollout and address these challenges which have already started showing improvement. This however still needs much more attention.
- Disability- has championed quiet vastly protection of the rights of people living with disabilities at institutions of Higher learning. The SAHRC has investigated this subject and recommendations made, which has seen improvement in terms of these institutions becoming friendlier in terms of access as well as capacity in the tools of learning.
- Access to Water and Sanitation- A number of complaints have been investigated by the EC Office in relation to this subject and a number of Investigative Reports Issued. Although there has been improvement in some areas where access to water and sanitation facilities improved, a vast majority of people in the rural parts of the province still experience these challenges.
- This therefore means a lot still needs to be done by government to improve lives of people at rural areas by them having access to these basic services.
- The right to Equality- There has also been a significant success on the equality matters, particularly in the Equality Courts over recent years where in most cases the verdicts have been in favour of the SAHRC and the Complainants. This however goes with a concern of a growing number of complaints the office continues to receive on this subject.
Provide your name, position, and office contact number
Thabang Kheswa
Acting Provincial Manager
TeL: 043 722 7828
Fax: 043 722 7830