21 March 2017

By: Prof. Bongani Majola (Chairperson: South African Human Rights Commission)

Racism on the increase in South Africa?"is the question asked the most asked of the South African Human Rights Commission. The question arises due to the impact of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, which have given voice to millions, but have, as a side effect, also complicated both the country's attempts to address the racial discrimination of our past and our efforts at social cohesion. Read more

20 March 2017

Human Rights Day reminds us of sacrifices

RACISM has the ability to undermine the democratic progress of the country and can single-handedly cause deeper divides between race groups. World leaders have often preached about the dangers of racism, including former President Nelson Mandela, who said: “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background or religion. People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate they can be taught to love for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has urged people from all walks of life to take an Anti-Racism pledge this Human Rights Day. This involves making a personal promise to refrain from hate speech and to embrace diversity. Read more

23 March 2017

The Constitution is clear. All people have the right to dignity, equality and freedom. As the Supreme Court of Appeal once noted, “human dignity has no nationality. It is inherent in all people – citizens and non-citizens alike – simply because they are human”. This inherent right arising out of our humanity extends not only to everyone’s right to life, freedom and security of the person, religion, language and culture, belief and opinion. It also extends in the Constitution to socio-economic rights such as housing; healthcare, food, water and social security; education; amongst a range of other. Read more

21 September 2016

Their objective, apart from making profits, must be to alleviate the inequality in the communities that provide their labour

FOR more than a century, mining has been an extremely lucrative sector in South Africa, contributing significantly to economic growth and development of the country and indeed, the continent. Read more

10 March 2017

As the nation reels from more xeno-phobic violence, another equally egregious form of institutionalised xenophobia played out far from the glare of public attention. It was directed at schoolchildren, com-pounding the violation and infring-ing on the basic right to education.

12 September 2016

THE Constitution of South Africa is lauded worldwide because of its uniqueness and progressiveness.

Our judiciary in numerous judgments has reinforced the fact that South Africa is indeed a rainbow nation. In a seminal judgment, justice Albie Sachs said: “South Africans come in all shapes and sizes.” This is an affirmation of the fact that diversity and difference ought to be celebrated and cherished as it is the very thing that gives South Africa its uniqueness and nationhood among other nations.

19 May 2016

ADV Mohamed Ameermia

ON MAY 8 the whole country remembered with fond memories the day when the Consti­tutional Assembly, 20 years ago, adopted the Constitution, which would be the blueprint of our country.
However, as was noted by Cyril Ramaphosa who at the time was the chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly, "The real legacy of the Constitutional Assembly is not merely in the books that will be distributed, it lies in the growing awareness of what a Constitution means. I appeal to you all to nurture this, to claim the Constitution as your own. We have a Constitution we can be proud of, now let's make it work."

10 May 2016

By Adv. Bokankatla Malatji, SA Human Rights Commissioner

A few months before the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) will celebrate its twenty years of existence, and during the month where the nation celebrates National Disability Month, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the right to equality for persons with disabilities. Our reflection begins with a reiteration of the SAHRC mandate which informed some of the work the SAHRC has done in promoting right to equality for persons with disabilities. In particular the recent work we have done in the province of Limpopo.

By Chairperson Bongani Majola

5 June 2017

Good afternoon Commissioners, Good afternoon colleagues. We have come together to welcome among us the new (but not so new) Chief Executive Officer of the Commission Mr Tseliso Thipanyane. I think many of you know Tseliso very well as he is an old hand at the Commission. Tseliso can be correctly described as part of the history of this Commission and we appreciate the fact that he has remained interested in the work that we do and has the wellbeing of this institution at heart.

19 May 2017

The university was reported to the SA Human Rights Commission by a student who accused UCT of discriminating against people with disabilities.

CAPE TOWN - University of Cape Town (UCT) management says it has set aside more than R11 million to ensure the institution is more accommodating to students with disabilities.