03 February 2017

How long will this licensing office be allowed to continue verbally abusing clients, who will suffer in silence just to keep the peace?

Today I am forced to report some gross racial discrimination at the Port Shepstone licensing office.

On January 26, my wife and I were patiently waiting in a queue of about 35 people at the licensing office, after joining the queue at 9.30am. Initially I calculated that the office was capturing and handling one person every 15 minutes.

From 10.45am, only one person per hour was allowed into the capturing office. We noticed that about 20 candidates who qualified for learners’ licences were treated preferentially in the capturing room.

03 February 2017

Cape Town – Parents of pupils at Uitzig Secondary School, which the Western Cape education department wants to close down, have been urged to seek alternative schools to accommodate their children.

The department said it had sent letters to the parents on Thursday.

On Friday the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) visited the school and said it was in a "deplorable" condition.

Parents of pupils at 'deplorable' Uitzig high urged to seek alternative schools

02 February 2017

“A single short document of 30 articles”—the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights—“has probably had more impact on mankind than any other document in modern history,” said Navi Pillay, then-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in 2008. Half a century ago, in December 1966, the United Nations formally translated the rhetorical promises from that declaration into legally binding obligations with the adoption of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Since then, global efforts to monitor and track human rights violations have grown exponentially.

04 March 2017

The matter of the continuous opposition of the building of a masjid in Knysna by the non-Muslim community in the town will now be dealt with in the Western Cape High court.

While the Knysna Municipality has pledged its full support behind the building of the masjid by the Knysna Muslim Council (KMC) a group of local home owners and concerned citizens have objected to the project.

Pretoria – South Africa will commemorate Human Rights Day on 21 March 2017, in Ginsberg, King William’s Town, in the Eastern Cape.   

Themed “The Year of OR Tambo: Unity in Action in Advancing Human Rights”, the day will be used to raise awareness and promote respect for basic human rights.

Media Statement

Friday, 3 March 2017

The South African Human Rights Commission (Commission) has requested an urgent meeting with the Honourable Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini and Mr Thokozani Magwaza, the Chief Executive Officer of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), to discuss the lack of clarity on the payment of social grants by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the impact this could have on social grant beneficiaries as from the 1st of April 2017.

21 February, 2017

The South African Human Rights Commission has voiced its "strong condemnation" for acts of violence directed at foreign nationals.

Commenting on community violence in Pretoria West over the weekend and on Monday and in Rosettenville‚ Johannesburg‚ in the preceding week‚ the commission said in a statement: "We understand that the police are still investigating the facts relating to the two incidents and would wait until the investigation yields more information. The Commission is against and condemns any violent attacks on persons on the basis that they are foreign nationals and any destruction of property as both violate human rights of people‚ despite the reason."

15 February 2017

If you spend any amount of time on social media, chances are you’ve seen somebody being racist.

Sometimes it’s subtle, other times it’s blatant and the incidents blow up like it did for Penny Sparrow, Justin van Vuuren, Chris Hart, Velaphi Khumalo and Matthew Theunissen.

12 February 2017

A mother has been forced to pull her daughter out of the Deutsche Internationale Schule in Pretoria following allegations of racist insults directed at the girl.

The Gauteng education department has launched a preliminary investigation into the incident after the child was allegedly called a “black b**ch” by a schoolmate.

07 February 2017

Members of The Chinese Association in Gauteng have laid charges against people making xenophobic and racist remarks against Chinese nationals on social media in recent weeks.

"The xenophobia directed at the Chinese community is of great concern, in the face of past tragic xenophobic experiences in our country, directed at other minority communities," the association said in a statement on Tuesday.