8th August 2016

ATTENTION: Editors and Reporters

The 9th August 2016 marks the 60th anniversary of the 1956 women’s anti-pass march in Pretoria.  National Women’s Day has been set aside to reflect on the courage and commitment of the women of 1956, but also to reflect on women’s empowerment and gender equality in South Africa.

On 5^th August 2016, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) hosted a delegation of Sri Lankan parliamentarians. 

The background to this visit is that the Sri Lankan ‘Constitutional Assembly’ is poised to start negotiating a (new) Constitution, which will include a modern bill of rights; seek a political solution (power sharing/devolution) to address the so-called National (Tamil) Issue and provide for a new electoral system (as a chapter in the new Constitution).

1st August 2016

Attention: Editor and Reporters

The South African Human Rights Commission has finalised a complaint lodged against the South African Broadcasting Authority by Die Afrikanerbond lodged on 29th June 2016.

The South African Human Rights Commission has concluded its investigation into a complaint lodged against the South African Broadcasting Authority by Die Afrikanerbond lodged on 29^th June 2016.

The complaint was lodged by Mr. Jan Bosman, Chief Secretary (Die Afrikanerbond) on 29 June 2016, detailed allegations of an unfair editorial policy at the SABC, as well as political interference in the management of the SABC.

Download Letter here

The SA Human Rights Commission has ordered the spokesperson for a Free State local municipality to apologise unconditionally to white South Africans after he posted an offensive picture on Facebook.

Steve Naale, spokesperson for the Ngwathe local municipality in Parys, posted the iconic photograph depicting the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abraham Smith by the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana in the US in 1930 on the Facebook group page, “Ngwathe Online”. A caption accompanying the picture read: “Unless we want this under a white man’s rule, AGAIN.”

Chairperson of the SAHRC, Adv Lourence Mushwana sends an urgent letter to Honourable Minister M Gigaba, Department of Home Affairs, requesting a detailed report from the Department on its response to the proposed entry into South Africa by Pastor Steven Anderson

27^th July 2016

 Attention: Editor and Reporters

 The Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, Advocate Lourence Mushwana has sent an urgent letter to Honourable Minister M Gigaba, Department of Home Affairs, raising concerns about the Department’s position on the proposed entry into South Africa by Pastor Steven Anderson.

Click here to access the letter

21 July 2016
 
IF YOU suspect 2016 is fast becoming the year of the social media clap-back against racism in SA, you are not mistaken. I was taken aback earlier this week by a statistic from the South African Human Rights Commission. Apparently, the proportion of complaints about racist speech on online platforms and social media that the commission deals with on an annual basis rose sharply from 2% to 22% in the past two financial years.