The time is now! Solidarity heading to UN to put an end to race laws

16 October 2023

Solidarity is heading to the United Nations (UN) to demand that the South African government set a definite end date when its policy of race counting, as well as all concomitant race laws will be terminated.

The aim of this intensified UN campaign is to put an end to the government’s obsession with racial legislation which is contrary to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

Therefore, both the South African government and Solidarity will appear before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in late November.

“All this racial insanity takes place under the banner of nice-sounding words such as rectification, equality, diversity and transformation. But instead, the outcome is inequality, looting, self-enrichment and the destruction of the public service,” said Solidarity Chief Executive Dr Dirk Hermann.

“Earlier this year, the government also wanted to push through legislation that would measure the private sector against race quotas. Those insane racial plans were stopped by the community – thanks to a settlement.

"However, the great battle has not yet been won and we are continuing the fight. We are fighting even harder. We aim to stifle race laws altogether, and our message is supported by hundreds of thousands of people. The message is that race laws must come to an end. And the time for that is now,” Hermann added.

According to Anton van der Bijl, Solidarity’s deputy chief executive for legal matters, the government’s obsession with statistical racial representivity, as is evident from the way they apply their affirmative action policy, is common knowledge.

“Our government’s implementation of affirmative action is not only in contravention of the UN’s convention dealing with racial discrimination, but it is also in conflict with the global view of affirmative action which endorses the principle that affirmative action must be temporary in nature and must have a specific end date,” Van der Bijl said.

During the UN visit, Solidarity will emphasise the fact that, in terms of international guidelines and conventions, affirmative action must be temporary in nature, and Solidarity will insist that the South African government set an end date for it.

Hermann also believes the successes of previous UN visits bode well for the new campaign.

“Solidarity believes it can now achieve an even bigger breakthrough with the help of, and on behalf of the community. In this way, we can begin to finally put an end to racial legislation.

Read Solidarity's shadow report here.

Issued by Dirk Hermann, Chief Executive Officer, Solidarity, 16 October 2023