Solidarity to lodge complaints with the UN, HRC and Parliament this week
This week, Solidarity will submit an early warning complaint to the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva. The complaint focuses on the potential consequences of racial slurs and hate speech that target minorities. There is a particular focus on the inadequacy of government and institutions such as the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in this regard. Solidarity’s complaint is lodged in terms of the committee’s early warning and urgent action procedure.
In its collective complaint, Solidarity requests CERD to launch a formal inquiry into the matter by requesting information from organisations such as the SAHRC as well as from government, and to send a delegation to South Africa to investigate the situation on the ground. If CERD agrees on the substance of Solidarity’s complaint the committee may make recommendations to government and / or refer the matter to the UN Security Council.
Solidarity’s complaint follows in the wake of the success it had last year when it brought a complaint about quotas in the workplace and in sport to CERD. As a result, CERD asked government, among other things, to report on its policies and practices, and criticised South Africa’s current dispensation, one that is reminiscent of apartheid. The committee was also of the opinion that South Africa’s quota system was too inflexible.
Apart from submitting the complaint to CERD, Solidarity will also this week petition Parliament about the selective way in which racism is being dealt with in South Africa and will file complaints about this matter with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), the International Human Rights Commission and the International Labour Organisation.
Solidarity will also request the UN’s Human Rights Commission to send a delegation to South Africa to investigate Solidarity’s complaint. The complaint directed at the UN’s Human Rights Commission contains a request that government provide further information and that Solidarity be given an opportunity to make a submission to the UN commission.
“Our aim with this is to re-establish objectivity in South Africa as far as race is concerned. Dealing with race in a subjective manner has become systemic and it is justified by the system. Because it has become systemic, it would be expedient if a watchdog from outside could facilitate a change,” Solidarity Chief Executive Dirk Hermann said.
About 405 000 South Africans have signed a petition in support of Solidarity’s complaint.
The complaint comes as a result of a Solidarity research report and conference that investigated and analysed the phenomenon of selective racism.
According to Solidarity its investigation clearly revealed that the occurrence of racism in South Africa is dealt with in a selective manner.
CERD particularly emphasises the importance of a government intervening when elected office-bearers or other government officials are guilty of racial slurs and hate speech, the purpose of such intervention mainly being to protect minorities against agitation by the majority.
Solidarity’s complaint takes the form of a collective complaint and focuses in particular on statements and / or actions of persons who have vertical influence, that is, people with authority. South Africa is very tolerant when it comes to racial slurs made by South Africans in positions of power but are totally intolerant when it comes to slurs made by ordinary white South Africans who have no power.
In an analysis of the phenomenon, Solidarity points out that estate agent Penny Sparrow’s statements about black South Africans had 4 501 media hits, while Julius Malema’s statements that white South Africans will not be slaughtered just yet, and that their peace must be disturbed, only had 163 hits.
Solidarity indicates in its complaint how the SAHRC, too, handles racism selectively. For example, the SAHRC has not investigated any high profile black South African like Julius Malema, Jacob Zuma, Lulu Xingwane, or any other for that matter, but ordinary white South Africans like Penny Sparrow, Chris Hart and Justin van Vuuren have been investigated at the HRC’s own initiative.
“We cannot pretend that it is right when Jacob Zuma says all problems started when Jan van Riebeeck arrived in the country and then uses it to find justification for all problems, even protest actions against Zuma, by blaming white people. We cannot remain silent when Julius Malema says his aim is to disturb white people’s peace and white people must realise that they are only visitors here. That is xenophobic language. We cannot allow it when a Mathematics teacher, Tlou Molele, says being white is a genetic fault, and we also cannot allow that the many other examples that feature in our complaint and report, are ignored.
One thing that is even worse than the statements themselves, is to keep quiet about them in the hope that they, and the consequences they have, would disappear. We cannot allow any group in South Africa to be regarded as unwanted, or that they are being criminalised or dehumanised. The time has come for us to provide an early warning to the international watchdogs about these occurrences and the possible consequences of such slurs,” Hermann said.
Follow the week’s events on Solidarity’s Facebook page.
Solidarity’s Stop Racism programme for the week of 8 to 12 May:
Monday 8 May at 10:30 at the South African Parliament:
A petition will be submitted to Parliament in which Solidarity requests a debate on the double standards that prevail in the handling of racism and the possible consequences thereof.
Tuesday 9 May at 11:30 at the SAHRC in Johannesburg:
A complaint will be submitted to the Human Rights Commission. This complaint focuses on the HRC’s subjective handling of the matter and an investigation will be requested.
Wednesday 10 May at 12:00 at the offices of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva:
Complaints about race quotas in the workplace and in sports will be submitted to this body. A formal investigation and hearing will be requested in this regard.
Thursday 11 May at 12:00 at the offices of the UN’s Human Rights Commission in Geneva:
A complaint will be submitted to the International Human Rights Commission. The commission will be requested to send a delegation to South Africa to obtain feedback from government and that Solidarity be given an opportunity to address the Commission.
Friday 12 May at 12:00: Submission of complaint to the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva:
The complaint is submitted in terms of this commission’s early warning and urgent action procedure. A request that more information be obtained from the South African Human Rights Commission and that an investigation be launched in South Africa will be included in the complaint. Also included is a request that recommendations be made to the South African government.
Connie Mulder
Head: Solidarity Research Institute
Dirk Hermann
Chief Executive: Solidarity
Issued by Solidarity, 7 May 2017
