SAHRC and CoGTA must explain its unholy collaboration before Parliament

24 July 2020

The Democratic Alliance will request a Justice Portfolio Committee meeting with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), where they must explain exactly what their “collaboration” to “furtherance of human rights against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic” entails.

In the SAHRC rejection of our 15 July 2020 statement, the Commission states “the South African Human Rights Commission Act obliges the Commission to make recommendations to and advise organs of states at all levels of government”. Making recommendations and advising organs of state is a far cry from collaborating with these organs. Collaboration implies a deeper relationship that does exceed the SAHRC’s mandate and deserves sharper scrutiny and oversight, especially in light of the gross human rights violations that have already occurred during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The DA also notes that the Commission did little to deny that it has a long record of turning a blind eye towards the ANC government’s indiscretions in its newest statement, and finds the statement that our well-founded questions regarding the SAHRC’s collaboration with CoGTA would have the “effect of causing interference with, hindering and obstructing the work of the Commission” simply laughable. By questioning this collaboration, the DA is in fact trying to ensure that the Commission’s important work will be untainted, unhindered and unshackled.

The SAHRC was not established to whitewash what the ANC government is doing, nor to steamroll the rights of individuals when abuses are brought to light. Unfortunately, this once proud institution seems to have lost its way, and a collaboration with CoGTA will simply lead it further from the right path.

Issued by Glynnis Breytenbach, DA Shadow Minister of Justice and Correctional Services. 24 July 2020