Celebrating 30 years of courage

THE South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) held its 30th-anniversary symposium on Wednesday in Sandton, Johannesburg.

- KAREN SINGH

The symposium was themed “30 Years of Courage: Defending Human Rights, Dignity, Justice and Democracy for All”.

For three decades, the SAHRC was more than a watchdog, said Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Andries Nel.

Nel said the SAHRC’s investigations into racial discrimination, service denial and violence in schools had made human dignity tangible. Since its inception, Nel said the SAHRC had probed violations and held power accountable.

He said the SAHRC had amplified unheard voices, including those of farmworkers in wage disputes, victims of xenophobia and the LGBT-QIA+ community.

Its investigative report on the July 2021 unrest stands as a landmark in truth-telling, documenting how racialised violence and governance failures undermined public trust and offered reforms to prevent recurrence.

“These cases are not statistics - they are stories of courage from a commission that dared to listen and act,” said Nel. In the Life Esidimeni tragedy, it exposed systemic neglect in mental health care and continues to monitor the implementation of its recommendations.