Ramaphosa: We are proud of SA's human rights, but much still has to be done

President Cyril Ramaphosa says while much has been done to promote South Africans’ human rights, more needs to be done to fulfil the promise of the constitution.

He was speaking at the national conference on 30 years of human rights in South Africa held in Ekurhuleni.

Ramaphosa said since 1994, the government has prioritised the advancement and fulfilment of the Bill of Rights as a cornerstone of South Africa’s democratic order.

“Human rights are the basic rights that all human beings should have. Human rights embody the key values of our society such as equality, dignity and fairness, and define our nationhood,” he said.

Ramaphosa said human rights should manifest themselves through protection for vulnerable groups, freedom of speech and expression, religious freedom, freedom to love and other rights that promote the wellbeing of people.

“Certainly there have been challenges and shortcomings over the past 30 years, and we have a long way to go towards completely fulfilling the promise of the constitution. That said, we should not shy away from the immense progress we have made.”

The Bill of Rights enjoins the democratic state, the government to enact various pieces of legislation to promote human rights between and among people.

Ramaphosa said among those the government has put in place are the Promotion of Access to information Act, which gives effect to section 32 of the constitution; the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act which gives effect to section 33 and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, which gives effect to section 9.

“To give effect to section 9 (2) of the constitution, relating to measures of redress for the previously disadvantaged, we passed the Employment Equity Act, Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Act and others,” he said.

“Our constitutional order is premised not only on building a non-racial society, but also a non-sexist society.

“Over the past 30 years there have been significant changes in the position of women across society. Today, there are more women serving as leaders in both the public and private sectors.

“We have passed a broad range of laws to protect women from all forms of abuse and to advance their rights. These include laws around domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and workplace discrimination,” Ramaphosa said.

To promote accountability, responsiveness and openness, the government had established various institutions to strengthen constitutional democracy. These included the South African Human Rights Commission, the Office of the Public Protector, the Commission for Gender Equality and others.

“We are proud of these institutions supporting democracy. Their establishment ushered in a new era of accountability and respect for dignity,” he said.

South Africa will observe Human Rights Day on Thursday, which is a commemoration of the Sharpeville Massacre, where unarmed protesters took a stand against the pass laws and were killed by the apartheid regime.

“In a far cry from the days of influx control and the hated pass laws, in South Africa today every citizen enjoys the right to free movement,” said Ramaphosa.

“Before the advent of democracy, our country was a pariah state that was infamous for violating the basic rights of the majority of its citizens. We lived in a country where racial discrimination was at the core of government policy.

“Today our country is revered as a country that upholds, protects and advances the basic human rights of the people who live in South Africa. Following our country’s admission as a fully-fledged member of the community of nations, the democratic state has signed, ratified and acceded to various international human rights law treaties."

Ramaphosa said South Africa was not only committed to the rights of all its people, but also to global peace and would fight all forms of oppression. He cited the country’s appearance before the International Court of Justice as an applicant against Israel on the grounds that, through its conduct in Gaza, Israel had violated the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide as an example of such international fight for others’ rights.

“At the heart of South Africa’s case is the blatant violation of the human rights of Palestinians by the state of Israel.”

The government’s commitment to advancing the human rights of South Africa’s people should motivate it to address the challenges that many people face such as poverty and unemployment, he said.

Ramaphosa said the social protection measures the government has put in place go far beyond the provision of grants for the elderly, children, people with disabilities and military veterans.

“Our social protection measures include spending up to 60% of the country’s budget on a significant social wage, expended on health care services, free water and electricity for the indigent, fee-free schools, public housing, school nutrition, early childhood development and expanded financial support for students.

“These measures have contributed significantly to fulfilling the most basic human right of all, namely the right to dignity.”  

Ramaphosa acknowledged that the progress made continued to be hindered by delays and lack of diligence on the part of government entities in fulfilling their constitutional obligations.

"We continue to be plagued by poor service delivery, especially in our municipalities. Corruption deprives citizens of the fulfilment of their rights.

"While we are rightfully proud of how far our constitutional, rights-based order has come, we know that much still has to be done to fulfil the promise of the full enjoyment of the basic human rights of all our people."

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