Shanees Nkandu’s Human Rights Report Card Launch Address

Thank you, Daniela.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am Shanees Nkandu, an LLB graduate from the University of Witwatersrand and one of the two interns that has had the pleasure to be part of this year’s Human Rights Report Card project as part of the FW de Klerk Foundation’s Constitutional Rights Programme team.

My colleague, Daniela, mentioned the rights most under threat as listed in the Human Rights Report Card 2024. Today, I want to focus on the Report Card’s findings as they relate to the rights to equality, life, threats to freedom and security of person and freedom of expression.

Section 9 of the South African Constitution guarantees equality.

In section 9, the Constitution expressly states that the right to equality includes:

• The right to equal protection and benefit of the law;
• The right to not be unfairly discriminated against, on various grounds, by either the state or anyone else; and
• The full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms.

The full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms is the crux of the right to equality. In 2023, South Africa’s right to equality was graded as an E-: i.e. very bad and deteriorating. In 2024, nothing had changed. Reflected in the E= grade awarded to the right; as explained by Christo, an “=” sign indicates that there had been no change in the right from the previous year.

Thus, there was no discernible improvement in South Africa’s achievement of equality from the previous year.

The major factors that contributed to this finding are bad policies, income inequality, persistent gender disparities in economic participation and South Africa continued to struggle with crime, specifically, Gender-Based Violence (commonly known as “GBV”). Many of these may be seen as systemic barriers that we, as South African, must actively work to change, to achieve true equality: the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms.

Turning to income inequality:

One of the most pressing….continue reading this article HERE.

Blade Nzimande: {2019 – Present} Blade Nzimande has been serving as the Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology since May 2019. He has a strong background in trade unionism and politics, serving as the General Secretary of the South African Communist Party. Nzimande is dedicated to promoting science and technology as drivers of economic growth and development in South Africa.