News

On 26 September, the Dullah Omar Institute, University of the Western Cape partnered with ASRI and the District Six Museum to convene a seminar on ‘Race’ and racism in post-millennial post-apartheid South Africa: unmaking the past, making the future. The seminar was chaired by Jaap de Visser, the Director of the Dullah Omar Institute and featured influential researchers and thought leaders on ‘race’ and racism.

On 26 September, the Dullah Omar Institute, University of the Western Cape partnered with ASRI and the District Six Museum to convene a seminar on ‘Race’ and racism in post-millennial post-apartheid South Africa: unmaking the past, making the future. The seminar was chaired by Jaap de Visser, the Director of the Dullah Omar Institute and featured influential researchers and thought leaders on ‘race’ and racism.

The newly trained activist monitors from CSOs working with Women and Democracy Initiative’s (WDI) Parliament Watch and Putting the ‘People’ in People’s Parliament projects entered Parliament and the Western Cape Provincial Parliament.

Judge Fayeeza Kathree-Setiloane has highlighted that inequality for women in the workplace, among other settings, is still prevalent in South Africa. Judge Kathree-Setiloane - the South Gauteng High Court judge who has presided over several high profile matters - has also warned that sexual harassment cases against women in the workplace are pervasive. There are judgments from the courts that have found that resignations as a result of sexual harassment does constitute unfair dismissal.

South Africa ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in January 2015. As required by the ICESCR, the South African government submitted its initial report to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in April 2017.

Together with an independent researcher and Lawyers for Human rights, Women and Democracy Initiative submitted 12 Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) applications to political parties, most provincial legislatures and Parliament.

Questions in Parliament is one of the few ways MPs can use to hold the executive accountable. The efficacy of this oversight mechanism however, depends on the extend the executive answers and if they are present during oral question time or in committee meetings. This is not just important for oversight but also transparency as principles of for good governance. Ministers often come under fire for dodging questions. The DA last year took aim at former Social Development minister Bathabile Dlamini who they claimed failed to answer 93% of the questions relating to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).

For the past three reporting periods between 2016 and March 2018, not a single police station visited by the SAPS’ Civilian Secretariat has fully complied with the Domestic Violence Act. In terms of this Act, the SAPS must report biannually to Parliament on complaints received against police officers who don’t properly implement the Act and the steps taken against them. Beyond the grim nature of domestic-violence statistics, the costs of non-compliance are often high and can have life-or-death consequences on a victim.