Amnesty International (Autor): „The State of the World's Human Rights; South Africa 2024“, Dokument #2124680

High levels of gender-based violence continued; perpetrators enjoyed impunity, and the Public Protector found that the criminal justice system failed victims. The murder rate remained high and the police’s ability to adequately investigate these crimes declined. The police failed to provide protection for human rights defenders under threat. The Department of Basic Education failed in its promise to eradicate pit latrines in schools. The National Health Insurance Bill was signed into law, triggering legal challenges. There were nationwide water shortages. The cabinet adopted a white paper that threatened to erode refugee rights. Police continued to use excessive force. The Presidential Climate Commission found that, despite strong commitments to tackle climate change, progress was slow.

Background

The African National Congress party lost its majority in the May general elections which marked 30 years since the end of apartheid rule. A Government of National Unity was formed, comprising 11 political parties, with some cabinet positions being assigned to other political parties.

Before the elections, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill into law.

In January the South African Human Rights Commission investigative report into riots in July 2021 found that the events were orchestrated but failed to identify those responsible or reasons for the unrest.

In October the government filed its memorial to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its ongoing genocide case against Israel, in which it said it had provided facts and evidence to prove that Israel is committing the crime of genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip.

According to official unemployment statistics, 32.1% of the working age population were unemployed; 34.2% of people between 15 and 24 were not in employment, education or training.

Extreme weather events, including flooding, in the KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces disproportionately affected marginalized communities.

Gender-based violence

High levels of gender-based violence continued. According to quarterly crime statistics for the period July to September, there were 12,765 reported cases of sexual offences, of which 10,191 were rape cases. In the same period, 957 women were murdered, an increase of 8.6% compared to 2023. The National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Bill, intended to establish a Council to oversee the implementation of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, was signed into law in May.¹

Impunity for gender-based violence continued. An inquest established in August 2023 at the Protea magistrate’s court into the murders of Popi Qwabe and Bongeka Phungula had yet to begin, partly due to a lack of information provided by the investigating officer. The women had been shot and their bodies dumped on the side of a road in Johannesburg in 2017. Prior to the establishment of the inquest, the National Prosecuting Authority had been unable to prosecute due to insufficient evidence and the case was moved to the Department of Justice which opened the inquest.

In June the Public Protector released an investigative report that found that the conduct of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ&CD), the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Department of Social Development constituted maladministration and improper conduct in relation to processing gender-based violence-related matters in the criminal justice system.

The High Court in Pretoria handed down a judgment in September that sections of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Act were unconstitutional insofar as they provide a subjective test for criminal intent, where sexual violence is not criminalized if a perpetrator wrongly and unreasonably believed that the complainant consented.

Right to life and security of the person

The murder rate remained high. Police recorded 6,545 cases between July and September. The efficiency of the police and their ability to adequately investigate murders, including by bringing charges against suspects, continued to decline. There was an almost 60% decrease in solved murders over the last 12 years.

Threats and attacks continued against human rights defenders at Abahlali baseMjondolo, a shack dwellers movement. SAPS failed to provide protection and to conduct effective and thorough investigations into the killings of Abahlali baseMjondolo members.²

The investigation into who ordered the murder of whistle-blower Babita Deokaran continued three years after her death. There were no further moves by the DOJ&CD to strengthen legislation to protect whistle-blowers, following the call for submissions on a discussion document in 2023.

Right to education

According to an Education Facilities Management System report, 1,770 schools still used pit latrines and 287 schools had pit latrines only. This violated the rights to education, health, dignity, safety and life and breached the government’s repeated commitments to replace all pit latrines in schools.³ In April, a three-year-old boy drowned in a pit latrine at a day care centre in the Eastern Cape province.

Right to health

In May President Ramaphosa signed the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into law. In July the High Court in Pretoria declared invalid certain sections of the bill that would allow the government to regulate where medical workers can practice. Additional constitutional legal challenges were expected. While the NHI Bill was intended to ensure universal access to healthcare services, concerns were raised by civil society organizations and medical aid schemes that it could further limit access to healthcare due to the risk of widespread corruption. Other concerns included the exclusion of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants from the scheme, and that it would not address the declining state of the public healthcare system.

The Life Esidimeni (a subsidiary of a private healthcare provider) inquest findings into the deaths of 144 mental health patients in Gauteng province were released in July. It found that the former Gauteng member of the Executive Council for Health and the former director of the Gauteng Mental Health Directorate caused the deaths of nine of the patients by their negligence in terminating the Life Esidimeni contract in 2016, which led to patients being moved to ill-equipped and in some cases unlicensed NGOs. During this time, 144 patients died, more than 1,400 were exposed to torture and other trauma, and 44 went missing. The National Prosecuting Authority was expected to decide whether to pursue criminal proceedings in connection to the nine deaths.

Sexual and reproductive health rights

The high rate of children and teenagers giving birth remained a concern. According to a September report from Statistics South Africa, 102,406 girls aged 10-19 gave birth in 2023,⁴ a slight decrease from around 105,000 such cases in 2022.

Right to water

Nationwide water shortages continued. Phoenix and Verulam suburbs of eThekwini metropolitan municipality, KwaZulu-Natal province, had suffered intermittent water supplies for two years and relied on water tankers. Government officials said contributing factors were alleged vandalism, a rapidly increasing urban population and a lack of maintenance of aging infrastructure. Areas across Johannesburg also experienced water cuts, some for more than two weeks, due to insufficient funding to replace failing infrastructure. Experts warned that by 2029 the Gauteng province could experience “Day Zero”, meaning no water supply whatsoever. President Ramaphosa established a Water Task Team, under Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s direction, to address the challenges.

Refugees’ and migrants’ rights

Numerous civil society organizations objected to the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection: Towards a Complete Overhaul of the Migration System in South Africa, which was adopted by the cabinet in April. Concerns raised included its negative portrayal of migration, incorrect research used to justify limits on migration, and the proposal to withdraw South Africa from the UN Refugee Convention and re-accede with reservations that would significantly reduce refugees’ constitutional rights and in turn violate international law obligations.

Excessive use of force

Eight of the deputy president’s VIP protection officers faced 12 charges, including assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and assault by threat and obstruction to justice. The charges related to their alleged assault of three members of the South African National Defence Force on a highway in Gauteng province in July 2023. The trial continued with additional witnesses providing testimony.

Unlawful killings

As of March, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) was investigating 1,337 cases of deaths resulting from police action. They included cases from previous years.

Police were accused of assaulting Thabelo Mbau, a student at Tshwane University of Technology in Gauteng province, resulting in his death. The IPID finalized its investigations into whether the police were responsible for his killing. Two police officers were charged with murder and their case was remanded to February 2025 for pretrial conference.

Right to a healthy environment

In February, President Ramaphosa announced the establishment of a new Climate Change Response Fund – a collaborative government and private sector initiative – to respond to the impacts of climate change and build resilience. It remained unclear whether the fund would be in line with a just transition.

In July, President Ramaphosa signed the Climate Change Act into law, South Africa’s first piece of legislation specifically aimed at addressing the effects of climate change.⁵

Also in July, the Presidential Climate Commission released its first assessment of climate action. It found that, despite strong commitments to tackle climate change and facilitate a just transition, progress, including phasing out fossil fuels, was slow as a result of insufficient finance, incoherent policies and weak governance structures, among other things.