CHRISTO VAN DER RHEEDE'S HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT CARD LAUNCH WELCOME ADDRESS

Thank you, Christina. As Christina mentioned, my name is Christo van der Rheede, and I am the Executive Director of the FW de Klerk Foundation.

Esteemed guests, dignitaries, board members, members of the media and those joining us online, all protocols observed. Welcome to the FW de Klerk Foundation’s annual Human Rights Report Card launch. The Human Rights Report Card 2024 examines the state of South Africa’s rights and freedoms during the 2024 calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December 2024. This report is launched annually in honour of Human Rights Day, which falls on 21 March every year – and which is this Friday.

Today’s program will include this welcome address, followed by an explanation of the major developments in 2024 that impacted South Africans’ rights and freedoms. We will then present two in-depth analyses of the team’s findings on some of the most threatened rights, followed by closing remarks from myself as the Foundation’s Executive Director and a question-and-answer session in which we encourage you to participate. The program will conclude at 14:00, after which drinks and refreshments will be served.

The FW de Klerk Foundation engages in several key activities, including actively promoting the rights and freedoms enshrined in the South African Constitution. It also works towards national unity, non-racialism, reconciliation, and the accommodation of cultural and linguistic diversity in South Africa. The Foundation is in the process of compiling the FW de Klerk Archive and endeavours to preserve the legacy of former President FW de Klerk.

One of the most significant parts of his legacy is the Constitution, and for this reason, the Foundation launched the Centre for the Constitutional Transformation of South Africa earlier this year. The Centre documents the process of how South Africa became a constitutional democracy, and we encourage you to undertake a self-tour of it after today’s launch and the serving of drinks and refreshments.

The Constitution states that South Africa is one sovereign, democratic state founded on values such as human dignity, the achievement of equality, and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. These human rights and freedoms are contained in Chapter 2 of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. This Bill of Rights is the cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom. It applies to all law and binds the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and all organs of state. It binds both natural and juristic persons. In short, it encapsulates the vision of justice for all.

We are very excited to present the findings of the Human Rights Report Card 2024, a project very dear to our hearts at the Foundation. Before we proceed, let me introduce the team responsible for this year’s report card. The Constitutional Rights Programme team, consisting of my colleague, Daniela Ellerbeck, and her two interns, Shanees Nkandu and Sonia Twongyeirwe, undertook the compilation of this year’s report card.

Many of you may ask, what exactly is the FW de Klerk Foundation’s annual Human Rights Report Card and why does the Foundation undertake this mammoth task every year? The FW de Klerk Foundation is a non-profit organisation – reliant on donations – and dedicated to upholding South Africa’s Constitution. The Foundation is built on the vision of making our constitutional democracy a reality for all South Africans, because South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, as stated by former President de Klerk.

This is why the Constitutional Rights Programme team undertakes the task of researching and compiling the Human Rights Report Card annually. The Report Card assesses the degree to which rights and freedoms are being enjoyed as a lived reality by South Africans. This Report Card is the Foundation’s way of urging citizens to discuss these vital issues, making them part of our DNA as South Africans.

Evaluating the extent to which the rights and freedoms in the Bill of Rights are being enjoyed in practice is crucial. It enables South Africans to pause, once a year and zoom out. It allows us to see the bigger picture and about how we as a nation are doing in our endeavour to advance the human rights and freedoms in the Constitution – how we are doing as a nation in building a future of freedom and justice.

Turning to the methodology behind the Human Rights Report Card: Each right and freedom entrenched in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights is graded, much as you would grade subjects in a school report, on a basis of: A = excellent; B = good; C = moderate; D = poor; and E = very bad.

If you turn to the Human Rights Dashboard in the printout you found on your seat, you will see the grades each of the rights and freedoms received last year, in the 2023 report card, compared with the 2024 report. You will also see the allocation of an “=” sign, a “+” sign, and a “–” sign. The allocation of an “=” sign indicates no change in the right, a “+” sign denotes an expected improvement, and a “–” sign indicates a likely deterioration of the right.

The grade allocation for each right is determined by examining the grade it received in the previous year and assessing the impact of the current year’s political, economic, legal and social developments on that right. For example, if the right to freedom of expression was graded as a C in 2023 and developments in 2024 indicated a decline in the enjoyment of that right, it would be downgraded to a C- for 2024. This approach helps to understand how various factors positively or negatively affect the realisation of rights.

I want to stress that these are not finite measures. The Report Card is but a tool to open discussions about the enjoyment of rights and freedoms. The rationale for the grade each right or freedom received is explained at the bottom of the section covering each respective right or freedom.

Thank you for your attentive consideration. I now hand over to my colleague, Daniela Ellerbeck, who will discuss the major developments of 2024 that affected South Africans’ rights and freedoms.