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CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS

ARTICLES AND STATEMENTS

ARTICLE: SASSA – ARE THE POOR THE FOOLS?

2017-02-13

For the poorest South Africans, 1 April 2017 may indeed be April Fool’s Day as they return empty-handed from SASSA collection points, when the contract of Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), distributors of social grants on behalf of SASSA, comes to an end on 31 March.

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ARTICLE: SASSA – ARE THE POOR THE FOOLS?

2017-02-12

SASSAFor the poorest South Africans, 1 April 2017 may indeed be April Fool’s Day as they return empty-handed from SASSA collection points, when the contract of Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), distributors of social grants on behalf of SASSA, comes to an end on 31 March.   

For more than 16 million beneficiaries, the next few weeks remain uncertain and deeply worrying. For people dependent on the Child Support Grant (R350 pm), the Grant for Older Persons (R1510 pm), the Disability Grant (R1510 pm), the Grant-in-aid (R350 pm), the Care Dependency Grant (R1510 pm), the War Veteran’s Grant (R1530 pm), the Foster Care Grant (R890 pm) and the Social Relief of Distress Grant, the unmitigated mess created by the incompetence and leaderless SASSA may be a case of life or death. Government’s R10 billion a month spend on the poorest of the poor is in serious jeopardy. 

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STATEMENT: SUBMISSION TO THE SAHRC ON RACISM AND SOCIAL MEDIA

2017-02-05

SAHRC logo optThe FW de Klerk Foundation has responded in the affirmative to a call for submissions by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) on Racism and Social Media in South Africa, with hearings scheduled for 15 and 16 February 2017.

The largely positive relations between people are disrupted by jarring and painful incidents that have the prospect, through the ease of use of social media to go viral and stir up deep emotions – as has been evident more recently. The Foundation is not contesting the use of social media in its submission, it is the use of racist and abusive terminology to describe other people that is at the core of the argument. Such incidents clearly set the agenda back significantly and have the effect of polarising people.

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PODCASTS

SUBMISSIONS

SPEECHES

EVENTS

ARTICLE: THE REFUGEE AMENDMENT ACT – DIMINISHING RIGHTS OR SECURING BORDERS?

2020-01-27

REFUGEES OPT

On 1 January 2020, the Refugee Amendment Act of 2017 (Amendment Act), together with its Regulations (2018), came into operation. What could have been a positive amendment to address the myriad of challenges faced by the South African refugee and asylum systems has, rather, served to further curtail the rights and protections extended to this vulnerable group by both international law and domestic legislation. 

The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention) is explicit in the fundamental protections for asylum-seekers and refugees. One of the most important protections extended to refugees is the international law principle of non-refoulement. It is a French term that, according to the Refugee Convention, proscribes governments from the expulsion or return of a refugee “against his or her will, in any manner whatsoever, to a territory where he or she fears threats to life or freedom”. Non-refoulement is so fundamental that no reservations or derogations may be made to it – regardless of whether the State concerned is party to the Refugee Convention. 

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CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES