The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC)

“They dropped me and they robbed me, all these years.

We have reached this stage now that the Human Rights Commissioner has come in.

And it´s dangerous cases.”

(Interview Kruiper 2005 a)

The reason why the South African Human Rights Commission came to Andriesvale and Askham to record the human rights situation and human rights violations in the #Khomani Community was the homicide of Optel Roy, a member of the #Khomani Community. The police claimed to have shot and killed him by mistake. This case was never brought up before court and had no consequences for the policemen involved. While the Human Rights Commission investigate the case and questioned the locals, it soon turned out that several problems of the population needed to be clarified and resolved. Nanette Flemming describes these procedures as follows:

“The community get telling them the CPA is rotten, this is not working, the land claim is a bugger up and then Human Right´s decided, okay, we can not just take this one aspect. We will start from the beginning, from the land claim and what went wrong up to now. So they took all the departments, the welfare department, the education department, all the departments that were supposed to support this land claim. They didn´t do their jobs, and Land Affairs as well. People are fetching water at the shop because they don´t have water on their farms. And that´s just mismanagement, that is taking pumps off where they were supposed to be, putting them on other farms where there is now livestock. It´s just pure mismanagement, that´s all it is.” (Interview

The SAHRC is one of several independent organisations, whose task under Chapter 9 of the Constitution of South Africa is to promote and further democracy in South Africa. The mandate of the SAHRC on the one hand, is rooted in the constitution; on the other hand, it is based on the Human Rights Commission Act 54 from 1994.

The tasks conferred upon the SAHRC under section 184 of the constitution are as follows.

• Promote respect for human rights and a culture of human rights.

• Promote the protection, development and attainment of human rights.

• Monitor and assess the observance of human rights in South Africa. (SAHRC 2004: 8)

Dawid Grossman’s initiative was one of the decisive factors that the complaint of the members of the #Khomani Community was heard by SAHRC and an investigation initiated in due course. (Conversation Grossman 2005) Jody Kollapen, chairperson of SAHRC remarks in the “Report on the Inquiry into Human Rights Violations in the Khomani San Community“the following about the investigation:

”The inquiry was unique in that it sought to take a comprehensive and holistic view of all the matters that impact on the community. It was held within the community (…) and it was the first real opportunity the community had to articulate the matters that affect them, which threaten their survival, their culture, their language, their economic prosperity and their future as a people.” (Kollapen 2004: 4)

The complaints raised by the #Khomani Community in front of the SAHRC, beside the murder of Optel Rooi, ranged from harassments and botheration by the police to the discrimination and sexual abuse of the children of the #Khomani at school. Even the

“Community Division” and the involvement of too many external advisors, NGOs and other parties were identified as problems by the community. Furthermore, the government was accused to fall short to fulfil its obligations set out in the land claim. Thus, the investigation had to deal with complex and interconnected challenges involving the areas of relationships, cooperative governance, just administrative action, capacity building und sustainable development. (cf. SAHRC 2004: 5) The investigation was subdivided in the following seven sections:

I. Land Claim and Resettlement

The fact that the Original Claimants invited other “San” to join them in their land claim had the consequence that a community which comprises all of them had to be “invented”. This

newly established “community” could not introduce a single, uniform system of leadership.

As a result, different Community Divisions formed and contributed to the malfunction of the Communal Property Association’s (CPA) management. Additional problems in this area are the “Lack of Capacity” of the CPA Management Committee, the conflict between the community and SANParks about the implementation of the land claim within the park and the lack of support from the Department of Land Affairs and the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights.

II. Government and Delivery of Services

The local government did fail to implement infrastructure such as water supply, sanitary installations and refuse collections for the farms handed over to the #Khomani, although it did receive sufficient funding for it.

III. Policing

As a consequence of the investigation, the two policemen involved in the murder of Optel Rooi were brought before court and finally sentenced. The bad relationship between the South African Police Services and the #Khomani Community is a result of the SAPS still controlling their former farmland, which had actually been handed over to the #Khomani during the land claim.

IV. Education

The accusations of sexual abuse of and discrimination against #Khomani children at school were not pursued further. It was reported, that no means of transportation existed to get the children to the far-away school. In no way the needs and the cultural background of the

#Khomani are cared for in the curriculum.

V. Social Welfare

The substantial alcohol- and drug abuse within the community results in serious social problems. The prevailing poverty leads to malnourishment and illness. Health care is insufficient and faraway.

VI. Community Division

Regarding to the Human Rights Report, the severe tensions within the community could lead to a “formal split between the community factions“.

VII. Relationships

All the above mentioned problems result in heavily strained relationships between the different parties and the inappropriate communication has led to a “breakdown of

The South African Human Rights Commission presented its report in parliament and forwarded it to President Thabo Mbeki. The #Khomani Community Area did also receive a copy of the report. The idea was to provide people who felt discriminated with a list of the responsible authorities and a manual of how to redress. The report contains numerous recommendations for the different “Role-Players”, responsible for the implementation of the different agreements. (Interview Flemming 2005)