ANC-led government should hang its head in shame on Human Rights Day – AfriForum

The civil rights organisation AfriForum argues that the ANC-led government should hang its head in shame today over the scale of human rights violations currently taking place in the country.

According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, the fact that an average of about 70 people are murdered per day in South Africa is a serious indictment of the government’s inability to protect citizens’ right to life. “To make matters worse, the government contributes to the normalisation of violence by not condemning calls for violence such as ‘kill the Boer’,” Kriel adds.

The high levels of poverty and an unemployment rate of more than 40% are, according to Kriel, also an indication of the government’s inability to create favourable conditions within which the private sector can create jobs and grow the economy. “The government is actually creating an unfavourable climate for investors by disregarding property rights, knowing full well that disrespect for property rights will lead to increased unemployment and poverty,” says Kriel.

Kriel also points out that 80% of South African schools are dysfunctional – something that is one of the most serious human rights violations committed against children in the country. “The majority of children are deprived of quality education by, among other things, the lack of mother-language education. Instead of making mother-language education available to all students, the government chose to violate Afrikaans children’s right to mother-language education through the Bela Act and thereby threaten the cultural survival of Afrikaans communities,” concludes Kriel.