The Human Rights Commission has been hampered by red tape, finances and now the resignation of Max Coleman, writes Gaye Davis
HUMAN Rights commissioner Max Coleman cites “personal reasons” for his decision to resign from his post. But the word in human rights and legal circles is that his action was prompted by disillusionment fuelled by differences of opinion with Human Rights Commission (HRC) chair, lawyer and theologian Dr Barney Pityana.
Coleman would not be drawn on the issue this week. “If that’s what people are saying, then that’s what they are saying,” he said. “I do not want to comment. It’s a non-issue.”
His resignation takes effect in October. While he says he “will leave in good spirits, convinced the commission will go from strength to strength”, those he leaves behind will mourn the loss of a man who had “a huge contribution to make”.
Controversies which have marked Pityana’s tenure as chair of the HRC so far are said to have fed the veteran human rights campaigner’s unhappiness.
First there was a highly publicised confrontation with Professor Dennis Davis, whom Pityana called a racist for criticising the HRC’s lack of profile and suggesting that appointees, selected from political party nominees, were being rewarded for “services rendered”.
A subsequent controversy involved the Sunday Times, which reported in June that creditors were after former Pan Africanist Congress official Henry Isaacs, once an associate of Pityana. It reported that he was being sought by creditors, faced numerous fraud charges and had an unpaid default judgment awarded against him for R20 000 in unpaid rent.
Pityana accused the newspaper of being part of a vendetta against Isaacs. But it appeared Pityana acted on what Isaacs had told him without hearing the newspaper’s or the creditor’s side — prompting an editorial condemning his “cavalier use of power”, which the newspaper said threatened the dignity of the HRC.
But while some critics see Coleman’s decision to quit as evidence of a deeper malaise affecting the commission’s ability to function properly, others see the body’s problems as structural.
Entitled to 67 staff, the HRC is negotiating for 83, but has only 15 people on board. This excludes the commissioners, of whom four are part-time.
Difficulties included delays in getting premises allocated by the Public Works Department; in having the commission’s regulations promulgated; and in employing staff — all caused by a welter of red tape.
“The greatest obstacle, which will persist, is the difficulty of moving fast within the public service,” says the HRC’s chief executive officer, Louisa Zondo. “We had received complaints by the time I joined in May, but we couldn’t act. The commission’s powers were promulgated on May 17.”
She said the commission’s R6-million budget was inadequate: “Nobody had a clear idea of what our work would entail when it was set.” This could be overcome by networking with other agencies and securing foreign and private-sector funding for projects.
The appointment of former journalist John Mojapelo as media and public relations officer is expected to remedy the HRC’s relative lack of profile.
Meanwhile its first hearing is pending: senior legal officer Liesl Gerntholtz said the case involved a student at the Durban College of Education who faced expulsion because she was pregnant and unmarried. It was one of about 15 complaints since July that would involve investigation and public hearings.
The commission has launched a nationwide investigation into abuses in prisons, prompted by letters from hundreds of prisoners complaining of assaults by warders and gangs, bias in the parole system, racial discrimination over work and food allocations and inadequate treatment of prisoners with HIV/AIDS.
Of about 325 complaints received since June about 150 had been processed. Most were matters that could not be dealt with ahead of the new constitution’s certification, which will see the Bill of Rights applying between private individuals and not just between the state and individuals, and because of the absence of any civil liberties legislation.
Other matters the commission was dealing with included violations of patients’ rights in mental health institutions, the position of black children at predominantly white, Afrikaans-speaking schools and alleged abuse of street children by police.
Pityana could not be reached for comment by the time of going to press.
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