Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
The chair of the South African Human Rights Commission (HRC), Barney Pityana, will quit his position when his contract expires in September next year. Pityana, who has chaired the HRC since its inception, told the Mail & Guardian this week he is not planning to renew his contract. He says his departure is chiefly motivated by his unwillingness to outstay his welcome at the HRC. He stresses his decision is based on “personal reasons”. Pityana tried to leave the HRC in 1998, when he was appointed president and chief executive officer of the Human Sciences Research Council, but was persuaded to stay by the then deputy president, Thabo Mbeki. Pityana reversed his decision after concerns that his departure from the commission would be “premature”. Pityana admits he was unhappy in his position in 1998, but that it has since improved, especially over the past two years. “The commission has moved and has advanced a great deal,” he says, although it will still need some change in leadership. “In September of 2002 I will have been chairperson of this commission for the whole life of the first commission. That’s too long. I think any institution that has the same person for that long is bound to become stuck.
“I think by 2002 the commission will be ready for a change, and I will be ready for a change as well. I don’t anticipate the same clamour, with people saying my departure is premature, when my contract expires.”
Pityana says while he has not yet made up his mind about where he will be going, he will make himself available for a position in a human rights organisation somewhere on the continent. “I guess I will always do human rights work. I will, in due course, get space to determine where I go. The main reason for leaving is not so much that I am confident of where I am going, but I believe it is the right time for someone like myself, who has been here for seven years, to consider a move.”
Pityana has for two years been actively involved in the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, an agency of the Organisation of African Unity. “Personally, I am available to work for the continental body in Africa because I am very passionate about this continent,” Pityana says, adding that he has established a good reputation as an African human rights activist.
Pityana said the HRC’s role in the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI), an African body made up of national human rights commissions, has created a platform for “both me and the HRC in Africa”. The HRC is currently the NHRI’s secretariat and represents Africa’s human rights institutions at the United Nations. Pityana presided over controversial and widespread investigations during his tenure at the HRC and made plenty of enemies and friends in the process.
In its early years of operation, the commission was the subject of rumours and reports of unhappiness among staff, fuelled by a number of resignations.
Former commissioners Helen Suzman and Max Coleman resigned early on, citing “personal reasons”. But at the time of their departure word in human rights and legal circles was that their action was prompted by disillusionment fuelled by differences of opinion within the HRC.
In 1996, Pityana was involved in 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.
However, the commission also contributed significantly to improving the human rights culture in South Africa. It launched a nationwide investigation into abuses in prisons, which resulted in changes to the parole system, an end to racial discrimination in work and food allocations and treatment of prisoners with HIV/Aids.
The HRC also successfully dealt with violations of patients’ rights in hospitals, the position of black children at predominantly white, Afrikaans-speaking schools and alleged abuse of street children by police. Abuse of farm workers was also addressed but with little practical solutions found yet. The commission’s inquiry into racism in the media drew Pityana the most criticism and served as his major challenge. It has released its final report which found that there was racism in the media and has recommended various ways to eradicate it. Although other aspects of the HRC report were criticised by the South African National Editors’ Forum, the forum and the media as a whole have welcomed its broader tone.