GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General
21 March 2025
As we commemorate Human Rights Day in South Africa, we have a lot to celebrate -but there is also a lot to reflect on. While it is undeniable that we have made progress towards undoing our legacy of colonialism and apartheid the truth is that the stain of oppression still leaves us as a deeply divided society with many unable to escape the circumstances of the past.
Today we have a progressive Constitution that guarantees fundamental human rights, including the right to life, equality, dignity and freedom of expression. But Human rights are more than words in a book. They need to be the daily lived reality of all citizens and giving meaning to them is the daily task of our governments.
South Africa is widely recognised as one of the most unequal countries in the world. A country that still perpetuates exclusion, inequality and spatial injustice.
We may have the right to housing but over 5 million South Africans are estimated to still live in informal settlements. Families live in squalor with raw sewerage flowing past their doors with nothing more than a communal pit toilet.
We may have the right to adequate food, water and social support but there are millions of people struggling, without livelihoods, unable to feed themselves or their families.
The official unemployment rate stands at 32.9%. With those lucky enough to have a job spending 57% of their salary on transport and electricity (February 2025 Household Affordability Index report – PMBEJD group).
And, while the state has introduced a foundation for a basic income grant, in the form of the Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD), this grant is only paying out R370 per month to some of the people who actually qualify.
At R370 per month the grant is less than half the food poverty line – about R750 per month – which is the amount it costs for an adult to feed themselves with basic food needs.
If we were serious about developing a culture of human rights, we wouldn’t accept that millions of unemployed South Africans wake up every day with nothing to do, nothing to eat and nothing to hope for.
We would have restructured our budgets long ago to ensure that all have access to a basic income support, sufficient to meet their basic human needs. Our own National Development Plan’s goal is that by 2030 there will be zero South Africans living below the lower-bound poverty line (an income of at least R1,200 per month).
2030 is only 4 years away and the right to social security is still being resisted by the state which has decided to appeal a High Court judgment ordering the state to pay the R370 per month grant to all those who qualify and to increase its value.
The Government of National Unity’s Statement of Intent binds participating parties to “social justice, redress and equity, and the alleviation of poverty… human dignity and the progressive realisation of socio-economic rights”.
We need to take these visionary words and practically embed them in our people’s daily lived experiences.
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