By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Amnesty International has published its Amnesty International Report 2022/23: Government is failing South Africans on several basic human rights, 29 years after the fall of the apartheid regime.
According to the report, new conflicts, heavy-handed oppression from authorities, economic crises, and discrimination against women, children, and LGBTI people have been prevalent worldwide in the last 12 months.
South Africa has seen a major increase in gender-based violence, with 989 women killed between July and September. Sexual offences (11%) and rape (10%) also grew in the timeframe.
Although South Africa adopted a National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide in 2019, a national council is still yet to be established. Moreover, a review of the first year since the plan’s adoption showed that 55% of targets had not been met.
The DNA backlog – crucial for gender-based violence cases – also remained high.
Despite nearly 99 cases of rapes by police officers being reported to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), only 64 cases were recommended for prosecution, raising concerns over police accountability.
In terms of sexual and reproductive rights, South Africa continues to have a large number of early pregnancies.
Over 90,000 girls between the ages of 10 and 19 gave birth between April 2021 and May 2022.
Amnesty International said that a lack of access to reproductive health services, shortage of contraceptives, inadequate sex education, poverty and gender-based violence are all responsible for the rise in early pregnancies.
In addition, the right to education is plagued by dangerous and inadequate infrastructure.
The Department of Basic Education’s 2021/22 annual report said that nearly 3,000 schools in the country still used pit latrines, which violates the rights to health, dignity, safety and life.
The situation has since worsened, with the minister of education, Angie Motshekga saying that over 3,330 schools currently have pit latrines.