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Vol 14 Mar 2012 CEO’s Corner: Human Rights for All – Dream or Reality? Dr Matlotleng Matlou—Chief Executive Officer of the Africa THIS ISSUE Institute of South Africa s we commemorated the obser- representing the people and began a cam- vance of International Women’s paign for developing a new constitution. The Role of Media A Day and human rights globally in The National Assembly on 26 August 1789, in Human Rights page 6 March there is a need to pay homage to adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the struggles for human dignity and equal- Man and of the Citizen of the National Dr Thokozani Simelane ity from time immemorial. The develop- Assembly, drafted by the Third Estate and Research fieldwork page 7 ment of societies has been accompanied assisted by Lafayette, who was also in- by significant progress and the quality of volved in drafting the American Declara- living. However, this has also been accom- tion of Independence of 1776. In Septem- Men in the Making panied by other people being enslaved, ber 1791, a constitutional monarchy was at AISA page 8 colonised, exploited and abused by others. declared, followed by a republic a year Some humans have even considered oth- later. In January 1793, the monarchy was Schools Outreach ers not to be full or proper human beings. abolished when King Louis XVI was exe- Programme page 9 People have been discriminated against on cuted. the basis of their colour, sex, religion, The Declaration containing 17 articles From the Archives page 10 class, gender and for various other rea- asserts that “all men are born free and sons. Consequently, from the beginning of remain free and equal in rights”, estab- Human Rights in Africa page 12 history, social scientists and activists have lished the rights of individuals in relation grappled with the nature of political, social to the state and sought to remove dis- and economic relations that ensue from crimination among people on the basis of human interactions and the rights, as race, class, religion and sex. The declara- against privileges, that should be accorded tion encapsulated the ideals that France New Book Notification to people. A major milestone in the strug- sought to achieve into the future. Interest- gle for human rights in the modern era ingly this declaration did not extend the started in 1789 in France when the King rights to women, foreigners and slaves. In “Public Opinion and Interest Group Louis XVI tried to deal with the challenges 1791, Olympe de Gouges a woman activist Politics: South Africa’s Missing of huge debts, famine, food scarcity and involved in the French Revolution then Links?” high prices. He called an assembly of the produced the Declaration of the Rights of Estates (comprising first – clergy; second – Woman and of the Female Citizen Page 4 noble and third – masses). The Third Es- tate turned this into a National Assembly, Continues on page 3 tional Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in mem- Editorial ory of the massacre. Cliché as it may sound, let us all share the knowledge about this important chapter of our history By Vincent Mnisi amongst ourselves and honour the gallant efforts of our fallen compatriots. he simplest definition of democracy is ‘government by As part of our ongoing Ambassadorial Forum, AISA hosted Mr. the people’. In earnest this implies participation of eve- Sarwat Hussain, Senior Communications Officer and Hub T ryone in all main political decisions of a country. I am Leader, Africa Region Strategic Communications (AFRSC) at the stating the obvious at the back of the recent Congress of South World Bank who gave a brilliant presentation on the new 10 African Trade Unions (COSATU) organised march against the year World Bank Strategy for Africa. The interactive presenta- Gauteng e-tolling system that the government is going to im- tion also gave the delegates the opportunity to engage with plement at the end of April. COSATU and the majority of mo- Mr. Hussain and share their different perspectives and views torists in Gauteng feel that the government deliberately forgot about the World Bank. to consult them about the burden that they are going to incur In this issue, we put a spotlight on Human Rights in Africa following the construction of the roads. This has ultimately on page 12; we also look at the media’s role in protecting Hu- caused the dissatisfaction and many people are saying they man Rights on page 06. are not going to pay. We also highlight the AISA’s LDS Division School outreach Here is background of how the whole e-tolling saga un- programme in the North West province on page 09, and we folded from my perspective. South Africa hosted the most take the time to talk to Dr Thokozani Simelane about his re- successful World Cup in history (don’t quote me on that). It is search visit to Mozambique on page 07, and we also introduce a known fact the South African government invested a lot of a new publication Page 04. money amounting to billions towards infrastructure develop- ment and then included new stadiums, new roads and bridges to meet the requirements of hosting the 2010 World Cup soc- Happy reading to everyone! cer spectacle. I am sure, like myself, you were all wondering how are we going to pay back the money that was borrowed and I believe that the e-tolling is one of the first of many infra- ADD US ON: structures we are paying back, with the rest to follow. I then go back to my definition of democracy. If this gov- ernment is by the people then the people need to be properly informed and engaged from the start. Transparency and hon- esty should be the main priority. No one will refuse to pay for Facebook.com/africainstitutesa something they have agreed to and know the benefit of it. Having had the opportunity to visit a few African countries, I have to say South Africa has some of the best highways you can find anywhere in the world and they are properly main- tained, but as to who should fit the bill for their upkeep, I honestly don’t know. My understanding was that the fuel levy Twitter: @aisa_research had that covered. The month of March is probably one of the most significant months in the history of South Africa. It is exactly 52 years since the Africa National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) were banned in South Africa by the old govern- ment regime. It is also the month that reminds us of the sad linkedin.com/company/africa-institute-of-south-africa and painful scenes of the Sharpeville Massacre where 69 peo- ple were killed, including 8 women and 10 children, and 180 injured, including 31 women and 19 children. Many were shot in the back as they turned to flee. I am certain that many of you will remember that the Rivonia Trial took place just three africainstitutesa.tumblr.com years after that ruling by the then government. As we commemorate Human Rights day this year, we should all consciously analyse and look back at what role the occurrences of this month in 1960 has played in shaping the South African political landscape. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Youtube.com/aisavideos Organisation (UNESCO) marks March 21 as the yearly Interna- AISA Focus 2 Continues from page 1 equality and promote women’s rights. In and spirit of the Universal Declaration of its 66 years of existence, the CSW has Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by the which basically parodies and replicates been instrumental in leading the UN, UN General Assembly on 10 December the one of Man, giving women the same governments, intergovernmental organi- 1948, was gender sensitive and sought rights and showing how the French sations and non-governmental organisa- to achieve gender equality. The UDHR Revolution failed in terms of gender tions in the fight for improving women’s arose from the genocide and vast human equality. France abolished slavery in rights and their quality of life. rights abuses during World War II and 1794 and this was reinstated by Napo- In 1975, declared the International emphasises that “the inherent dignity leon Bonaparte in 1802. The Declaration Women’s Year, the United Nations gave and the equal and inalienable rights of on the Rights of Man served as a stan- the International Women’s Day official all members of the human family” as dard for people struggling for self deter- recognition and held the first of so far being the “foundation freedom, justice mination, democracy and human rights four conferences on women starting in and peace in the world”1, is founded on across the world, including Haitians who Mexico; and has annually declared a the principles of the Declaration of the won independence from France in 1804. theme for the day. In 1977, the UN Gen- Rights of Man. The UDHR with 30 articles The French Revolution and the First Re- eral Assembly declared it the UN Day for covering political, social and economic public that it ushered in brought about Women’s Right and International Peace. rights was signed by forty-nine countries major changes to France. However, it Fifteen countries globally commemorate (including Egypt, Ethiopia and Liberia) also descended into an orgy of violence, voted in favour; whilst eight countries terror, social upheaval and numerous ‘The objectives of the including South Africa abstained. Not wars abroad, leading to the fall of the surprisingly, the next 46 years of Apart- Republic by 1804.