This is the view of the country’s Deputy Minister of Justice, John Jeffrey, who says that although there is still some way to go in fulfilling the promises entrenched in the country’s Constitution, addressing the huge backlog in human rights for Africans by the African National Congress-led government has been achieved.

“SA in 1994 was a very different country. For instance, the number of Bantustans and the spending, effectively on black Africans, was significantly less than on White, Indian and Coloured people.

“So, there was a huge backlog to get through. We have done relatively well in terms of the delivery of housing, education, both basic and tertiary, water, electricity and sanitation.

“Obviously, we have still got some way to go, and with the decline in the economy, there has been less funds available and also infrastructure in some circumstances has not been maintained. That has also undermined efforts to continue to ensure the delivery of, for example, electricity and water,” said Jeffrey.

Jeffrey reflected on the transformation agenda and the ruling party’s efforts towards promoting democracy and human rights, saying while SA had constitutions before under the apartheid government, the negotiations that took place in the early 1990’s between all parties in the country, both in parliament and outside, were key to this moment in history.

“Parliament then was the Tricameral Parliament, which had a White, Coloured and Indian chamber, and those multi-party negotiations came up with an interim constitution, which was passed by the Tricameral Parliament and came into effect on April 26, 1994,” he said.

“This is basically an assessment human rights in a broad sense in the last 30 years, not just the right to vote, political and social rights, but also economic rights and delivery rights as well”.

SA also marked the 28th anniversary of the commencement of the Truth and Commission (TRC), with its first hearing taking place in East London, in the Eastern Cape province.

The TRC, which was set up to help deal with what happened under apartheid, played a pivotal role in guiding SA towards a future founded on human rights and democracy.

The conflict during apartheid resulted in violence and human rights abuses, and the TRC’s primary objective was to uncover the truth regarding past egregious and gross human rights violations spanning from March 1960 to May 1994.

--ChannelAfrica\Linda Kea Moreotsene--