The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Commission’) is a constitutional human rights institution established by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa in 2004 to strengthen constitutional democracy with specific reference to the rights of culture, religion and language.
Owing to its mandate, the Commission received a number of complaints and requests concerning the bias and unfair schedule of Public Holidays Act 36 of 1994 (‘the PHA’). The focal point of the complaints and requests is that the PHA caters only for the Christian religious Holydays thus unfairly discriminating against holidays of other religions.
The consultative community hearings aim at:
- encouraging public and community participation on the matter
- gather information from the communities and determine whether, according to the communities, there is discrimination or not; and if there is discrimination whether such discrimination is fair or unfair and to,
- submit a report with recommendations to the Department of Home Affairs and the office of the Presidency for possible review of existing legislation.
Consequently, the Commission has planned to conduct consultative public and community hearings on this matter in each province. Invited and expected are leaders and representatives of various religious and cultural councils and communities in South Africa.
Schedule of Various Provincial Consultative Community Hearings
| No: | Activity | Province | Venue | Month | Week | No of days &dates |
| 1 | Community /Public Hearings | Gauteng | CRL Rights Commission (Rosebank) | June | 1st Week | (07 June 2012) |
| 2 | Community / Public Hearings | Free State | Bloemfontein & Bethlehem | June | 2nd Week | (14 & 15 June 2012) |
| 3 | Community / Public Hearings | KZN | Durban | June | 3nd week | 21 June 2012 |
| 4 | Community / Public Hearings | Western Cape | Cape Town | June | 4th week | 28 & June 2012 |
The religious and cultural community representatives are invited to attend and make presentations during this consultative hearings process.
For enquiries regarding this media statement contact:
Sipho Mantula
Communications and Marketing Officer
Cell: 084 7815587
Tel: 011 537 7628
E-mail: sipho@crlcommission.org.za
