If only the Human Rights Commission worked . . .

The habit of reading South African Sunday papers is not without its risks to one's health and sanity. One's blood pressure is invariably likely to rise to unhealthy proportions as a result of the bulk of the stories and opinions contained in these papers. Still, I am largely a spectator to the events that are reported on. The events that affect real people causing real pain and real pleasure, depending on which side of the fence one sits.

Take the story of a woman who was (I believe she remains) suspended without pay by her employer because she is too fat. I do not know what being too fat is. We could go on about the "body mass index" and such other wonderful health indicators - to this woman I suspect all that will be just words. The employer does not (at least is not quoted to) state that this woman's weight interferes with her duties or renders her unable to perform her job. According to the newspaper report, when she joined this company, she was only marginally lighter than she was at the time that she was told go home to lose weight and to forfeit her salary while she is at it.

This is not new where this employer is concerned. Some time ago, it took a Cape Town based lawyer to come to the rescue of its workers. The company is based some 1400 kilometres away from Cape Town in the now North-West province. At that time, the workers apparently had their digits falling off because the company would not provide adequate protection to them while working under below freezing conditions. It took a court of law to make the company behave humanely towards its employees, the very people who make it possible for the company to do business.

I applaud the newspaper for reporting on this story. This is a cry for help and hopefully as you read this post, you may be moved to help this woman and others in her shoes; our country is full of them. This all happens while the Human Rights Commission (HRC) stands by and does nothing. Of course the HRC will claim (truthfully) that it did not know about this traversty and if it did get to find out (those who work at the HRC do read the papers) it may correctly say that the matter is not properly before it. Would the editor of news at radio 702 put the plight of this woman before the HRC? It will be quick.

These are the problems the HRC should have at least sought to address by now. It is no rocket science. The people who need the services of the HRC do not and cannot under the current structure of the HRC, have access to it. Take the case of desecrated graves of a community somewhere near Gauteng, the families that live in make-shift PVC hovels alongside farms they ones worked; and many others. While at it, consider the case of the editor of news at radio 702 and some non-organisation having a non-meeting (for more on this, see Moremogolo's post somewhere on this blog). Contrary to prior belief, the HRC and all other chapter 9 institutions can only be effective if they become activist; if they go out there closer to the people who need it the most.

The conduct of employers like the one in this post creates and feeds resentment. We should be well advised not to take resentment lightly. Remember Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Zimbabwe and watch the realities cascade south-wards. This is not scare-mongering, there is enough of that going on already and I do not need to add to it. The point is that we all need some place, someone, some organisation, something that can take up the fight on our behalf when our very humanity is trampled on and we are treated worse than beasts of burden. We all need some justice against treatment as inhuman as that meted out to the poor woman. The alternative is of course helplessness and resentment.

In the meantime, the company continues to trade and prosper; the HRC continues to fail those that needs it the most. Thirst (an old friend) tells me that it is time that we go back to being activists again. Time that we believe in our liberation and our future - I think she is right.