Parliament, Thursday, 27 March 2025 – The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development today resolved to schedule an urgent meeting to deliberate on the situation at the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) offices in KwaZulu-Natal after the committee could not convince the Commission assigned to the province to step aside.
Committee Chairperson Mr Xola Nqola said this resolution follows Ms Philile Ntuli’s unwillingness to agree to the proposal. “We listened to both parties. The office is collapsing and we thought an interim solution would be to move Ms Ntuli to one of the other provinces. At the end of the day, it is the vulnerable people of South Africa that suffers because of infighting.”
This afternoon, the committee requested Ms Ntuli to consider removing herself from the KZN office and instead work from another province until a lasting solution is found, after claims of a toxic environment in that office. Ms Ntuli did not agree to the committee request, saying that this was “a campaign by the staff to taint her good name”. She said it would be inappropriate and unfairly disadvantageous to herself to be removed from the KZN office.
Mr Nqola said the committee decided on the oversight visit after it received numerous complaints about an alleged toxic environment at the SAHRC. The committee earlier held a meeting wherein the SAHRC responded to the allegations. The committee then resolved to have a meeting with the commission’s staff to better understand the complaints. In its meeting held on 26 November 2024, the committee resolved to undertake an oversight visit to the SAHRC offices. The committee has already visited the Western Cape and Gauteng provincial offices.
“This oversight visits to this institution, which are meant to protect human rights in the country, coincides with a very important period in our country – Human Rights Month. We need to ensure that everyone’s rights are respected and protected, even if it is staff or management at the commission,” Mr Nqola emphasised.
During the engagement with staff, they repeated what they had included in a written complaint to committee – complaints against Ms Ntuli of racism, sexism, bullying and interference with procurement processes. The SAHRC manager in KZN, Ms Tanuja Munnoo, indicated that she had informed the SAHRC Chairperson, Rev Chris Nissen, about these complaints. He had allegedly promised to address them. The committee heard that Ms Ntuli undermines Ms Munnoo and allegedly also accused her of witchcraft.
Nine other staff members of the SAHRC in KZN supported Ms Munnoo’s version and elaborated on the strain in the office and the impact it has on the work of the SAHRC.
Mr Nqola said: “The office is collapsing. They are supposed to safeguard and educate the public on human rights, instead we find ourselves having to mediate after claims of human rights violations.”
The week-long oversight visit will conclude tomorrow with an oversight visit to the office of the Public Protector South Africa in KZN.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MR XOLA NQOLA.
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