Cultural Protections: Interim Constitution Accord

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Cultural Protections: Interim Constitution Accord

Implementations

Cultural Protections – 1993

The interim constitution of 1993 protected the right to use the language and to participate in the cultural life of his or her choice. Nevertheless, the language debate between the ANC and the NP shadowed the debate on cultural protections and how that could better be protected in the final constitution.

Cultural Protections – 1994

The constitutional debate on cultural protections had yet to start.

Cultural Protections – 1995

The constitutional debate on cultural protections had yet to start.

Cultural Protections – 1996

According to a news report, “a compromise has been brokered in the language and customs area with a proposed Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural Religious and Linguistic Communities, which in essence prohibits the state from barring private institutions such as schools from promoting minority rights.”1

According to the Human Rights Commission of South Africa, the amorphous nature of cultural rights is recognized by the 1996 Constitution by providing a constitutional mechanism to establish a Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CPPR). The “Constitution protects minority rights. Specific attention has been paid to avoiding terminology, such as ethnic minority to avoid any association with the ethnic particularism of apartheid ideology. Instead the language of the Constitution refers to “persons belonging to a cultural community.” The emphasis has been focused on the minority rights of Afrikaans speaking whites.2“Economic Social and Cultural Rights in South Africa” Human Rights Commission of South Africa, 2000, accessed July 13, 2010, http://www.humanrights.se/upload/files/2/Rapporter%20och%20seminariedok/…

The CPPR, however, was not established in 1996.

  1. “SOUTH AFRICA-POLITICS: CONSTITUTIONAL ROAD BLOCK,” IPS-Inter Press Service, May 2, 1996.

Cultural Protections – 1997

The CPPR was not established in 1997.

Cultural Protections – 1998

President Mandela, in his address to the Parliament on February 6, 1998, said that the government was a step closer to setting up the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities.1

The Constitutional development minister, Valli Moosa, said, on May 13, 1998, that he would table a proposal during the parliamentary session for the formation of a commission for the promotion and protection of the rights of cultural, religious and linguistic communities. The commission was said to be formed only after consultation with other parties.2 No such bill was presented in the Parliament.

  1. “South Africa; Address By President Nelson Mandela To Parliament,” Africa News, February 6, 1998.
  2. “South Africa; Volkstaat Council must go,” Africa News, May 13, 1998.

Cultural Protections – 1999

The commission was not established in 1999, even after three years of constitutional provisions.

Cultural Protections – 2000

On April 10, 2000, the South African government appointed a committee of well-known community leaders and experts to advise the government on cultural, religious and linguistic rights. The committee was “charged to advise the government on the establishment of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic communities.” “As one of the last independent institutions required by the Constitution to be established, the commission’s main functions are to promote respect of the rights of communities as well as to develop peace, tolerance and national unity, among others.”1 The commission has yet to be established.

  1. “South Africa; State Appoints National Advisory Committee On Culture,” Africa News, April 10, 2000.

Cultural Protections – 2001

On September 5, 2001, the government finally tabled the long-awaited draft legislation to establish the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities. The formation of the commission would promote respect for and protect the rights of “cultural, religious and linguistic communities.”1

The national assembly approved the bill in March 2002. On July 22, 2004, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Commission) was officially launched in South Africa—the last of the “State Institutions Supporting Constitutional Democracy” to be set up under Chapter 9 of the 1996 Constitution.2Sean Morrow, “A South African Commission’s Mandate To Protect Cultural Rights,” Human Rights Dialogue: “Cultural Rights” (April 22, 2005), accessed July 13, 2010, http://www.cceia.org/resources/publications/dialogue/2_12/online_exclusi…

  1. “South Africa: ‘Long-awaited’ bill tabled to promote interests of minority groups,” BBC Monitoring Africa, September 5, 2001.

Cultural Protections – 2002

No further developments observed.