The Constitutional Court has ruled that the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) cannot issue binding directives after investigating alleged rights violations, drawing a constitutional line between the commission’s watchdog mandate and the coercive powers it argued were implied by law.
In a unanimous judgment handed down on Wednesday in South African Human Rights Commission v Agro Data CC and Another, the apex court dismissed the commission’s appeal and held that, where its findings are ignored, it must seek relief through a competent court rather than compel compliance on its own authority.
The case arose from a complaint lodged by occupiers on the Mpumalanga farm De Doorn Hoek in 2018, who alleged that respondents Agro Data CC and Francois Gerhardus Boshoff had restricted their access to borehole water.
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After investigating, the commission found that the occupiers’ right of access to water
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