An official investigation has found evidence of unfair racial and gender discrimination in the allocation of state land leases along the shorelines of the Hartbeespoort Dam, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) confirmed today.
The probe was launched following complaints from black businesses alleging their unfair exclusion from leasing state land in the area. Shirley Mlombo, SAHRC’s North West Provincial Manager, detailed the commission’s findings, stating the primary cause was state inaction on transformation.
“Indeed, the South African Human Rights Commission received a complaint relating to unfair discrimination on the ground of race when it comes to accessing state land along the shorelines of Hartbeespoort Dam,” Mlombo stated. “In the commission’s investigation, we found that indeed there was evidence of unfair discrimination on the ground of race and gender.”
Mlombo explained that this discrimination stemmed from the failure of the Department of Water and Sanitation to fulfill its constitutional duty to promote equality and ensure equitable access to resources. She directly linked the current situation to South Africa’s history of apartheid but emphasized that history cannot be a “perpetual defense against inaction.”
The investigation revealed a severe lack of processing lease applications over a prolonged period. Mlombo reported that between 2012 and December of last year, only four lease applications were processed by the department.
“Of those four lease applications that were processed, two were given to white applicants against the one that was granted to a black applicant as well as a mixed-race entity,” she said.
The commission also investigated allegations that the South African Police Service (SAPS) was being “weaponized” against black residents in the area. According to Mlombo, the SAHRC requested a list of unattended cases from complainants and gave SAPS an opportunity to respond.
“From the submissions that the South African Police Service provided to us, we were satisfied that those cases had been attended to or some of them were in the process of being attended to,” Mlombo said. “Based on the evidence at our disposal… we could not find that there’s racial bias on the part of SAPS.”
The report also highlighted administrative failures by the Department of Water and Sanitation and the Madibeng Municipality, which were found to have exacerbated pre-existing racial tensions. These failures included not enacting or enforcing relevant bylaws concerning development, building regulations, and noise pollution.
Mlombo stated that the lack of enforcement led residents to “take matters into their own hands” to seek relief, a role that should properly be played by the state.
The SAHRC’s findings point to a systemic failure in addressing transformation and equitable resource access in Hartbeespoort, placing a constitutional obligation on state organs to take corrective action.