The human rights watchdog says the days of making promises that don’t translate into better lives for people are over.

Calling for a turning points in South Africa’s human rights, Amnesty International country director Shenilla Mohamed says the literacy level is decreasing with more children unable to read and write in their mother tongues.

Healthcare is failing with only seven percent of healthcare facilities offering the safe and legal abortions that the law provides for. 

After seven years, the families of the 34 people who died in the Marikana massacre are still waiting for justice.

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This is after a board of inquiry set up by President Jacob Zuma concluded that she is unfit to hold office and should be sacked, according to the City Press newspaper on Sunday

The Farlam commission  of inquiry into what’s become known as the Marikana massacre found the suspended commissioner guilty of misconduct.

The shooting by police of 34  miners demanding a salary increase evokes memories  of the heavy handed, often lethal,  enforcement action during apartheid.

COPE’s  Dennis Bloem says, Riah Phiyega cannot take the blame on her own. Police minister Nathi Mthethwa and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was as shareholder in the mine,  must also face censure  for what happened in Marikana.

The opposition  Democratic Alliance is asking the portfolio committee on police to table findings of the inquiry before parliament.

Phiyega’s lawyers says they will not be commenting on reports that their client has been given the boot until the board makes the findings available to them.

Phiyega chose not to testify before the board of inquiry under Judge Neels Claassen that earlier this year concluded its public hearings into whether she is fit to hold office.

Classen found Phiyega did not tell the Farlam commission that there were in fact two crime scenes at Marikana: the first where the miners advancing on the police were gunned down and the second where police pursued and shot fleeing mine workers, many of whom were killed while hiding behind rocks.

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