A front page article in the POST.
THE recent attack by Pastor Mervin Naidu against Hindus has attracted significant public and social media attention, and has once more catapulted the role of Section 9 institutions like the CRL (Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities) and the role played by South Africa's Equality Courts in protecting constitutional rights, human dignity, and freedom from discrimination.
The outcry on social media condemning the attack (see the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, SAHMS, and the POST's Facebook pages) from different religious groups, including followers of both Christianity and Islam, has affirmed that, excluding mavericks such as Naidu, there is tolerance and interfaith harmony in South Africa. Furthermore, religious freedom and tolerance are entrenched in our constitutional democracy.
The CRL Rights Commission is mandated "to promote respect for and further the protection of the rights of cultural, religious and linguistic communities; promote and develop peace, friendship, humanity, tolerance, national unity among and within cultural, religious and linguistic communities on the basis of equality, non-discrimination and free association”.
