Barney Pityana is elected Chairman of Human Rights Commission

The Human Rights Commission (HRC), a statutory body provided for under the Interim Constitution, on its inaugural meeting on 2 October 1995 elected Nyameko Barney Pityana as its chairman. He maintained that the commission would ensure that the rights of all citizens were protected, ensuring that South Africa complied to the Universal Declaration of Human rights. Pityana further emphasised that the commission would also monitor legislation in Provincial Legislatures. Seven days later the Commission issued its first report, relating to violence in September. It concluded that eighty-four deaths during the month of September could be attributed to political violence, of which forty-seven were in the troubled KwaZulu-Natal province.   Further Reading: South African Human Rights Commission Annual Reports Pityana, N.B., 2004. Reflections on the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. African Human Rights Law Journal, 4(1), 121-129.