Nelspruit — The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) launched its first ever roadshow in Mpumalanga yesterday (Monday) in an attempt to educate often-illiterate villagers about their rights.

The weeklong roadshow will focus on basic rights such as government's responsibility to provide access to clean water, education and decent basic medical care, as well as the State's financial responsibility towards pensioners, orphans, the disabled, and young children.

"Rural people often do not have access to clean drinking water, and are also often unaware that they are entitled to social welfare grants. They are also sometimes not aware they can come to the SAHRC if their rights are violated," said SAHRC education officer George Masanabo.

"We aim to change all that with this awareness roadshow."

The SAHRC, which is South Africa's statutory watchdog mandated to guard against human rights and other constitutional abuses, does not currently operate an office or monitoring programme in Mpumalanga.

"When the SAHRC was established the government did not give enough of a budget for it to operate offices in all provinces. This is why we thought it important to run grassroots workshops and campaigns.

"In addition to teaching rural villagers, we will also be able to identify their biggest concerns and design programmes to address them," said Mr Masanabo.

The roadshow will include meetings with traditional leaders, NGOs and key government "service providers" such as policemen and nurses, as well as "site visits" to police stations and rural villages in the Nkomazi region.

The meetings with traditional leaders will include discussion on the role of culture in ensuring social justice, and innovative ways to promote gender rights while still respecting cultural tradition.

"NGOs and civil society are a vitally important ally for the SAHRC, because they are frontline protectors of protect human rights at grassroots level and can help us reach isolated deep rural communities," said Mr Masanabo.

The roadshow will not, however, focus just on traditional human rights, such as freedom of speech and association. It will also stress citizens' socio-economic rights.

"This will be an opportunity for us to personally analyse the levels of hospital and police service experienced by people in deep rural areas," he said.