To
: Barbara Volkwyn; Penny Carelse
CC
: Mamosadi Moletsane
Date
: 21/01/2010]
From:
Juliette Steffers On Behalf Of Tseliso Thipanyane
Sent:
20 January 2010 04:04 PM
To:
'bvolkwyn@uwc.ac.za'
Cc:
Sebongile Mutlwane; Mamosadi Moletsane
Subject:
FW: Complaint - faxed
Importance:
High
Good
day
The
email from yourself addressed to the office of the Chief Executive
Officer
of
the South African Human Rights Commission is hereby acknowledged
with thanks.
Kindly
be advised that the contents of the email have been forwarded to our
complaints
registrar Ms Sebongile Mutlwane.
Her
contact details are:
Tel:
011-484-8300 ext 2113
Fax:
011-484-1360
Email:
smutlwane@sahrc.org.za
To
follow up on your complaint please contact the above person.
Kind
regards
Julie
Steffers,PA to the Chief Executive Officer
___________________________
Our
reference: WC/2010/0037
19
February 2010
Per
email: bvolkwyn@uwc.ac.za
Dear
Madam
RE: Your Complaint
The
South African Human Rights Commission acknowledges receipt of your
complaint as received by us on 29 January 2010. The Commission was set up to
investigate violations of those rights that can be found in the Bill
of Rights, which is Chapter 2 of the
Constitution.
Your
complaint has been assessed and the Commission is of the opinion
that the issues that you have raised are a clear violation of the
rights to human dignity as contained in the Bill of Rights under
Section 10.
Accordingly
it is our view that the matter needs to be litigated in the Equality
Court and thus am advising you of the said intended
action.
We
will assist you with bring the application and would therefore
request that you kindly contact the writer in order to discuss the
matter and arrange a follow up consultation at your earliest
convenience.
Yours
faithfully
South
African Human Rights Commission
Western
Cape
Per:
Bianca
Valentine
Legal
Consultant
___________________________
From:
Barbara Volkwyn [mailto:bvolkwyn@uwc.ac.za]
Sent: 19
February 2010 04:56 PM
To: Bianca
Valentine
Subject: RE: YOUR MATTER
Friday
19th February 2010 16:55
Dear
Ms Valentine
Thank
you for responding to my complaint.
If
I have to bring the application rather than the HRC then I will
gladly do so.
Thanks
for offering to assist me with the application. I will be at the
High Court on Wednesday morning from 9:30am to 10:00am so I could
come and meet you after that. If this is not convenient kindly
advise and I'll arrange a more convenient
time.
Yours
faithfully
Barbara
Volkwyn (Ms)
___________________________
>>>
Bianca Valentine <BValentine@sahrc.org.za> 2010/02/19 05:34 PM
>>>
Dear
Madam
Please
be advised that I will avail myself between 11 and 2 on
Wednesday.
Please
feel free to attend at my office to discuss the matter
further.
Regards
___________________________
Dear
Ms Valentine
Yes,
it does, thank you.
I
have one question for you. I spent some time surfing the net
yesterday and noticed that quite often the HRC brings
applications before the Equality Courts themselves. Why are you not
taking this matter forward yourselves?
Regards
Barbara
Volkwyn (Ms)
___________________________
Monday
22nd February 2010
16:30
Email: Barbara.volkwyn@gmail.com
Dear
Ms Valentine
Your
reference: WC/2010/0037
As
mentioned earlier today I spent some time surfing the internet
yesterday for cases where the Human Rights Commission has brought
before the Equality Courts themselves. I found many.
You
stated earlier during our telephone discussion that you would handle
the legal argument side of this matter but that the case would be
lodged in my name. In your letter to me you stated that you would
assist me with this matter.
Here
are my concerns. I have just read two articles this afternoon which
alleges that the ANC is leading a march tomorrow again. Thus far,
this has been denied by the ANC. See : http://www.sabcnews.com/portal/site/SABCNews/menuitem.5c4f8fe7ee929f602ea12ea1674daeb9/?vgnextoid=f9ad0241794f6210VgnVCM10000077d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default
ANC
accused of plan to drive Zimbabweans out of De Doorns and
http://www.ewn.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=33170
ANC denies knowledge of proposed march.
There
are a few documents published on the net where again it is alleged
that the ANC or certain members of the ANC was/were behind the
xenophobic attacks in De Doorns. E.g. http://fromtheold.com/news/anc-behind-xenophobic-attacks-de-doorns-2009112515875.html
and
in
another report on the net : http://schwartzerwitz.blogspot.com/2010/01/de-doorns-xenophobia-simmers-on.html,
it is alleged that ?Sowetan reported last year that ANC ward
councillor Mpumelelo Lubisi first allegedly incited a meeting to
?destroy the houses of Zimbabweans?.
I
am deeply disturbed by these allegations to say the
least.
I
would therefore like you to respond in writing as to why you, as the
Human Rights Commission cannot bring the application before the
Equality Court yourselves. In 2006/2007, the head of the Cape Town
branch of the HRC (he may still be the head) told me when I
visited your offices and questioned a particular section of the
Access to Information Act, that that specific part of the Access to
Information Act had not yet been tested in a court of law and
advised me to bring an application in the High Court
to test that part of the Act!
Yours
faithfully
Barbara
Volkwyn (Ms)
___________________________
Tuesday 22nd February
2010.
Dear Ms Valentine
With regard to the letter
below, could you please reply before 4pm today? Depending on your
answer I may / may not come to your offices tomorrow
morning.
Yours sincerely
Barbara Volkwyn
(Ms)
___________________________
Dear
Madam
Please
note that this matter has been referred to Adv Goosen for assessment
and recommendation.
He
will revert directly with you regarding your email.
Regards
Bianca
Valentine
___________________________
>>> Leonardo Goosen
<LGoosen@sahrc.org.za> 2010/03/02 12:37 PM
>>>
Dear Ms
Volkwyn
As you are aware, Ms
Valentine is currently dealing with your complaint relating to
certain utterances by a certain Pastor Henke. Since your request is
that the matter be brought before the Equality Court by the
Commission itself, this matter will have to be referred to our
National Legal Complaints meeting. I am currently preparing a
memorandum in order to motivate for your position. It has however
come to my attention that you do not provide us with any address or
other contact details for Pastor Henke. In terms of our complaint
handling procedures we cannot accept a complaint unless these
details have been provided. While I appreciate your referring us to
the reporter from the Cape Argus, our procedures dictate that the
complainant provide these
details.
Since I have been requested by
my National Office to prepare the necessary memorandum by tomorrow,
I would appreciate it if you would provide me with the necessary
details today still.
Yours
faithfully
SA
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
per:
ADV LJ
GOOSEN
PROVINCIAL
MANAGER
___________________________
Tuesday 2nd March 2009 ;
2:10pm
Dear Advocate Goosen
Firstly I would like to
draw your attention to the email below. On the 23rd February Ms
Valentine advised that you are now dealing with this matter. In your
email just received you stated that Ms Valentine is dealing with
this matter. ???
I will be sending a fax to the Argus
shortly. However you and I both know that this information will not
be furnished. From previous experience with matters legal, they are
most likely to insist on a subpoena or worse, simply refuse to
furnish the information. Again, you and I both know that the press
frequently take these matters to court or contest the court action
and fight tooth and nail to withhold information of this
nature.
You have not yet replied to my letter dated 22nd
February 2010 and emailed at 4:30pm. I therefore assume from the
contents of this email that you are not prepared to move forward
with this matter yourselves. If you had any intention to do so, you
would not be asking me to furnish you with the information you have
requested and addressing me as the complainant. I was informed by Ms
Valentine that this matter was referred to your JHB Office.
The deadline you have set is ridiculous and it won't be met
- that is a certainty. I am not prepared to subpoena the Argus for
the details you have requested - I will merely send them a fax
requesting the information and refer their response to you.
I
am requesting again that you use this email address for your
correspondence.
Yours faithfully
Barbara Volkwyn
(Ms)
___________________________
Dear
Ms Volkwyn
I
place on record that I regard your e-mail as extremely antagonistic
and not helpful to the process which you have initiated with our
offices.
I
place on record further my telephonic conversation to you on even
date wherein I sought to clarify some of the issues raised by
yourself in the e-mail under reply. Once again I was faced by an
antagonistic Complainant who sought to prescribe to me how to deal
with the matter and who made inappropriate comments which appeared
to question the motives underlying my advices.
I
confirm that I explained the procedure relating to intake of
complaints at the Western Cape Town office. Thus Ms Valentine?s
advices that I would assess the matter and make recommendations is
correct. After my assessment and recommendation I forwarded the file
to her for further handling. I re-iterate that I am seeking
permission from National Office to institute proceedings in the name
of the Commission, however, as previously mentioned, complainants
are required to furnish particulars of Respondents in order for the
Commission to proceed. Unfortunately, should we not be in receipt of
these, we will be unable to proceed further with your
matter.
We
trust that this provides the necessary clarification
Yours
faithfully
Adv
LJ Goosen
Provincial
Manager
Western
Cape
___________________________
Tuesday
2nd March 2010 ; 3:09pm
Dear Advocate Goosen
It is
abundantly clear from your utterances that without contact details
from me, you cannot proceed or will not proceed. I cannot help but
wonder what your reaction would have been if a similar remark had
been made about the President or a member of Parliament. This was a
complaint about hate speech directed at Zimbabweans in De Doorns.
Your offices ought to have acted swiftly from the beginning as Jody
Kollapen had done in the past on at least one occasion. Just bear in
mind that this display of hate speech made world news
headlines.
You have more resources at your disposal than I
have or will ever have, to acquire the information you
require.
In the past I have written letters upon letters to
your office with regard to the gross abuse of my late father's
constitutional rights as well as those of my brother and myself but
your office did not even have the decency to respond (see
www.isaacvolkwyn.com).
So if you find my attitude or email antagonistic then so be it.
There is a history of the HRC not wanting to take appropriate action
when it comes to my complaints.
Yours faithfully
Barbara
Volkwyn (Ms)
___________________________
