South Africa - Lodging a Complaint against Discrimination in the Equality Court

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. To lodge a complaint against discrimination in the equality court in person, the person who wants to lodge a complaint must visit the nearest Equality court in his/her province.
2. The address and contact details of the Equality courts can be found in the following link: Link
3. Visit the nearest court and obtain a complaint form to complaint an act of discrimination that you want to be heard, from the clerk.
4. Complete the form as required and as per the instructions of the clerk. You will have to provide your details as well as the details of the respondent (against whom the complaint is lodged).
5. Make sure that you have all the documents listed in the “Required Documents” section of this page.
6. Attach the required documents and submit the completed form to the Equality court clerk who will instruct what should be done further.
7. After that, the Equality Court Clerk must refer the matter to the Presiding officer within a prescribed period of time.
8. The Presiding Officer must decide within a prescribed period based on all the relevant circumstances of the parties involved whether the matter should be heard in the Equality Court or referred to an alternative institution, body, tribunal, court or forum.
9. You will be informed about the further process that should be accomplished by you.

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Required Documents

• Identification document
• Passport
• Residential proof
• Any supporting document

Office Locations & Contacts

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development Head Office
Physical Adsress: Momentum Centre, 329
Pretorius Street,
Pretoria,
0001
South Africa
Postal Adsress:Private Bag X81
Pretoria,
0001
South Africa
Tel: 080 002 0007
Email:[email protected]
Website link

Eligibility

• Any person, who is directly subjected to an act of discrimination or wish to take a case in his /her own interests on the grounds of discrimination, can lodge a complaint in opposition.
• Any person acting on behalf of another person who cannot act in his/her own name or acting in the interest of the public, is eligible to apply.
• Any association or organization or body acting in the interests of its members can request for a proceeding against discrimination.

Fees

The Equality court offers the service free of cost.

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

Please attach documents that can be used by people. e.g. links

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

The application process will start on the very day you submit and the flow is determined by the actions of the respondent, the Equality court and the Presiding officer.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• The Act places specific duties on the South African Human Rights Commission, the Commission on Gender Equality and other bodies that have been set up in terms of the Constitution.

• They are required to assist complainants in bringing complaint to the equality courts and to conduct investigations into cases and advise complainants.

• If you believe you or someone was treated badly because of hatred or bias based on one of the following: race, gender, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour of your skin, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion conscience & belief, culture, language, birth, nationality, HIV status or perceived status, economic or social status, family responsibility and status you can report your case at the Equality courts.

Required Information

• Particulars of the complainant
• Particulars of the respondent
• Details about the complaint

Need for the Document

• If you have been unfairly discriminated against either directly or indirectly on the basis of one or more of the prohibited grounds, or feel that you are the victim of hate speech or harassment, you have the provision in the constitution of South Africa that you must be heard and served with justice against such actions by the Equality courts.

• Hence, it is required to lodge a complaint against any such action in a format prescribed by the Equality court.

Information which might help

• A complaint to the court can be made against someone or organisations you believe have failed to respect the rights of another person.

• Lodging a complaint with Equality Court is free. You also are not required to use a lawyer or any other legal expert. You can, however, choose to do so (and so can the people or organisation that you have filed a complaint against).

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Link

Others

• Link
  
• Link