anti-discrimination law

(Emsie Ferreira Agence France-Presse)

January 26, 2000: "S. Africa passes landmark bill to outlaw discrimination: The South African national assembly on Wednesday approved a bill that outlaws discrimination on grounds such as race, gender, religion and disability in a bid to eradicate the lingering inequalities of the apartheid era.The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Bill contains a wide-ranging list of 17 grounds on which no person may be discriminated against. These include sexual orientation, age, culture, pregnancy, marital status, conscience, social standing and language.Though already enshrined in the country's liberal 1996 constitution, they can now be enforced through every court in the country and replace the old regime's racist laws which were wiped off the statute books nearly a decade ago.The bill also bans hate speech and, tacitly, the racial slurs that black, mixed-race and Indian South Africans suffered as so-called second-class citizens during more than 40 years ofwhite minority rule.Justice Minister Penuell Maduna trumpeted the bill as the most important piece of legislation in the country, bar the constitution, and "the legal basis for transforming SouthAfrica."