South Africa: Human Rights

Publisher Marketing: South Africa is a multi-party parliamentary democracy in which constitutional power is shared between the president and the parliament. In 2009 the country held a largely free and fair election, in which the ruling African National Congress (ANC) won 65.9 percent of the vote and 264 of 400 seats in the National Assembly, which then elected ANC President Jacob Zuma as the country's president. Authorities maintained effective control over the security forces. Security forces committed human rights abuses. Principal human rights problems included police use of lethal and excessive force, including torture; prison overcrowding and abuse of prisoners, including beatings and rape by prison guards; and vigilante and mob violence. Other human rights problems included: arbitrary arrest; prolonged pretrial detention and lengthy delays in trials; forcible dispersal of demonstrators; abuse of refugees and asylum seekers; corruption; pervasive violence against women and children; sexual harassment and societal discrimination against women; child prostitution; societal discrimination against persons with disabilities and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community; trafficking in persons; attacks on foreigners; and child labor, including forced child labor. Although the government investigated and prosecuted officials who committed abuses, whether in the security services of elsewhere in the government, there were numerous reports of impunity.