The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000 (PEPUDA or the Equality Act, Act No. 4 of 2000) is a comprehensive South African

anti-discrimination law Anti-discrimination law or non-discrimination law refers to legislation designed to prevent discrimination against particular groups of people; these groups are often referred to as protected groups or protected classes. Anti-discrimination laws ...

. It prohibits unfair discrimination by the government and by private organisations and individuals and forbids

hate speech Hate speech is defined by the '' Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thou ...

and

harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral r ...

. The act specifically lists race, gender, sex, pregnancy, family responsibility or status, marital status, ethnic or social origin, HIV/AIDS status, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth as "prohibited grounds" for discrimination, but also contains criteria that courts may apply to determine which other characteristics are prohibited grounds.

Employment discrimination Employment discrimination is a form of illegal discrimination in the workplace based on legally protected characteristics. In the U.S., federal anti-discrimination law prohibits discrimination by employers against employees based on age, race, ...

is excluded from the ambit of the act because it is addressed by the Employment Equity Act, 1998. The act establishes the divisions of the High Court and designated Magistrates' Courts as "Equality Courts" to hear complaints of discrimination, hate speech and harassment.

Background

Section Nine of the

Constitution of South Africa The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, it sets out the rights and duties of its citizens, and defines the structure of the Gove ...

contains a guarantee of equality and a prohibition of public and private discrimination. It obliges the national government to enact legislation to prohibit discrimination, and a transitional clause required this legislation to be enacted by 4 February 2000, three years after the constitution came into force. The Equality Act was assented to by the President on 2 February 2000; it was enacted alongside two other laws similarly required by the constitution: the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), dealing with

freedom of information Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigen ...

, and the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA), dealing with justice in

administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are generally referred to as " regulations"), ...

References

External links

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development: Equality Courts

Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000, as amended

Regulations Relating to the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination, 2003

South African Human Rights Commission
Anti-discrimination law in South Africa South African legislation 2000 in South African law LGBT law in South Africa 2000 in LGBT history {{SouthAfrica-stub