Navitas Petroleum must not be allowed to export energy resources from South Africa to feed the corporate machinery of Israel’s genocide, ecocide, illegal occupation and apartheid. No profit can justify permanent ecological damage to our oceans and the livelihoods of our coastal communities.  In September 2026, South Africa granted offshore fossil fuel rights to an Israeli company, Navitas Petroleum. This is not an ordinary commercial transaction. This deal enables Apartheid Israel to benefit materially from activities within South Africa’s jurisdiction and territory that will cause irreversible harm to peoples, climate and nature.  Navitas Petroleum generates income for Apartheid Israel, Israeli investors and financial institutions. The exploration right relates to Block 1 CBK, which is situated within an ecologically and economically significant marine region in the Orange Basin on South Africa’s west coast, along its maritime border with Namibia. Any exploration or extraction would have devastating impacts on marine ecosystems, fisheries, coastal communities and livelihoods in both countries, and for climate-vulnerable communities globally.  Under international and domestic law, and as enshrined in its Constitution, South Africa has iron-clad obligations to ensure human rights and the protection of the environment, including the climate and marine systems. These obligations must be reflected in any decisions on national resources. National resources should not be in the hands of corporate actors whose material operations benefit regimes accused of crimes against humanity.  In allowing an Israeli company to profit from South Africa’s fossil fuel resources, South Africa is directly undermining its international and domestic legal obligations and moral standing on Palestinian liberation, human rights and environmental justice. South Africa’s legal and moral obligations to Palestine South Africa has a longstanding and principled stance that supports Palestinian liberation. South Africa has stated that normal relations cannot continue while Israel commits genocide and war crimes, removes Palestinians from their lands and perpetrates violations of  international law. These human rights violations are documented in detail in United Nations reports.  The International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem concluded in 2024 that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful, and that all States are obliged to recognise unlawful occupation, and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining it.  South Africa is leading proceedings against Israel before the ICJ under the Genocide Convention. State Parties  to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide are bound to prevent genocide and refrain from complicity. Where a serious risk is known or ought reasonably to be known, States must exercise due diligence as well as exercise their capacity to influence and regulate private actors – including  leveraging their economic ties.  South Africa’s obligations to peoples and nature Under several human rights, climate and environmental treaties and agreements, South Africa is obligated to reduce and prevent transboundary and intergenerational environmental harm, including harm to the climate. In Sustaining the Wild Coast, the South African Constitutional Court reaffirmed the State’s obligation to protect the environment for present and future generations. The Court emphasised that financial and commercial interests cannot be placed above the rights of affected peoples. The Court also recognised the 2025 ICJ Advisory Opinion on Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change, which determined that States are obligated to prevent significant environmental harm, to act with due diligence in accordance with the latest science, and to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause harm to the environment, including the climate system.  Why a thorough public participation process is necessary South Africa’s mineral and petroleum resources are administered by the State as custodian for the benefit of the nation. South African law recognises public participation as integral for decisions on fossil fuel exploration (PAJA, NEMA, and MPRDA).  In Sustaining the Wild Coast, the South African Constitutional Court emphasised the importance of adequate consultation to ensure that the concerns of affected peoples such as fisherfolk are considered, and that their agency and dignity is protected. Access to information is a key element of the right to public participation. Interested and affected parties must be properly informed and be able to participate in decision making. No information regarding this transfer has so far been made available from the South African government, as of mid October 2026.  Objection to the transfer of rights to Navitas In August 2026, human rights and environmental organisations wrote to Minister Mantashe and the Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PASA), advising that the transfer of rights to Navitas Petroleum should be denied. No response or acknowledgement was received. On 22 September 2026, it was made public by the companies involved that the rights had been granted. An application for critical information was submitted to PASA on 24 September 2026 under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). As yet, no response has been received.  South Africa must end its complicity in Apartheid Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity - not form new long term commercial relationships that will be devastating for people and the planet.  Minister Mantashe must act urgently on civil society demands to stop Navitas Petroleum operating in South African waters.  Please email us for more information.  For more information and context, please watch this webinar:  Oil, Occupation & Extractivism - Why South Africa must repeal offshore oil and gas rights granted to Navitas.

Social grant money is no longer enough to buy food, pay for electricity, pay taxi fare, and other expenses. Ramaphosa needs to top up all social grants soon because this is a crisis. In 2020, Ramaphosa increased all social grants and even introduced a R350 SRD grant in response to the COVID-19 crisis; he can top up all grants again now. We keep reducing the quality and quantity of food we buy simply because everything keeps going up in price. The gap between social grants and the cost of living keeps getting bigger [1]; we need help. The cost of living is higher than ever and the government is under pressure to act. President Cyril Ramaphosa topped up all social grants in 2020 to help people, he can do it again now. Let's keep showing them that the current cost of living is a crisis in itself; they may see the need to increase all social grants. We managed to get political parties to commit to increasing social grants; we can get them to act on it. Do you mind telling Ramaphosa and the Minister of Finance to top up all social grants? In the past, amandla.mobi campaigns helped force the government to extend and increase the SRD grant and top up child and old age grants. Government failures have forced us to pay higher prices for electricity and water. Combined with high fuel and food prices, many of us are at a breaking point. Social grant amounts must keep up with the cost of living. Ramaphosa must act because the government can afford top-ups. It doesn’t matter which political party you support, or whether you vote or not; we, the people, must make our democracy work for us by making our voices heard. We want social grants top-ups to tackle the cost of living.  References: [1] Social grants not keeping up with the high cost of living, Newzroom Afrika, YouTube. 13 September 2026.

The public looks to health professionals and practitioners to act in the public interest. What message does it send to the public when we give food businesses a platform to legitimize and promote ultra-processed foods at a nutrition congress?  The Nutrition Congress is supposed to be an event that brings together nutrition experts across South Africa and beyond to present research and discuss practical solutions to global health challenges. We cannot allow businesses that contribute to these health challenges to  sponsor the event. In South Africa alone, 79 people die daily due to diet-related NCDs. For most of these people, this is due to what they eat and drink. Nutrition Society of South Africa (NSSA) and The Association for Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA) cannot convene to combat such issues with an industry that continues to contribute heavily to these health issues.  We applaud the National Department of Health speakers and representatives, and other conference participants for speaking out against the presence of the ultra-processed food industry. We wholeheartedly agree, their presence is a major conflict of interest.

The violent reality that has unfortunately become all too familiar has once again struck our country. In Ekurhuleni, nine women have been found dead since July, with the seventh and eighth victims discovered naked and in advanced states of decomposition along roadsides and open fields [1]. A woman’s body was lying decaying in a field before law enforcement even realised that she was missing. This is a horrific reflection of the complete lack of urgency that our protective mechanisms hold when it comes to women.  The government’s response has once again exposed a fatal flaw in our policing model as it is entirely reactive. Police leadership waited until four women were murdered in the same area before assembling a high-level task force, and only began cross-referencing station records after the body count continued to rise [1]. We are exhausted by a broken system that treats post-mortem arrests as a victory while doing nothing to keep women alive in the first place. Empty political sympathy and calls for action do not save lives. We do not want justice that only arrives in a mortuary. We need proactive, preemptive measures that identify serial predators and prevent deaths before they occur. This reactive model is driven by severe underfunding of GBVF response. While GBVF was officially declared a national crisis, the state continues to cut overall spending on policing, leaving frontline officers stripped of basic resources [2]. The government's true priorities are clear in the numbers. Last year, R339 million was found for VIP services to protect just 3 666 politicians while this year only R43 million was allocated to the national body meant to coordinate South Africa’s response to gender-based violence and femicide, despite a staggering 50 511 reported GBVF cases [2]. Even when temporary task teams are formed during public outrage, once they are dissolved local police stations are left isolated and serial predators are free to strike again. Our specific demands are non-negotiable and urgently necessary. The blueprint to stop serial offenders before they strike again already exists in the SAPS Policy on the Investigation and Management of Serial Rape and Serial Murder [4] and is backed by a 2026 study on serial crime linkage in Ekurhuleni [5]. But without ring-fenced funding, these frameworks remain empty promises on paper. We are mourning both the sisters we have lost and the lives we are told we cannot live, at least not without fear or the terrifying question of Am I next? If thousands of us join our voices today, we can build the public pressure required to force Treasury and SAPS leadership to move from reactive lip service to permanent, preventative action. Sign this petition now to demand permanent emergency funding for a serial crime rapid-response task force. It’s time that one more turns into no more. References: [1] IOL News: Ninth body found in Dawn Park, Ekurhuleni (https://iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/2026-09-17-breaking-ninth-body-found-in-dawn-park-ekurhuleni/) [2] Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC): Years of Underfunding Have Undermined SA’s Fight Against GBVF (https://aidc.org.za/years-of-underfunding-have-undermined-sas-fight-against-gbvf/) [3] National Treasury / South African Government: Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) Section 16 Emergency Expenditure Provisions (https://www.treasury.gov.za/legislation/pfma/act.pdf) [4] Civilian Secretariat for Police Service: SAPS Policy on the Investigation and Management of Serial Rape and Serial Murder (https://www.policesecretariat.gov.za/sites/default/files/publications/policy_invs_man_rape.pdf) [5] Springer Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology (2026): Serial Crime Linkage and Multidisciplinary Response in Ekurhuleni (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11896-026-09830-5)

This is the cost: • Gogos spending their SASSA grants on taxi fare just to collect blood pressure and diabetes medication • Pregnant women missing antenatal care because they cannot afford the trip • Sick infants and emergencies deteriorating before they reach help • Treatment default because the clinic is too far and too costly to reach regularly • The Constitution of South Africa, Section 27, guarantees everyone the right to access health care services. Mangweni has been left behind. Sign this petition and stand with Mangweni Village.

We are already struggling to put food on the table [2], and now Eskom has asked NERSA for permission to increase electricity prices by 8,83% in 2027 [3]. This is the same Eskom we carried through load-shedding when our taxes paid their debt relief and we paid more for electricity. Now load-shedding is over, and Eskom has excess electricity [4]. Treasury and Eskom should cut electricity prices to increase demand and help us during this cost-of-living crisis. Eskom cannot just raise electricity prices every year and make big profits at our expense. Government and politicians will claim that households that can’t afford electricity prices will get free electricity and water from the municipalities' Free Basic Services (FBS) program. But that program needs major fixing. Research by PARI found that municipalities are given money to provide free electricity and water to 11 million households, but only about 2.5 million households receive free basics [5]. Those who do get free basics must jump through municipality hoops for a small amount of free electricity. Decision-makers must reduce electricity prices and implement PARI’s recommendations to link Free Basic Services with the SASSA beneficiary registry. Municipalities should only receive funds once they can show they have actually delivered free electricity and water.  The Minister of Finance must make cutting electricity prices for consumers a condition of Eskom's debt-relief program. If electricity prices are allowed to increase, President Ramaphosa and Minister Godongwana must increase social grants significantly.  The Government of National Unity (GNU) promised to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, but continues to fail us. We refuse to accept this.  References: [1] Public comments for Eskom’s proposed 8.83% tariff hike for 2027 open. Themba Radebe for SABC News. 8 September 2026 [2] South Africa should wage a fully-fledged war against poverty, Khutso Makua for Mail & Guardian, 10 February 2026. [3] Electricity bills to rise by 8.8% if Eskom gets its way with NERSA, Nosipho Radebe for SABC, 5 September 2026. [4] Eskom's power-generating capacity at a record high; its sales at a record low, by Engineering News, 4 September 2026. [5] https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250801_PolicyBrief_FreeBasicServices_Ledger.pdf  

Education is a fundamental human right and a virtual pillar for personal empowerment, economic growth, and societal development. Yet in South Africa, this right has long been undermined by structural inequality. The Bantu Education Act (Act No. 47 of 1953) deliberately created separate and grossly unequal education systems for Black and white South Africans. Although apartheid has formally ended, its legacy continues to shape rural communities such as Ga‑Mashashane, where Black learners remain excluded from equal and quality education. The promise of democracy has not yet translated into the everyday reality of accessible libraries, functional classrooms, and safe sporting facilities. The statistics are stark.Only eight percent of public schools in South Africa have functional libraries, and these are almost entirely located in former model C schools – institutions that already benefit from resources to stock and staff such facilities. Approximately 20 000 schools are without libraries, thereby denying their learners access to regular reading opportunities.  In 2015, 10.8% of public schools in Limpopo province had access to a library,  however, only 2.3% of those are well-resourced and functional. In Ga-Mashashane, none of our schools have fully functional libraries. These statistics are reflected in the province’s reading for meaning statistics, with only 19% of children in Grade 3 reading for meaning, and 15% in Grade 2.   The impacts of this in our community manifests in the increase in high drop-out rates, increased crime and violence over the years. We do not need the statistics in our community to see the direct results of the decrease in reading comprehension, almost all of us know a child or children that have dropped out of school. We see first hand with the increased number of children roaming around the streets and at spaza shops during school hours. According to National statistics, 3% of 15 year olds and 9% of 17 year olds have dropped out of school. In Polokwane, where our district municipality is, the 2021 statistics showed that only 79.0% of those aged between 5-24 are in school.  A child who reads gains confidence, imagination, and the ability to dream beyond their circumstances. Denying rural children access to the opportunity to read is not only unjust – it is a continuation of apartheid’s legacy of exclusion. We must recognise the broader stakes, inequality in education perpetuates cycles of poverty and marginalisation. When rural children are not given an opportunity to engage books outside of the classroom setting, given our overflowing classrooms and that our schools are understaffed and underfunded, they are less likely to succeed academically, less likely to access higher education, and less likely to break free from structural disadvantage. This is not simply about individual futures; it is about the collective future of communities and the nation. South Africa cannot claim to be building a just society while millions of children remain locked out of basic opportunities. The importance of this campaign lies in its ability to trickle down into ensuring that we prevent some of the challenges that we are already confronted with as a community.  When children cannot read for meaning at grade level, they often fall through the cracks, repeating grades  and then being demotivated to continue with their studies. The reading struggle is a drug struggle because where do most children who drop-out go? Into drugs. What happens when communities have an increased number of children addicted to drugs? Crime rates increase, and communities become unsafe. These are not separate struggles; they are intertwined.  While the government bears the constitutional duty to provide quality education and facilities, communities cannot remain passive in the face of neglect. We have the power to act. We can do our bit to ensure that the children within our community have an opportunity to learn to read and write. Community‑driven initiatives are not a substitute for state responsibility, but they are a refusal to accept silence and stagnation. They are acts of dignity and resistance against inequality. In Ga‑Mashashane, Vahluri Reading Club embodies this spirit of community action. Catering to children from Grade 3 to Grade 8, it provides a space where learners can gather, read, and grow together. It is a grassroots response to the absence of libraries, ensuring that children are not left behind simply because of where they were born.These informal efforts show that talent and potential are everywhere, but without proper support, they remain buried. This petition is therefore about more than facilities – it is about justice. It is about undoing the inequality of the past, one book at a time. It is about demanding that our children be given the tools to thrive, not just survive. It is about holding decision‑makers accountable while also mobilising community power to fill the gaps. We cannot wait for government promises to materialise; we must act now to ensure that our children have spaces to read and grow.

Every year, thousands of young South Africans apply to universities in the hope of pursuing higher education. Many applicants are encouraged to apply to several institutions because admission is not guaranteed, and available spaces are limited. For many families, however, every application fee represents money that could have been used for transport, food, school expenses or other essential needs. We believe that students should not lose their money simply because a university cannot offer them admission. It is important because students and their families can lose significant amounts of money even when the student was never admitted to the university.

Data Centres are building facilities that house computer servers. They are like storage, but for digital information. And now that AI use is increasing, demand for more data centres is also high, as more information will need to be stored.  However, South Africa does not have enough affordable electricity or clean water to meet the water demands of data centres, and yet our government wants to allow big corporations to take these resources anyway. These big investments will either be another scandal in which profits are prioritised over people, or an opportunity for communities to shape the future of investment. Add your name to demand regulation & community involvement now!  References [1] South Africa needs data centres, but not without transparency, by Tyronne McCrindle for Ground Up, 04 August 2026. [2] More data centers coming to Illinois as residents complain about noise, electric bills: What to know by Jason Knowles and Maggie Green for ABC7 Chicago, 18 February 2026.

 Because people need to connect. In Cape Town, the train is the only mode of public transport that does not operate on Sunday. This is sad and deeply wrong. While taxis and buses move, the cheapest and safest transport for the poor stands still. You cannot build a united city when you disconnect its people one day every week.

This matters because: • South Africa’s Constitution was born from a struggle against exclusion. It promises equality before the law and protects the dignity of all people. • South African families are diverse. Every family deserves dignity and respect. • Our response should reflect the values at the heart of our democracy: Ubuntu. Equality. Compassion. Freedom. Human dignity. We respect freedom of religion, belief, expression and peaceful assembly. But these freedoms must not be used to justify discrimination, dehumanisation or attempts to strip others of their constitutional rights. The proposed conference forms part of a broader anti-rights movement seeking to roll back LGBTQ+ equality, restrict women’s rights, undermine comprehensive sexuality education and promote exclusionary laws across Africa. South Africa must not become a platform for intolerance or discrimination. This is bigger than LGBTQ+ rights. It is about defending the Constitution, protecting democracy and affirming the dignity and equality of every person. We Call On: Conference venues, hotels and businesses Do not provide platforms for organisations promoting exclusion and discrimination. Consider whether hosting the conference aligns with your commitments to diversity, inclusion and human rights.  The Department of Home Affairs Ensure foreign speakers and delegates comply with South African law. Individuals with documented histories of hate speech, incitement to discrimination or calls for violence against LGBTQ+ people should be carefully assessed under applicable immigration legislation, and where lawful grounds exist, should not be permitted entry. President Cyril Ramaphosa's Government The President, Cabinet and relevant departments must publicly reaffirm South Africa’s commitment to equality, human dignity, freedom from discrimination, LGBTQ+ rights and diverse families and distance themselves from this conference. Parliament and political leaders Reject and speak out against attempts to weaponise religion, culture or “family values” to exclude fellow South Africans. Leadership should unite, not divide. Faith leaders Speak out for the values of love, inclusion, compassion and human dignity. No single religious voice speaks for all people of faith. Traditional leaders Publicly disavow narratives portraying LGBTQ+ Africans as outsiders. African communities have always contained diverse identities and experiences. Homophobia and exclusion are not African values. Civil society LGBTQ+ organisations, women’s and youth groups, educators, health professionals, legal experts, faith leaders and human rights defenders should work together to promote constitutional values and evidence-based dialogue, campaigning against exclusionary and divisive narratives. All South Africans Reject fear, misinformation and division. Stand with families in all their diversity, speak out against hate and support people facing discrimination. Sign the Petition and join us in saying: - We reject hate. - We reject discrimination disguised as “family values”. - We stand for dignity, equality and inclusion — for every family.

Problem gambling has been on the rise, and the fact that people still continue to be bombarded by gambling adverts does not help [1]. Those who want to stop are constantly being tempted to gamble because these ads are everywhere. We need the department to act, and quickly. References [1] Problem gambling rises across South Africa by Aniedi Ekwere for Find More Africa, 12 August 2026.