On 25 August 2025, the African Left Handers Foundation (ALHF) was honoured to welcome the Public Protector of South Africa, Adv. Kholeka Gcaleka, as a guest speaker at our reception and podcast event, held to mark the signing of a historic Memorandum of Understanding between the ALHF and the Centre for Educational Rights and Transformation (CERT).
In her address, Adv. Gcaleka delivered a powerful affirmation of the constitutional and legal basis for protecting left-handed individuals from discrimination — particularly in South Africa’s educational system. Drawing on her mandate under Section 182 of the Constitution, she made clear that the Public Protector’s office stands ready to investigate, report on, and remedy any conduct that results in prejudice or impropriety toward left-handed learners in public institutions.

Adv. Gcaleka noted that left-handed individuals — comprising approximately 10% of the global population — remain one of the most invisibilised minorities in our post-apartheid democracy, and that discrimination in schools, particularly the ongoing practice of forced hand-switching in rural and under-resourced areas, constitutes a violation of the constitutional rights to equality, human dignity, and basic education.

She further affirmed that the partnership between ALHF and CERT exemplifies transformative constitutionalism in action — using South Africa’s legal framework not merely to prevent discrimination, but to actively advance equality and dignity for all. In her words: “Inclusion cannot be piecemeal, justice cannot be selective, and dignity cannot be conditional.”

We are deeply grateful to the Public Protector for lending her voice and her office’s mandate to this cause, and for reminding us that the measure of our democracy lies in its attention to the everyday experiences of every person — including the child who struggles with right-handed scissors, and the learner whose writing is constantly smudged.

Today’s MOU marks a new chapter in evidence-based advocacy for left-handers’ rights in South Africa and across the African continent, and we are proud to carry this work forward with the Public Protector’s solidarity and support

Download the Full Speaking Notes from Public Protector Adv. Kholeka Gcaleka Here.