Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000

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

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.

Section Nine of the Constitution of South Africa 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, and the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA), dealing with justice in administrative law.