Letter urges Guterres to denounce Tlaleng Mofokeng’s mayoral candidacy while still holding her UN mandate, and to reject immunity for personal social-media abuse
GENEVA, July 27, 2026 - UN Watch today filed a formal complaint with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres over what it described as “grave violations and serious misconduct” by Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health.
The complaint cites two separate abuses: Mofokeng’s public acceptance on July 25 of the Economic Freedom Fighters’ “deployment” as its candidate for Mayor of Johannesburg while she remained listed as a serving UN mandate holder; and her attempt to invoke UN functional immunity in South African court proceedings concerning personal social-media insults.
“A UN expert cannot claim to be independent while standing on a political stage, addressing a party leader as ‘Commander-in-Chief’ and accepting ‘deployment’ as that party’s candidate for one of Africa’s most important mayoralties,” said UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer. “This is an open-and-shut conflict of interest that strikes at the credibility of the entire UN human rights system.”
Partisan candidacy while still serving as UN expert
According to the complaint, Mofokeng appeared on stage on Saturday with EFF leader Julius Malema on July 25 and publicly accepted the party’s mayoral “deployment,” making political pledges and referring to Malema as “Commander-in-Chief.”
UN Watch noted that Mofokeng’s second three-year term runs until August 2026, that no resignation letter has been posted on the Human Rights Council extranet, and that the UN website continues to list her as Special Rapporteur.
The letter says this conduct violates the independence required by Article 3 of the Code of Conduct for Special Procedures mandate holders, as well as the conflict-of-interest rule in paragraph 46 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1. When she took office, Mofokeng pledged to act from a “completely impartial” standpoint and without accepting instructions from any party.
“By accepting a political party’s ‘deployment’ before her UN term had ended, Mofokeng erased any meaningful distinction between an independent human rights mandate and a partisan political platform,” Neuer said. “Secretary-General Guterres should condemn this breach unequivocally.”
Attempt to claim UN immunity for personal insults
The complaint also asks Guterres to confirm that Mofokeng’s personal attacks on social media were not acts performed in the course of her UN mission and therefore are not protected by the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.
In January 2025, Mofokeng posted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should “F**k off.” After Neuer called for her to be disciplined, she referred to him as an “evil scum” and a “white man.” The Health Professions Council of South Africa subsequently found her guilty of misconduct for “using abusive and inappropriate language on social media and for bringing the medical profession into disrepute,” according to the complaint.
On April 17, 2026, Mofokeng applied to the High Court of South Africa in Johannesburg to set aside that finding and sanction. Her principal argument, the complaint says, is that the professional council lacked jurisdiction because she enjoyed immunity under the UN privileges and immunities convention.
UN Watch’s letter cites a broader pattern of posts in which Mofokeng told a critic to “shove it up your ass,” called another person “that hoe,” described a political figure as a “disgusting elder,” and posted “Fuck him” about Israel’s prime minister.
“Functional immunity protects the independent performance of legitimate UN duties; it is not a personal license to curse, insult and racially disparage people online,” Neuer said. “To characterize this abuse as the official work of the UN Special Rapporteur on health would degrade both the immunity convention and the United Nations itself.”
UN Watch’s requests to Guterres
UN Watch called on the UN Secretary-General to:
• Strongly denounce Mofokeng’s conduct in accepting a partisan political candidacy while still serving as a UN Special Rapporteur.
• Confirm that the social-media posts at issue were not made in the performance of her official functions and are therefore not protected by UN functional immunity.
“Silence from the UN would send a dangerous message: that mandate holders may openly join partisan campaigns and then invoke the United Nations as a shield against accountability for purely personal misconduct,” Neuer said. “Guterres must act to protect the integrity and reputation of the institution.”
