The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) has ruled public schools cannot promote one religion. The case was brought by the Organisation for Religious Education and Democracy (Ogod) against six schools, notes a News24 report. Judge Willem van der Linde, in handing down the judgment, said: ‘Neither a school governing body nor a public school may lawfully hold out that it subscribes to only a single particular religion to the exclusion of others.’

He quoted from section 15 of the Constitution which deals with freedom of religion, belief and opinion. The court ruled that religious observances may be conducted at state or state-aided institutions, provided that:

(a) Those observances follow rules made by the appropriate public authorities.
(b) They are conducted on an equitable basis.
(c) Attendance at them is free and voluntary.

 ‘…we have however also found at the level of principle that neither a school governing body nor a public school may lawfully hold out that it subscribes to only a single particular religion to the exclusion of others,’ said Van der Linde.

Ogod wanted the court to declare unconstitutional the religion policy of six schools, which, along with the Ministers of Basic Education and Justice, and the National Society for School Governing Bodies, were respondents. The court found that it was against the Education Act to ‘promote one faith or one religion primarily at the expense of others or allow school staff to do it’.

Van der Linde said: ‘In the circumstances, we issue the following order: It is declared that it offends Section 7 of the Schools Act, 84 of 1996 for a public school: (i) To promote or allow its staff to promote that it as a public school adheres to only one, or predominantly only one, religion to the exclusion of others; and (ii) to hold out that it promotes the interests of any one religion in favour of others.’ The remainder of the relief claimed was refused and there was no order as to costs.

Full News24 report

School governing bodies need to go back to the drawing board to define parameters, the judgment said, according to a BusinessLIVE report. The complainants claimed the Christian ethos of the identified schools was unconstitutional. The founder and chairperson of Ogod, Hans Pietersen, has said the case is intended to protect the rights of minorities and to advocate for children to undergo thoughtful religious education rather than religious indoctrination.

African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe said the judgment gave parents the opportunity to get involved in their children’s education. ‘Parents must have a say in what goes on with children in the schools, and when they are part of the school governing body, they can determine what values need to guide schools,’ Meshoe said.

He maintained that the main point was that other religious groups were not denied their rights. Labour union Solidarity, which was involved as a friend of the court, said it was critical that their members in Christian schools could go on teaching with the Christian values that they were comfortable with. ‘The judgment said the status quo could go on, so the teachers can go on,’ said an official of the union. He also said they would go through the ruling with their legal team to determine whether there were aspects that they could appeal.

Full BusinessLIVE report