The Gauteng Education Department will approach the Constitutional Court directly to challenge the Overvaal school decision, MEC Panyaza Lesufi said. The department's legal team met the national Department of Basic Education on Monday and will file an appeal on Friday, Lesufi said.

TimesLIVE reports that Lesufi was adopting a harsher stance than Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga towards the implementation of English language streams at Afrikaans schools.

Motshekga this weekend urged those demanding the immediate enrolment of black and English speaking pupils to calmly discuss the matter. She also emphasised the need to deal with issues raised by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) and not take matters out of context. The judge, she said, had raised administrative matters. 'The school must have English books and English teachers,' said the Minister.

Overvaal High school had refused an instruction by the Gauteng Education Department to accept 55 English-speaking pupils, saying it had no capacity to admit the learners and could not set up a parallel stream in the timeframe it was given by the department. Its decision was backed by the High Court. Meanwhile, the SA Council of Churches and the Social Cohesion Champions have also kick-started a process of mediation because of the of tensions that arisen between the opposing groups in the community, Lesufi's office said.

Full TimesLIVE report