Racism row erupts at Cape school
A pupil found guilty of racism at a Stellenbosch school has allegedly gone unpunished, says a Weekend Argus report.
Three 17-year-old girls in Grade 11 at Stellenzicht Secondary School say they were called the K-word by a fellow pupil. They say four teachers heard when they were racially abused.
The incident happened last month and the girl’s sanction was to apologise to the Xhosa-speaking pupils.
One of the abused pupils said that after the disciplinary hearing, all they wanted her to do was apologise and show remorse.
‘Her mother agreed that she will apologise but the father kept on defending his child. We are hurting because she is roaming around the school and showing no remorse. The school has to take strong action against racism.’
Another pupil said the accused girl did not follow the sanctions: ‘She is taking this lightly, she gave us a cold apology at the back of the staffroom then laughed.’
The report quotes a mother of one of the victims as saying: ‘It was decided that if the pupil fails to abide by the sanctions, the matter will be reported to the Western Cape Education Department, with a request that the child be expelled. We want to take this matter to the WCED on our own if the school fails to do so and our children want to open a criminal case against the learner.’
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said: ‘The school has reported that the learner did apologise in terms of the sanction. Should there be dissatisfaction with the apology, this can be addressed with school management.’
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
