Pretoria - A thorough investigation is ongoing into allegations of racism at Laerskool Danie Malan primary school located in Pretoria North, after parents and members of the EFF expressed their frustration, demanding admission for their children and saying that the school turned black children away.
According to the spokesperson for the education department, Steve Mabona, this was not the first time this happened.
Last year, there were similar accusations, where parents protested and called for an end to racism.
Mabona said: “The department could not place all pupils seeking (places) at Laerskool Danie Malan in Pretoria North due to space constraints. However, we have established a satellite site to accommodate pupils which we are finalising just to make sure that we place them … while we plan ( to) build more schools in the area.
“We acknowledge that we need more schools in the area and we will then move quickly and make sure that we build schools in the area,” he added.
Gigy Mokango was one the parents who protested after her Grade 1 child was left stranded. The mother said that she did not know what to do.
The main problem, she said, lay with the district and the department because according to their law, a child should be placed within the area, so she chose a school during the applications within the area where they lived.
“Now we found out that we have been placed far from here, the distance is more than 3km …
“I really don’t know what to do, I am frustrated.
“My child has been placed at Orchards and it’s far.
“I came to the school to complain and they told me that I have to decline the offer and I did, but now I can’t appeal because the department keeps on rejecting my appeal.
“They said if I reject the Orchards offer I am on my own and they will not help me and my child will not go to school this year.”
The EFF, which protested with parents outside the school, said the party was infuriated by the continued racism and systematic exclusion of black children from accessing education at Laerskool Danie Malan.
The party said that this segregationist conduct was what led to the stand-off at the gates, with black parents taking the issue to task on Wednesday when schools opened.
The Red Berets said: “A large number of black children, whose parents submitted applications as early as the open days were announced, have not received any response regarding admission; schooling has commenced and black parents and children are still in the dark.”
EFF’s Gauteng spokesperson Dumisani Baleni said that they party was demanding that the Gauteng Department of Basic Education intervened immediately by granting black children immediate access, as it was every child’s right to basic education.
He said that the school had been in the spotlight for its internal apartheid-like operations: “…With black children given second-class citizen treatment, crumpled up in small classrooms, taking separate breaks, while white Afrikaner children enjoy maximum preferential treatment.
“There must be an immediate intervention and overhaul of the school governing body (SGB) composition as it has been party to perpetrating and defending racism in the school. The body must reflect the society’s complexion and be intentional about eradicating racism and rewriting the apartheid injustices.
“The department must prescribe more classes to be open for children doing English as their main language, even and especially if it means cutting down on Afrikaans classrooms. Class allocations must reflect the demographics of the society and be in line with the transformation agenda of the country.
“The situation with Laerskool Danie Malan deserves our immediate and urgent attention in that it seems to be very racially selective on who accesses the school and who does not,” Baleni said.
He added that the body must reflect the society’s complexion and be intentional about eradicating racism and rewriting the apartheid injustices. There must be a closer focus on the school employment policy and companies providing services to the school.
“We are vehemently opposed to a whites-only security company servicing a public institution,” he added.
The SGB this week denied claims of racism at the school, saying Laerskool Danie Malan simply had no space to accommodate all learners who had applied. The body said the department, not the school, was responsible for the placement of learners.
Meanwhile, the DA will be visiting the school today to see for itself what the issues are, and intervene.
Pretoria News