Durban – KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu will be releasing the findings and recommendations of the racism and financial administration probe at Grosvenor Girls’ High School next week.
The MEC announced that he received the report this Monday morning from the independent panel he had appointed to investigate the allegations.
“I will be studying the report and will brief the premier on the findings and recommendations,” Mshengu said.
“The intention is that by next week I will release the report to the public and indicate what actions the department will take based on the findings and recommendations.”
The MEC had visited the school in the Bluff, south of Durban, in March after black pupils and parents protested against racism in the school.
Black pupils and their parents accused the principal of being racist and said black pupils were referred to as monkeys. The pupils said those of them who used taxis to school were called taxi queens and black pupils were also discriminated against for their hair. During their protests outside the school one of the pupils told our sister paper The Mercury that they were fed up with the racial discrimination in their school.
The pupils said they were often subjected to racism by teachers, adding that they felt their concerns were not being dealt with.
“We’ve dealt with the issue of racism and discrimination for years now, but even then our concerns were not addressed,” said one of the pupils during protest.
Also during the protest, the parents said the school never accepted the election of the governing body under the black chairperson.
After meeting the staff and parents, the MEC announced the appointment of the independent panel to look into the allegations. The principal was placed on suspension.
The protest prompted the intervention of National Association of School Governing Bodies general secretary Matakanye Matakanya, who said that the Department of Education should resolve the situation with urgency so learning was not affected. The body condemned the incident and urged the department to act swiftly.
“The Department of Education must act quickly to resolve the situation so that if anybody is found accountable they can be dealt with. We can’t allow a situation where learning is affected,” said Matakanya.
Daily News