Johannesburg - Schooling came to a standstill at Crowthorne Christian Academy as members of the EFF in Gauteng and concerned parents staged a protest outside the Midrand school yesterday.
This comes after a video showed a middle-aged white male attacking a 13-year-old pupil who was being prevented from attending school as a result of her dreadlocks.
The now-viral incident happened on Monday after the mother of the pupil visited the school after she was told her daughter’s hairstyle contravened the school’s hair policy.
The mother, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation, said after receiving a text message from the school, she went to the school to find an amicable solution to the matter. However, things got out of hand as soon as they arrived.
In a sign of the fury over the chilling incident, a group of protesters tore down the school flag and replaced it with that of the Red Berets.
Speaking to The Star, the single mother said she and her daughter had been left traumatised by the incident, as the man in the video is the husband of the school principal and not a member of the school staff, as previously reported.
The mother said she was hurt by the fact that the principal allowed her husband to drag and assault them without intervening.
“As you can see, I am tiny and my daughter is also tiny, and she allowed a man to do this to us while she looked on. I am deeply hurt and saddened by this incident as the man is not even a member of staff at the school, and so is my daughter, who is not a talkative person and chooses to keep her feelings bottled inside. I hope the counselling organised by the department will help her heal from this traumatic experience,” the mother said.
It is reported that the incident was sparked by the pupil’s dreadlocks, which she had been sporting for more than two years without incident. However, the mother said her child had only recently faced resistance from the school.
“I received a message on Saturday telling me that my child must not come back to school on Monday if she has not cut down her hair. I asked for a meeting with the school to discuss matters further. I never received a response from the school, and when I arrived on Monday, as I was waiting, my daughter was chased out of her classroom,” the mother said.
“I then took her back to the class and was told that they had been instructed by the school principal to chase her out and only come back once she had cut her hair.”
She said she had opened a case against the man who assaulted her and her daughter. The police confirmed that a case of common assault had been opened for further investigation, but no arrests had yet been made.
EFF member and protest leader Phillip Makwala said the school’s policy discriminated against black pupils as they were the only ones who normally grew dreadlocks.
“We need to take this fight to the school because this is where the fight is. We need to make sure we sit at the table and find an amicable solution to this problem and the issues that are confronting us. We must make sure that the white man gives us his full attention,” Makwala said.
In a statement, the GOOD Party in Gauteng called on Premier Panyaza Lesufi and MEC for Education Matome Chiloane to intervene and crack down on unregistered schools. This comes after media reports suggested that the school was not yet registered with the Department of Basic Education.
Spokesperson for the Gauteng Department of Education, Steve Mabona, said it has been made aware of the Crowthorne Christian Academy incident and was helping the school to comply with department regulations.
“We condemn any form of ill-treatment of the affected learner, and we will not tolerate any discrimination of learners.
“It must be noted that the said school is illegally operating, and the learner was offered alternative schooling and counselling by the GDE,” Mabona said.
The Star