The Mpumalanga Department of Education has committed to investigate claims of racism in the admission process of learners at Malelane Laerskool in Nkomazi.
On Wednesday a group of parents gathered at the school demanding answers. The parents accuse the school of rejecting their children based on race.
While thousands of learners were excited about going back to school, some were worried because they have not been placed.
The only public school
Frustrated parents at Malelane allege that they always fill in application forms but their children are never admitted at the Malalane Laerskool. This school is the only public school in the area.
They claim this has been going on for years now. Some say, they are forced to take their children to schools in Mbombela about 60 Km away. The parents want the Education Department to intervene.
“I did apply, the principal told me to wait and wait, until today and I don’t know when they are going to call us because the schools have re-opened already. The issue is every time we come to do follow up, it’s always us black people. We have never had white people having the same problem, and it’s not the first time. It’s been years, we’ve been applying and we always get rejected and it is so painful. The requirements they need we always have them. We work here and we stay here.” adds a frustrated parent.
The chairperson of the School Governing Body at Malelane Laerskool, Hess Radley, has denied that the school rejects some learners based on race.
Insufficient space
She adds, “It saddens me to hear that. “Yes we are a school and we are with the school’s act, we have an admission policy. People apply but we can only take a certain number of kids. At the end if the class is full, it’s full. The problem really is not a race problem; it has nothing to do with race. We have too many kids and little space in school. We actually need more schools so, I think the Department really needs to investigate and getting more schools.”
Meanwhile, Head at the Education Department, Lucy Moyane says the Department has not received any complaints about this issue.
“If we receive claims of racism we will definitely investigate to verify that, but now we haven’t received any complain from the parents, but we will be following up on that. But we want to encourage parents, should they have such incident they must report to the Department.” says Moyane.
It is reported that black learners at the school are in the majority at 45%, while white learners are at 44 %, while Indian learners stand at 11%.
DF Malan Laerskool in Preoria
In Gauteng a school has also been accused of racism with regards to placement of black children in a school in Pretoria.
On Wednesday morning, a group of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) members together with disgruntled parents protested outside the school, claiming that the school is racist.
Frustrated parents said their children are still without a school to attend this year, as all the other options they were given are too far for them to travel.
The Gauteng Department of Education says the reason why Danie Malan Laerskool in Pretoria north can’t accommodate more grade 1 learners, is because the school is already full to capacity and not that it is racist.
The spokesperson for the Gauteng Department of Education, Steve Mabona, elaborates, “It’s not for the first time this happened. Last year we had the same situation where parents went outside calling for the end of racism and making allegations, but to a certain extent but we had accommodate those that we could according to the capacity that we had. Now if we don’t have space any more to accommodate more learners. So what we did was to establish a satellite site which we are finalising just to make sure that we place and it will be operational while we plan to ensure we build more schools in that area.”
Alleged racial clash at Laerskool Danie Malan in Pretoria North
