Premier criticises principal and teachers

Mtshweni-Tsipane lashed out at both HTS principal and its teachers for allegedly fuelling racial rants among learners, which ended up in a physical fight between black and white learners.

“From what we gathered as the provincial government there were instigators that led to the incident. There were teachers involved who instigated the incident and we say those teachers must be looked at. They must not be left unattended. They must be suspended too,” Mtshweni-Tsipane fired.

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She said there were other children involved in the racial altercation other than the two which were suspended.

“And we are still trying to fathom why the other children were not suspended. All that is needed is to reinitiate the process in which the two learners were suspended and take action. The point here is not to punish the learners but to afford them an opportunity to tell their side of their story so that in the end we provide them with necessary counselling, not only those who were involved in the fight, but the whole school,” she said.

“All pupils will be addressed at school in order to stop these violent, discriminating and racist rants that are happening at HTS. We will embark on reviewing the issue of policy and code of conduct of this school because it looks like the school has overlooked and undermined it. The principal did not play her role in trying to manage the situation. We have looked at the staff component of the school and realised that it is predominately lily white, and that poses a challenge in terms of cultural background, beliefs and how we do things,” she added.

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Apparently, only two black learners were suspended after a video circulated on social media showing their involvement in a fistfight between black and white learners. The incident took place last week Monday after a white learner allegedly used the K-word when referring to a black learner.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader in Mpumalanga, Collen Sedide, said they want the white learners who were also involved in the fight to be suspended.

“The EFF is calling upon MEC for education, Bonakele Majuba, to stop being apologetic and deal with the racist incident the best way it should by making sure that the white learners are also suspended while the matter is being investigated,” he said. “It is not understood up to now why only the black learners had to face suspension while the white learners continue with learning as if nothing wrong had happened. “The EFF is of the view that this kind of treatment displayed by the school is purely racist as skin colour is used to enforce the discipline,” Sedibe said.

“Racism cannot be allowed in our schools in the province and we fear that if MEC Majuba continues to stumble and mumble, racism will continue unabated,” continued Sedibe. Bahlulile Tshabala, the parent of a suspended learner, said that the suspension of her child was not fair.

“I do not understand why my child is sitting at home while others are continuing with exams. My child has been unfairly treated by the school,” she charged. The situation also turned ugly on Monday, June 14 when a physical confrontation ensued between the black and white parents resulting into police firing several rubber bullets in an attempt to restore calm. Sedibe also called for the disbandment of the school governing body (SGB).

“The EFF wants the white only SGB at Witbank HTS to be disbanded and calls for the re-election of a racially inclusive school management committee. We also want a full report why the management committee of the school, which is accessible to the public, consists of white parents only,” he said.