‘It has been a traumatic experience,’ says ‘Coloured’ teacher Glen Snyman

Glen Snyman, pictured, was never pale enough to call himself “European” according to the race rule of apartheid. But now, in a democratic, supposedly nonracial, South Africa, he is not dark enough to call himself “African”.

The Western Cape teacher lived the better part of his life through racial classification, was told who he was during apartheid, but it had never occurred to him that he would relive that humiliation in the democratic South Africa.

“I am very tired, my head is actually aching nonstop. It has been a traumatic experience but I am just glad it turned out the way it did. What I want now is my life back. I am just glad that I still have my job,” he said yesterday.

The 42-year-old teacher at Grootkraal Primary School in the Karoo region made headlines recently when he was charged with fraud after he allegedly identified himself as “African” on his CV for a position at another school in 2017, but had indicated “coloured” on other documents.

The disciplinary charges were withdrawn after education MEC Debbie Schafer intervened and ordered a probe, finding that Snyman had been identifying as “African” for years and that this “is extremely personal and sensitive”.

As the founder of People Against Race Classification, it is ironic Snyman found himself a victim of the demon he has been advocating against for over a decade. He refused to discuss the matter as he was yet to hear from the Western Cape education department.

“I learnt from the news reports that the charges have been withdrawn against me but I have not received anything official from the department. I had lots of people calling after that but I am sure the department is busy with the matter,” Snyman said.

Also read: Fraud charges against ‘Coloured’ teacher unnecessary, says legal expert

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), a Chapter 9 institution tasked with promoting protection, respect and the observance of human rights, and investigating violations and ensuring redress, has lodged an investigation. But chief executive officer Tseliso Thipanyane admitted to the delay in acting on the matter, saying the assumption was that a complaint would be lodged by those affected.

He said the law allows it to act on a complaint or take its own initiative, saying it had issued a media statement raising concern about the matter, but did not act.

“The assumption was that those affected would lodge a complaint. I think that is where there might have been a mistake, for people to assume that a complaint would come. But then we said whether there is a complaint or not, this is a matter that warrants our intervention,” Thipanyane said.

He said although the Western Cape education department had withdrawn the charges against Snyman, this was a very sensitive matter that it would have to decide how to tackle. Thipanyane said the portfolio committee on justice was already interested in how the commission would deal with the matter.

The commission will further seek to establish whether the official use of apartheid-era racial categories leads to human rights violations.

According to SAHRC, government uses a system of racial self-classification for purposes of gathering data for the national census, but also uses apartheid-era racial categorisations to pursue and measure redress of unfair discrimination, through special measures aimed at achieving greater substantive equality.

“A delicate balance needs to be struck between the need to promote human dignity by recognising the importance of self-identifying, while simultaneously developing and implementing special measures holistically to achieve substantive equality,” the commission said in a statement.

–siphom@citizen.co.za

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