Pupil sit-in just blatant blackmail

It seems like a storm in a school lunchbox, the story about two pupils who have been holding a sit-in outside Northcliff High School in Joburg, supposedly because they have been refused admission because their unemployed parents can’t afford the fees.

But there are worrying aspects to this case which speak to a broader set of problems in our school system and in our society in general.

Firstly, the pupils were dropped off at the school each day by their parents, who also enlisted the help of influential people on social media to amplify the “offence”.

Among those pulled into the debate was Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi … understandable, given that he is ready to pop up at a moment’s notice at incidents of violence or the merest whiff of racism at schools.

Clearly, he has set a precedent that, if you shout loudly enough, he will gallop in to save the day.

ALSO READ: Lesufi responds after brother and sister stage sit-in outside Northcliff High School

This echoes almost perfectly the attitude of communities who embark on public violence by blocking roads and lighting tyres: make a noise and a government apparatchik will hasten across to sort out your problem (all in front of the TV cameras, naturally).

In this case, though, the sit-in appears to be nothing less than a blatant attempt to blackmail both Northcliff High and the education department into accepting the children.

Lesufi said the siblings had been offered places at the nearby Ferndale High School, but that this was unacceptable to the family. He noted that Northcliff High has 453 pupils on its waiting list.

Hats off, though, to Lesufi for refusing to be blackmailed or to give credence to the claim that the refusal was because the family could not pay the fees. Nobody must be allowed to bypass the system. Nobody must be allowed to use such coercive methods to get special treatment.