Yet another k-word kerfuffle as high school teacher resigns
A Durban high school teacher has resigned after she lost control while debating a set-work, allegedly ranting about how black people can't run SA properly and using the k-word.
Danielle de Bruyn. Picture: Twitter.
An English teacher at Westville Girls High School in Durban has resigned after she allegedly called black people the k-word in class, HeraldLive reports.
Danielle de Bruyn is believed to have lost control during a debate with her learners in which she compared Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird with South Africa’s current situation.
The school released a statement saying that De Bruyn’s “loss of control and bigoted view” was not in line with school principles.
According to an anonymous relative of one of the pupils in class at the time of the alleged outburst, De Bruyn went “off on a tangent” while discussing the set book.
“My sister told me they were discussing the book and she went off on a tangent trying to draw comparisons in farm killings and the content of the book.
WATCH: Adam Catzavelos’ brother says he used the K-word before
“She was saying that there was reverse racism now because farmers were responsible for putting food on the table and now they were being subjected to attacks. She went on to say that blacks would never have been able to do half the things in the country if it wasn’t for white people‚” she said.
She was speaking to the black girls in the class when she called them ‘these k****rs’. This happened in front of a full class and she didn’t stop. She went crazy‚” she added.“After she apologised the HOD came and told the girls that it had taken a lot to humble herself in front of them and they should move on.”
Deputy chair of the Gender Commission Mfanozelwe Shozi, who is a parent at the school, was told by his daughter that De Bruyn “said that Zimbabwe was an amazing country when it was called Rhodesia under the white regime and that when it was taken by Africans it became a basket case.”
“She said that South Africa would have the same fate if expropriation of land without compensation was pursued … she said if South African land was returned to African people it would end up like Zimbabwe‚” he added.
READ MORE: Racist k-word tirade from former SA dance music DJ Mario Viegas
“She even said that in her home her parents are scared and have guns under their beds. She said that if she could meet Julius Malema she would shoot him.”
“I welcome her resignation but my worry is that these kinds of comments in a mixed classroom are divisive. Now that the criminal element has left the school‚ we can return to the business of study while the management takes action,” said Shozi.
The school’s principal Catherine Raw has confirmed that a probe has been launched over the incident and that the teacher had resigned.
The past two weeks in South Africa have seen several scandals involving South Africa’s most hurtful racial slur, with businessman Adam Catzavelos widely slammed for his casual use of the k-word in a video documenting his overseas beach holiday, and a KZN ANCYL executive, Suzanne Govender, was also accused of using the slur.
A former dance music producer and DJ, Mario Viegas, who is South African but currently based in the US, also went on a social media rant in which he used the slur repeatedly.
Earlier this year Vicki Momberg became the first person to be jailed for using the term, for an efective two years under the crimen injuria law. She has since been granted leave for appeal and bail.
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