WATCH: Hendrik Verwoerd, Jan Smuts will fall, vows Lesufi
In the footage, the education MEC vows to change the names of schools who are named after apartheid leaders.
Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi. FILE PHOTO: ANA
Gauteng education member of the executive council Panyaza Lesufi has vowed that names of historical leaders, used for example in Hoërskool Hendrik Verwoerd in Tshwane, will be replaced by new ones.
In a video, Lesufi maintains that such names will continue to fall until there are no names reminding South Africans of the past.
“The name of Hoërskool Hendrik Verwoerd will fall in three weeks time. Until we have names that don’t remind us of our past.
“We remain committed to a non-racial education system in the country.”
MEC @Lesufi: A @EducationGP school named HF Verwoerd will be renamed in three weeks #GDEbudgetVote19 pic.twitter.com/jnmld3e9Yy
— Steve Mabona (@Steve_Mabona) August 1, 2019
The footage is believed to have been taken before Lesufi announced that the name Hoërskool Hendrik Verwoerd, dubbed after the “architect of apartheid”, would be renamed earlier in May.
The school will be known as Rietondale Secondary School after a two-year process.
Consultations were held with parents, who selected the name. Tweeting, Lesufi said his mission was to reverse everything “Verwoerd has done to our education system”.
Today, we formally approved the renaming of Höerskool HF Verwoerd to Rietodale Secondary School. My mission in this world is to reverse everything this man called Verwoerd has done to our education system. Others names like Jan Smuts will also fall #NomoreHöerskoolHFVerwoerd pic.twitter.com/pUdoq3KkQJ
— Panyaza Lesufi (@Lesufi) May 20, 2019
(Compiled by Gopolang Moloko)
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