Court orders Gauteng education dept to release racism report

Despite striking off as not urgent an application by a school governing body (SGB), compelling the Gauteng department of education (GDE) to release the report into alleged racism at the Pretoria High School for Girls, the High Court in Pretoria yesterday found “no logic” in the GDE withholding the information.

After a protracted battle to compel Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane and the GDE to release the investigative report into alleged racism at the school, after 12 pupils were suspended in July on claims of racism linked to their involvement in a WhatsApp group – the SGB resorted to bring an urgent court application.

The SGB wanted the department to release the full account of what led to the GDE decision, which also saw principal Phillipa Erasmus being suspended for allegedly failing to intervene after being made aware of WhatsApp messages with alleged racist undertones.

SGB wanted full racism report released

Judge Mandlenkosi Motha found that the SGB application was not urgent.

He said a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application was a route to be considered in obtaining the documents. However, Motha remarked that “logic dictates that the report should be provided to the relevant parties”.

PAIA is a law allowing individuals to access information held by public and private bodies, in promoting transparency and accountability, fostering a culture of openness and democracy and to enable individuals to access information necessary to exercise of their rights.

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Teachers union SAOU, which was not a party to the legal dispute, said it agreed with Motha regarding the PAIA route, having last month lodged a PAIA application.

“We are currently awaiting the department’s feedback in this regard,” said SAOU spokesperson Dems Nel.

“Should the GDE fail to provide us with the information, we will take the necessary legal steps to enforce our members’ rights and to obtain the report.”

Threatening legal steps

He maintained that the report “must be provided to our members, as they have the right to peruse the contents and defend themselves”.

“It is unfair to mention in a summary of the report that our members are ‘guilty’, without giving them the opportunity to see what was considered, to defend themselves and have themselves heard,” he said.

“It cannot be accepted that our members are publicly labelled as guilty of something without being afforded the opportunity to defend themselves or to dispute the allegations levelled against them.

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“This reminds us of pre-democratic processes, where parties were not allowed to defend themselves or be heard,” added Nel.

Chiloane was this week unfazed by the SGB court challenge.

“We are not worried. We know we have done everything right and the sad part is that they continue to do wrong things,” he said.

‘We are not worried’

“We are not going to renege from our responsibilities. It is not the first time a school is taking us to court. We have many cases in the Constitutional Court, finding the GDE against a school.

“We have been there and we know that it is good for our democracy, that we are at this point so that we can clarify certain blurry areas in our constitution.”

Earlier, the Thabo Mbeki Foundation found nothing racial in the WhatsApp messages – condemning the GDE findings as “a fabricated statement”, which embarrassed the ANC government’s handling of education issues.

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