Pretoria Girls High SGB takes legal action against Gauteng Education Department over racism controversy

The school governing body (SGB) of Pretoria High School for Girls (PHSG) on Monday launched court proceedings against the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) and the MEC for Education Matome Chiloane, arguing that investigators exceeded their mandate by reporting on issues beyond racism allegations.

The SGB is demanding that the findings of the investigation by Madladlamba Attorneys be released. It claims the findings were only announced by Chiloane on 4 November, but not released to the school.

Pretoria Girls High racism allegations

The legal battle stems from allegations of racism at the school that the SGB claims were unfounded. The allegations started when 12 white pupils – eight of whom were prefects – were suspended in July for alleged racist messages on a WhatsApp group.

The pupils allegedly had conversations in the group about the discontentment among black pupils regarding issues they faced at the school, claiming that their complaints were insignificant.

However, the pupils were found not guilty and reinstated after an independent disciplinary hearing.

GDE officials insisted on charging the matric pupils with racism. The school’s principal Phillipa Erasmus and deputy principal Doret Schoombie were also suspended.

The Thabo Mbeki Foundation then wrote a letter to the MEC, criticising the Gauteng education department’s handling of the controversy.

“We ourselves have also closely studied the comments made by the chat group, independently, to determine whether these constituted manifestations of racism and hate speech. Our own firm conclusion is that there is no such manifestation [of racism] in the said comments,” it said.

According to the school, the pupils were also cleared by an internal disciplinary tribunal.

In a statement, the SGB said the GDE, despite professing to respect the outcome, continued to embark on “an entirely unjustified and groundless witch hunt for further examples of racism”.

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Investigation findings don’t ‘belong in any self-respecting report’

According to the SGB, its head of department stated on 3 September that “the intention of the investigation was to determine whether there is a cause for concern at the school”. It added that if no racism was found at the school, the investigation should end.

The body said despite this limited scope, the attorneys proceeded to investigate and report on other matters after finding minimal evidence of racism, citing only that “white educators do not greet their black colleagues”.

These findings were described by the SGB as “so vague, unproven and unprovable that it doesn’t belong in any self-respecting report”.

The SGB also criticised Chiloane for denying the school an opportunity to review or respond to the allegations before announcing the findings.

ALSO READ: Gauteng Education Department criticised over handling of Pretoria Girls High ‘racism’

PHSG’s defence

The SGB emphasised that racism has no place in the school and allegations of it leave an “indelible stain”. “It is abhorrent to all right-thinking South Africans, and it is abhorrent to the school.”

The statement also defended the school’s decision to appoint an independent advocate to chair the disciplinary tribunal, which was later criticised in the department’s report.

The SGB maintained this decision was made to ensure fairness given the controversial nature of the proceedings.

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