Umhlali Preparatory School has hit back hard at the ANC Youth League in the Greater KwaDukuza region which has accused the school of racism and operating with apartheid ideals.
Last week league secretary Musa Zondi called on the KZN education department to investigate the Dolphin Coast school for excluding black children during its enrollment process.
Umhlali Preparatory governing body chairperson, Jonathan De Wet, says that more than a quarter of the school’s pupils are black.
He accused Zondi of lying and abusing his position to further his personal objectives.
Zondi said he had visited the school a few weeks ago under the pretext of enrolling his child and was turned away because he lived in Groutville, outside the school’s catchment area.
“The ANCYL received reports from a number of black people who said they have been on a waiting list for years and are struggling to get their children enrolled in the school.
“I decided to investigate this myself and I visited the school to find out what the process was. I did not intend on really enrolling my child as she is already attending a school in Groutville, where I live.”
Zondi accused the school’s waiting list of being “artificial” and called it a mechanism that is used as an excuse to exclude black people.
“The league is very disturbed after learning of the barbaric racially-tending practice of excluding black children at Umhlali Pre-Primary School.
“Is there a sober person who can see any point of justification in the blind subjecting of the previously under-privileged group [to an] artificial waiting list? In the view of the Youth League, this mechanism is utter nonsense.”
Zondi said the school only served the majority of white people who lived in former white-only areas such as Ballito, Salt Rock and Sheffield.
“Thus it would be plausible to have about 98 percent of students being white people and about two percent being black.
“Therefore, according to this ‘super-clever logic’, it becomes ‘natural’ to have these discrepancies in the school population. What a clever excuse!”
Zondi told the Courier that he never intended enrolling his child in Umhali Preparatory as he could not afford to. But De Wet said that was not the truth. He had told the school he wanted his child to transfer from North Coast Primary in 2019.
“It is quite obvious that this is a personal agenda.”
Zondi threatened that the youth league would shut down the school if management did not make immediate changes.
However, De Wet charged Zondi with lying about the school which has been operating for 100 years and enrolling all races since 1992.
With more than 1 000 pupils, the school has reached capacity.
“Umhlali Preparatory’s catchment zone is the area bordered by the Tongaat River in the south and the road connecting Tinley Manor and Shakaskraal and extending toward Glendale in the north.
This includes Tinley Manor and Palm Lakes, and bordered inland along the Esenembe Road and extending to Glendale. It also includes Shaka’s Head, Shaymoya, Nkobongo, Shakaskraal and Frasers.”
“Mr Zondi, in an attempt to criticise the catchment zones and to justify his request for his child to be admitted into Umhlali Preparatory, when there are numerous primary schools in KwaDukuza, makes the suggestion that catchment zones force people to send their children to far-off schools at a huge cost despite the fact that they are hardly able to meet their means. This is quite the opposite.
“Catchment zones allow parents who live in the zone and by definition, close to the school to send their children to their local school.
“When we have an opening, we do accept children from outside the area but preference is given to children from within our area. Umhlali has increased its intake of pupils to over 1000 today.”
De Wet accused the league of defamation and said their statements were untrue and unfair.
“The league claimed that Umhlali has 98 percent white pupils. This would imply that two percent are black which would amount to approximately 21 black children. We currently have more than 25 percent black children. Pupils of all races are well represented on the sports field, amongst the leadership cohort and in the numerous extra-mural activities offered by the school.”
Umhlali Preparatory management plans to meet with ANC structures in the near future.
Do you want to receive news alerts via WhatsApp? Send us a WhatsApp message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 061 718 4438.
Please read our WhatsApp broadcast list disclaimer.
Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
