College backlash over logo
ONE of the Maritzburg College boys photographed holding up a T-shirt emblazoned with the EFF logo says he believes in freedom of expression.
“Everyone should be allowed to express their own opinion without any problem,” the 17-year-old matriculant said yesterday. And his mother stands by him. “I raised him to be independent. He needs to be able to stand up for himself and not to be victimised or bullied,” she said.
The picture was posted on Twitter and has since gone viral.
Now the boy and a friend, who was photographed alongside him, are facing a raft of disciplinary charges.
Among them is contravening the Schools Act, which prohibits party-political activities at schools.
This is with just over a week to go until the start of exams.
The boy said yesterday that Friday was the matrics’ last day at school before they went on study leave.
“And, on your last day, you’re basically allowed to draw anything you want on your back for shirt signing,” he said, “So I chose the EFF logo – not for any particular reason”.
He said the picture was taken at around 10am and posted straight to Twitter.
“When assembly started about an hour later, my friend told me one of the EFF leaders had retweeted the picture. That’s when I first realised it was big.”
The school e-mailed the boy’s mother late on Friday afternoon, informing her of the charges against him.
“I was shocked. For the five years that he has been there, he has always conducted himself well. I’ve never been summonsed to the principal’s office,” she said. “It took me by surprise that he had never been in trouble before and they were elevating this to such a level.”
The boy and his mother both wanted this to be over. A hearing had been set down for Saturday, but they were in talks with their lawyers and wanted the charges dropped before then.
With aspirations to study commerce at the University of the Witwatersrand, the boy was aiming for at least four As in the upcoming exams and said he felt stressed.
“There’s more pressure now. I was planning to study this week but now I’ve also got to think about what might happen,” he said.
“Politics is not his main priority. His main priority is to study…This is tearing me apart… I feel Maritzburg College is being very inconsiderate,” his mother said.
Maritzburg College made headlines earlier this year when a prefect apparently called a black student at the school a “k ***** ”.
According to reports, he was suspended for one week, after which he was allowed to resume his leadership roles.
Provincial Education spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa said at the weekend the department would launch a full-scale investigation into the claims of racism at the school.
“We have received a number of allegations relating to racism,” Mthethwa said. “We want the investigating team to look at the circumstances that led to the alleged developments and the manner in which the school management team has handled such matters.”
The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial secretary of the National Association of School Governing Bodies, Tom Jafta, said the matter should have been handled sensitively to avoid disturbing learning before the end-of-year exams.
“They should have called them in and found out what brought this on,” said Jafta.
He said, as a general rule, it was also important to always constantly remind pupils about the school rules.
“Boys will be boys, the schools should make an effort to remind pupils about the rules so they are aware,” Jafta said, “In many cases, school rules are brought up once, when the pupils come to register, and never again”.
Meanwhile, the EFF has come to the boys’ defence.
National spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi at the weekend labelled the school’s charges against them, “pure apartheid, Nazi and colonial thinking”.
“Maritzburg (College), by charging our young fighters, is in direct violation of the constitution. It is offending their rights to freedom of expression,” he said. “We demand that they (Maritzburg College) drop their reactionary and unconstitutional charges with immediate effect or face the full might of our mass power.”
Jaco van der Merwe, of Tatham Wilkes Inc attorneys, which represents Maritzburg College, told The Sunday Tribune that the picture, and the circumstances under which it was taken and published, contravened the Schools Act, the school’s code of conduct for pupils and their social media policy.
He said the school was obliged to constitute a tribunal but that the charges did not mean the pupils were guilty.
He could not be reached for comment yesterday.