Case against school’s rector set aside
Despite the bleak financial outlook, the premier’s department remained committed to deliver on the province’s game-changers.
The head of the department of the Premier, Advocate Brent Gerber, said they had gone out of their way to ensure they did not cut back on their projects because it was important to deliver on their projects than to have staff.
“Some posts are more strategic than others and the impact is bigger, so make that assessment and it is a continuous dynamic process to decide which post to fill,” he said.
The bulk of the department’s budget will go towards the centre for e-Innovation, for broadband roll-out.
Gerber said 632 schools have been connected with broadband which allows for a e-learning process to be rolled out.
Gerber said they anticipate that 1 800 sites will be connected by the end of 2016/2017 financial year.
The ANC wanted clarity on the premier’s plans to appoint a children’s commissioner and an environmental commission as stipulated in the provincial constitution.
Zille said that if the constitution mandated something, they had to do it.
“We absolutely will do it,” she told the committee.
She said they believed the move would be expensive and may duplicate other institutions, thus they had tried and failed to change the constitution from making the appointment of commissioners mandatory, and not optional.
“There is now no excuse and no alternative but to implement it even if we have got no money. If the constitution says we have to, we simply have to.
“There are no excuses,” she said. AN EQUALITY Court case against the rector of Paul Roos Gymnasium, which was brought by the mother of a teenager whose application to the Stellenbosch school had been unsuccessful, has been set aside by the court.
According to a statement released by the school, neither the complainant nor her legal representatives were at court when yesterday’s proceedings started. A request by the legal representative for the school’s rector, Jannie van der Westhuizen, that the matter be set aside was granted and a costs order was granted against the complainant, Vuyokazi Dyani.
Last year, the Weekend Argus reported that, according to Dyani, Van der Westhuizen had told her there was no space in Grade 8, and that her child would have to attend school in Kayamandi township, because “that is where he belongs”.
Dyani lodged an appeal with Education MEC Debbie Schäfer and also laid a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission.
Schäfer dismissed the appeal on the grounds that the school’s process was found to be fair and consistent and in accordance with legislation, that the process was objective and that no decisions were race-based. According to the school’s statement, the court previously found that Schäfer’s decision was valid unless set aside by the high court.
Dyani denied she had not shown up for yesterday’s court date. She told the Cape Argus the clerk of the court had informed her that court would start at 9am but when she arrived at 8.45 am she was told that the proceedings had started at 8am and that the matter had been set aside. “I am definitely going to appeal this. I was told that the matter would start at 9.”
The school said while it respected the right of any child to quality education, it was impossible to accept all applicants for admission. “Annually more than 500 applications for enrolment in Grade 8 are received, of which only 240 can be accommodated.
“The school is committed to a policy where no learner gets preferential treatment and where no one is discriminated against.
“Through the Paul Roos Foundation the school will also continue to provide opportunities to learners who need support in order to attend the school.”