Court rules for mother to get fees exemption

FISH Hoek High School could have given a single mother the conditional exemption from paying school fees it fought against granting her, the State conceded in the Western Cape High Court yesterday.

Judgment was reserved in the case involving mother Michelle Saffer, who is requesting that the court review and set aside a decision by the head of the provincial Education Department, which dismissed her appeal against the school refusing her an exemption.

In 2011 Saffer applied for the exemption at Fish Hoek High School, but was refused as the school requested financial statements from her ex-husband and from her.

When Saffer applied for financial assistance, the school informed her the annual gross combined income of both biological parents had to be taken into account.

Saffer is challenging this on the basis that it infringes her right to dignity and equal protection of the law.

The Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) is acting on behalf of Saffer, and the parties they are fighting in court are the provincial Department of Education, MEC Debbie Schäfer, Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga and the child’s father, Matthew Gray.

Advocate Andrew Breitenbach, acting on behalf of the State, said: “The school could have, and should have, considered giving a conditional exemption... but ultimately it is a discretionary decision the school must make based on information.”

A conditional exemption may be granted to a parent who qualified for a partial exemption but, owing to personal circumstances, cannot pay the reduced amount.

The EELC filed an application in the high court to request the court declare the State had failed in its constitutional and statutory obligations to ensure that fee exemption applications were dealt with in a lawful manner, and a structural interdict to ensure appropriate steps to address it.

Advocate Peter Hathorn, acting on behalf of the EECL said the applicants want the procedure to be applied in a way that does not render it “unworkable” for the custodian – usually the mother.