PUPILS LAMENT RACISM AT SCHOOL
K-word allegedly used a lot at Pretoria Girls
BLACK pupils burst into tears yesterday as they spoke about racism they claim they have had to live with at Pretoria High School for Girls.
A number of girls told Gauteng MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi of their suffering at the school. Much of the racism was allegedly meted out by teachers, while white pupils also called them disparaging names, Lesufi heard.
The majority of teachers at the school in Hatfield are white. Before the meeting with Lesufi, a group of pupils sang protest songs at the school. This included the cry chant
(what wrong have we done?)
A group of students from the University of Pretoria protested outside the school as a number of police officers monitored the situation from both inside and outside the school premises. A storm ensued over the weekend when it emerged that black pupils at the school were allegedly being forced to straighten their hair.
An online petition calling for an end to racism at the school had over 16 000 signatures by yesterday afternoon. Black pupils are also apparently not allowed to speak their home languages at the school, while Afrikaans was allowed.
White teachers were allegedly the main culprits for calling black pupils’ Afro hair “birds’ nests”.
Pupils were also not allowed to meet in big groups at the former Model C institution. “We don’t have a say, every time we take a stand it’s considered a protest,” said a pupil.
Another pupil, who was sporting a large natural Afro, decried that the school did not take action against white pupils who referred to blacks as “k ***** s”.
She saw no need to report the incident because many others had previously complained about a particular [white] girl “and nothing was done”.
“Racism is very much still alive in our school,” she said. “The inequality and racism has affected us immensely. Our environment has become hostile. Every day when we wake up it becomes difficult to come to school.”
Lesufi assured black pupils he would uproot racism at the school. He also met the school management team and the school governing body. “I want to assure you, where we are as a country, there’s no way that you have to go through with this pain. No way. For you to be reminded about the colour of your skin at every provocation, for you to feel unwelcome in your own school, I can assure you it ends here. It won’t go beyond this.”
School principal K du Toit said most of the incidents the pupils spoke about yesterday had never been reported to her. nkosib@sowetan.coza
“Every day when we wake up it becomes difficult to come to school
DURING apartheid, being a traditional leader or a cop came with dubious honour. The reason being that police officers and traditional leaders were seen as National Party (NP) government stooges.
Cops were viewed as people who defended the apartheid system. In the Port Elizabeth townships, there was no bigger offence than a family member joining the then South African Police (SAP).
The moment residents realised that one of their own had joined the SAP, the whole family would be asked to leave the area or even be harmed in some instances. To further support the belief that traditional leaders were NP pawns, most Bantustan leaders were also traditional leaders.
KD Matanzima, Lucas Mangope and Patrick Mphephu all came from a traditional leadership background. My views of traditional leaders weren’t very good because I grew up around late ANC stalwart Leonard Mdingi, who hated them with passion.
After the 1994 elections, the image of both cops and chiefs improved, thanks to Nelson Mandela who was a traditional leader by birth himself. Slowly but surely, South Africans began to accept both cops and traditional leaders. As a result, there are a number of MPs who are also traditional leaders.
The reason chiefs were hated was because they tended to be a law unto themselves.
There are still many chiefs who continue to take unilateral decisions at the expense of people they are supposed to lead. BaKgatla’s Chief Nyalala Pilane has been in the news for all wrong reasons for a while now. By now, as South Africans, we should be living happily ever after. Even people who were once seen as subservient to apartheid are now seen in a better light.
But if chiefs continue to take unilateral decisions, we’ll continue to view them as people who are serving their own interests – just as was the case during apartheid. For the sake of other chiefs, I hope Chief Pilane consults his people more in the future.