Dad takes pupils to court over race jibes

● A father who says his nine-year-old son was beaten up and racially abused by two older pupils at an expensive Cape Town private school has reported the 13-year-olds to the police for assault and crimen injuria.

Western Cape police confirmed this week they were investigating pupils at Reddam House Durbanville.

The father — who cannot be named to protect the identity of his son — said the school’s executive head, Barry Nieuwoudt, promised to take firm action but gave the alleged perpetrators “a slap on the wrist”.

“He told us that one of the boys who hit my son had been suspended for a week and the one who uttered the racial slurs had been given a warning,” he said.

In e-mail correspondence between the boy’s parents and Nieuwoudt, seen by the Sunday Times, the father says: “[A police officer] from the SAPS children’s unit contacted me this morning re the charges that I laid … against the two boys that abused my son.

“I confirmed to her that it is still my intention to press charges as it’s a matter of principle for us. She should be contacting you soon re the details of those boys.”

Nieuwoudt responded: “Thanks for the email. It is extremely disappointing to hear, considering that it was young boys who made a mistake, but I understand and respect your decision.”

The father said his son was traumatised. “He still can’t understand why they called him those names ... and asked him silly things like, ‘does your mother make nice curry?’ The school said it would provide counselling but that never happened. My wife is a clinical psychologist and has been talking to him. But at the end of the day, how do you explain to a child why he was racially profiled? We are trying to make him understand that he is not the problem.”

Nieuwoudt told the Sunday Times: “Reddam House fully believes that any form of discrimination or racism is unacceptable and has no place whatsoever at our school.”

He said his staff acted swiftly after being alerted to the incident and the pupils involved were “appropriately” disciplined.

“In addition to the severe consequences of the boys’ behaviour, we insisted on counselling sessions for them. We also made a strong commitment to intensify our efforts in diversity training in the new year, which we have shared with the [victim’s parents].

“We would much rather build on the work we do within the school, involving the staff, the students and parents, and be a catalyst for better understanding and deeper sensitivity, than remove children from our facilities.”