Cape Town - A picture of a Grade R classroom at Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke in North West, which appears to depict four black learners being seated at a separate table from their white classmates has sparked outrage on social media.
The picture was sent to the learners' parents via Whatsapp during the first day of school on Wednesday, but one of the black learners' mothers was furious when she saw it.
North West Premier Job Mokgoro has expressed shock at the incident. Sello Jonas Lehari, the province's MEC for Education and Sport, will head a provincial government team which will visit the school on Friday to investigate the incident.
Meanwhile, the DA's Federal Youth leader, Luyolo Mphithi, branded the incident "a shocking replication of apartheid policies" and said he will visit the school on Thursday to demand answers.
"It is outrageous that a classroom in 2019 can be racially segregated, which only serves to teach young children from day one to see each other as different and separate. This is unconscionable," Mphithi said.