Cape Town - A pupil found guilty of racism at a Stellenbosch school has gone unpunished while her three victims long for justice.
Three 17-year-old girls in grade 11 at Stellenzicht Secondary School say they were called the K-word by a fellow 17-year-old pupil.
The pupils are class prefects and say four teachers heard when they were racially abused by the fellow pupil. The incident happened last month and a letter seen by the Weekend Argus said the pupil was found guilty of racism. Her sanction was to apologise to the Xhosa-speaking pupils.
“A public apology to the teachers who were humiliated in the disciplinary hearing, the perpetrator must enter into a rehabilitation programme pertaining to how to live/study with others,” reads the letter. It further states that the title of a class monitor will be taken away from the pupil and a final warning would be issued.
The pupils say they were collecting chairs from pupils when they were racially abused. They say they immediately reported the incident and a disciplinary hearing was held where the pupil was found guilty.
“We were told that she would be suspended immediately,” said one pupil. “The following day she returned and said she was not accepting the suspension and that she would open a case against the deputy principal.”
The pupil said after the disciplinary hearing, all they wanted her to do was apologise and show remorse for her actions.
“Her mother agreed that she would apologise but the father kept on defending his child. We are hurting because she roaming around the school and showing no remorse. The school has to take strong action against racism.”
The 17-year-old said the accused pupil did not follow the sanctions.
“She is taking this lightly. She gave us a cold apology at the back of the staffroom then laughed. We left her there and we want her gone from the school.”
Zodwa Mntalane, the mother of one of the victims, said the school seemed powerless and had no clue on how to deal with the matter.
“The pupils have been with the school since Grade 8 and this has never happened before. The teachers who witnessed this are on our side and want this matter addressed.
“It was decided that if the pupil fails to abide by the sanctions, the matter will be reported to the WCED (with a) request that the child be expelled from the school.”
She added that their children wanted to open a criminal case against the pupil.
“We want to take this matter to the WCED on our own if the school fails to do so and our children want to open a criminal case against the learner.”
Teachers close to the case declined to comment and said the department was better placed to be approached for comment.
Although the school was supposed to approach WCED if the sanctions were not followed, it has not done so.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said: “The school has reported that the learner did apologise in terms of the sanction. Should their be dissatisfaction with the apology that was made this can be addressed with the school management. “
Weekend Argus