by Tankiso Makhetha
Pretoria - Sometime last week, a pupil at Pretoria Girls' High School presented an assignment highlighting inequality in South Africa. The girl was allegedly taken to the principal’s office and reportedly threatened with suspension.
By Saturday, during the spring fair, black pupils at the school marched, claiming they were fed up with institutionalised racism and discrimination at the school.
On Monday, a storm of anger raged across the country as footage of heavily armed security personnel patrolling the school yard and threatening to arrest the pupils appeared.
The pupils were protesting against the school’s hair policy and for being questioned whenever they were in groups of two or more. They also claim they were barred from using their home languages in the private discussions.
On Monday, the girl who presented the assignment was highly emotional when she told Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi that she was labelled racist by staff members and white pupils.
Her guardian, Lebo Madiba-Lokotwayo, wrote on Facebook that her niece was subjected to racism under the guise of school policy.
“The girl gave a speech in class about employment in South Africa. She compared the politics of employment pre- and post-apartheid and highlighted the ills of apartheid and the role of trade unions,” Madiba-Lokotwayo posted.
“Her speech was interrupted; she was taken to the headmaster’s office and threatened with suspension. When her parents fought the suspension, the school used the hair regulations against the pupil. “… Her mother is black (Zulu) and her father is Indian. Doesn’t that just make her proudly South African? She represents everything that is beautiful about this country. #SheIsHerHair,” Madiba-Lokotwayo stated.
Former pupils at the school, University of Pretoria students, activists and Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga were among those who arrived at the school to show their support to the pupils.
An online petition was created requesting Lesufi and headmistress Karen du Toit to ensure the school’s code of conduct did not discriminate against black and Muslim girls. It also requested that disciplinary action be taken against teachers and staff who have implemented racist policies or racist actions, while also demanding that pupils who protested not be victimised.
Lesufi met with pupils, management and the school governing body in a bid to to resolve the problems. Hundreds of black girls emerged from their classrooms at break, repeatedly chanting “We are tired”.
In an emotion-filled two-hour meeting, pupils relayed some of the incidents they had experienced at the school. Several schoolgirls, who cannot be named because they are minors, narrated horrendous stories of how they were insulted and manhandled at school.
“I was called a monkey by a teacher. It pains me even now because we are treated differently at this school. We are made to feel that we do not belong,” recounted one tearful girl.
Another learner said: “A white girl called me the k-word. I didn’t report her to authorities because she has called other children the same and nothing was done.”
A pupil told the MEC that her afro hair was likened to a bird’s nest, and that she was forced to comb it. “I have a natural afro, but a teacher told me I need to comb my hair because it looks like a bird’s nest.” She said she was given a brush and told to look at herself in the mirror and neaten herself.
About 10 pupils spoke of the treatment they had received regarding their hair. “Teachers find it offensive when we speak to our friends in our mother tongue. We are stopped and told to stop making funny noises,” said one of the girls.
The same pupil informed Lesufi that during a discussion in class, pupils were asked to discuss what thoughts crossed their minds when they spoke about blackness.
“Only white learners were participating in the conversation. She said things like, when you think of the word 'black', you associate it with evil, dark and bad things. But whiteness was associated with purity and good,” the pupil said.
Lesufi said the matter would be attended to by his department.