Pretoria – Allegations of deliberate exclusion, corruption, racism and xenophobia have been levelled at a Pretoria primary school by parents who have had their children consistently denied places to study at the government institution.
On Wednesday morning, as schools across Gauteng opened their doors for the first day of school in 2017, the aggrieved parents – some speaking to the media on strict condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation of their children – milled outside Hamilton Primary School in Pretoria envying other parents who managed to secure places.
"This school has a peculiar way of handling kids admissions. I stay opposite the main school gate and for the past five years, I have applied for my two children and they have consistently denied the opportunity to study here. I am a South African citizen but my children's right to education are being denied," said Martha, a parent residing along Visagie Street, adjacent to Hamilton Primary School
"What's most astounding is that when we apply at the beginning of the year, we see that the school indicates that it's main criteria for admission for is for priority for kids based on its catchment area. Now you can't tell me that all these taxis and private vehicles are delivering children from a few blocks away."
Before 8am, there was heavy congestion of vehicles outside the school gates, with numerous taxis and cars dropping off pupils.
Some taxi operators were touting to deliver new learners to areas like Soshanguve, Mamelodi and Atteridgeville.
One taxi driver told African News Agency that he delivers pupils daily from a section of Mamelodi – some 30 kilometers from the school.
The school's enrollment criteria, seen by ANA, states that for children to be admitted into the school, they must be residing in a particular zone around the school premises, or the parents must be working in that feeder area.
"Our waiting list A feeder area is from Bosman Street west to Du Toit Street east. From Scheiding Street south to Helen Joseph Street north," the Hamilton Primary School application forms issued in April 2016 indicated.
This radius amounts to around a two kilometer circumference around the school, which is surrounded by blocks of high density residential flats.
Aletta Mare, who resides and also works a few blocks from the school premises, said she slept outside the school when applications were opened on April 18 last year.
She was seeking a place for her son who is now in grade three at a private college in the CBD.
"We were told that online applications were only for grade one pupils. All other grades were being processed at the school. In a long queue of parents, I endured the cold of the whole night at the school gates in April last year. I was number two on the waiting list but still I got a letter saying my application had been unsuccessful. How? I was number two on the queue," said the mother of three.
"This has happened annually before my child started school. I have been turned down consistently despite qualifying on both their criteria. The problem is that this school is still run with an apartheid mindset. The department of basic education must take away the enrollment from the unremorseful racists running our schools, otherwise our democracy is in vain."
Other parents suspected that corruption was playing a role in the enrolment process. Others thought they had been turned away simply because they were not South African.
"We want [school principal] Conrad Myburgh to tell the world how does the school disregard its own policies on enrolment? We are tired of being treated with disdain. This is a mess, I have to find a place for my children in the townships, while the school at my doorstep is taking kids from hundreds of kilometers away. It's nonsensical," fumed Ahmed Safira.
Myburgh declined to speak to media at the school on Wednesday morning.
Oupa Bodibe, spokesperson for Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi, said the school's conduct will be probed.
"The Gauteng department of education will investigate the allegations. The online system was introduced to deal with this type of problems – to give all parents a fair and equitable chance," said Bodibe.