DURBAN – THE ANC Youth League has called on a Grade 11 pupil at the Pietermaritzburg Girls High who referred to her fellow school mates as the k-word to be expelled.
The youth league in the Pietermaritzburg region will picket outside the all girls high school on Friday. It further called on the Department of Education, which earlier this week suspended the Grade 11 pupil over the racist ordeal, to institute a task team to probe racism at all former Model C schools in the province.
The ANC Youth League has announced it will picket outside the Pietermaritzburg Girls High School on Friday. File picture: Facebook“We call upon the MEC of Education, Comrade Mthandeni Dlungwana to establish a special task team to investigate all cases of racism in all former Model C schools and give maximum punishment to perpetrators,” said Thembikosi Zondi, the ANCYL's Moses Mabhida region secretary.
In a statement, Zondi said the picket would take place outside the all girls school’s entrance from 10am on Friday.
He said racism was not resurfacing, but said in fact it had “never disappeared”, referring to the alleged pupil in the racism storm as a “spoilt white learner”.
The ANCYL has called on MEC Mthandeni Dlungwane to probe all Model C schools for racism. Picture: ANA Pictures “The youth league is neither shocked nor surprised by the existence of racism at former Model C Schools and other former establishments of racial segregation. We debunk any myth that racism died with apartheid in 1994.
“Racism never disappeared hence it is not resurfacing, it has been there and it will continue to exist as long as whites are still enjoying economic privileges they were enjoying during colonialism and colonialism of a special type,” said Zondi.
ANC Youth League members protested at an Absa bank branch in Anton Lembede (Smith) Street as part of the league’s campaign to demand the institution pays back a R2.25-billion bailout it received from the apartheid government.FILE PICTURE: Gcina Ndwalane/ANA Pictures He said it was unfortunate that the incident took place during youth month, a month where the class of June 16 1976 is commemorated in South Africa.
“It is unfortunate that this incident took place during Youth Month where we commemorate heroes and bravery demonstrated by the Youth of 1976 in rejecting racism at our schools. We are very impressed by courage and boldness displayed by young African girls who are victims of racism at GHS.
“The manner they exposed this incident confirm that the heroic spirit of Hector Peterson and other young heroes and heroines who died during the course of struggle against racism at Schools and elsewhere live within us,” said Zondi.
Contacted for comment this morning, the GHS school principal and school governing body chairperson were not available for comment as they were not on the school premises at the time.