Cape Town -
The outcry over awards for pupils at a top school, including “Coconut” and “Dark Knight”, is escalating.
On Tuesday, the Cape Argus reported a mother, whose son attends Stellenberg High in Bellville, took offence to some categories of the awards, the Stellie Stars. She said categories like Dark Knight (for the blackest person) and Coconut were inappropriate.
Other categories included GHD (most straightened hair), Pimp Master, Cradle Snatcher, Legally Blonde and Mr Sporty.
Callers to CapeTalk had various opinions on the matter on Wednesday.
Among hundreds of comments on the iol website were: “Stellenberg is a multi-racial school and young people are not as hung up about race as the older generation”, and “I think the parent did the right thing. Coconut is a racist term. There isn’t a need to use the word”, said another.
On Wednesday, another angry mother said her son had experienced racism at the school and she planned to put him in another school next year.
She said her son had asked her not to report racism against him to the principal as he feared being victimised.
On Monday, principal Theo Boonzaaier said the awards were a tradition at the school.
Western Cape Education Department spokesman Paddy Attwell said the department was concerned about any activity with racial overtones or that could infringe on human dignity.
He said the school was dealing with the matter and agreed some categories could be seen as offensive. - Cape Argus