Cape Town – ’’We will go (to) Brackenfell and confront the racists. No one will stop us. No one,’’ says EFF MP Floyd Shivambu.
His comments on Twitter on Tuesday accompanied a video of Western Cape Premier Alan Winde imploring the red berets not to continue with their plans to escalate the volatile situation in Brackenfell.
’’White arrogance is when these colonial settlers attack and assault peaceful protesters, call them Nazis and still have the gall to tell us not to protest against racism,“ said Shivambu.
Education MEC Debbie Schäfer and Winde visited Brackenfell High School today after the violent clashes outside the school yesterday.
White arrogance is when these colonial settlers attack and assault peaceful protesters, call them Nazis and still have the gall to tell us not to protest against racism. We will go Brackenfell and confront the racists. No one will stop us. No one. pic.twitter.com/ob6JbQ9stU
— Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) November 10, 2020
Winde, who said he had spoken to the police about making arrests, said the EFF did not have a permit to protest yesterday and slammed the violence that emanated from all parties involved. EFF members were today seen entering the Brackenfell police station to lay charges of assault.
Insisting that shutting down the school was not an option, Winde said: “I particularly want to call on the EFF to not continue with their plans to escalate the situation in Brackenfell, as announced in their statement. As a political organisation, this escalation is not the leadership that South Africa needs right now.
“It will not be tolerated (as) we need to give the learners the best opportunity possible for them to achieve the results that they can.”
Invitation Accepted #brackenfellhigh pic.twitter.com/eQ2v0Nxa9p
— Marshall Dlamini (@DlaminiMarshall) November 9, 2020
EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini posted a tweet yesterday with a picture of an armoured vehicle, with the caption ’’Invitation Accepted #brackenfellhigh’’.
Interviewed on Cape Talk at noon, Nosipho Makamba-Botya, the deputy provincial chairperson of the EFF, was told ’’it seems as if the EFF has little appetite to be part of lowering tensions at the moment’’.
After Dlamini’s post was referenced, Makamba-Botya said: ’’Definitely, the invitation has been accepted by the EFF for the fact that the community is actually up in arms about this when we as the EFF have a constitutional right to protest at any given time if there are matters of importance that have been reported to us.
’’It’s not like just we woke up and found ourselves at Brackenfell High School. We were invited and informed by the parents of the children at the school about what transpired at that event where only white students were having this matric ball.“
When questioned if they truly had the interests of black learners at heart, considering that they are among the 254 matrics whose exams are being disrupted, she said: '’Definitely, however, the whole thing got out of hand when the community was up in arms, instigating violence against us.
’’That was peaceful picketing that constituted only 15 people on Friday and even yesterday we had 20 people that were there. So (it was) the whole community of Brackenfell and other people coming from other areas who actually started the whole thing.
’’We had no intention to disrupt any exams and I find it very sad that now we are being blamed for it. And yet there have been underlying issues of racism at the school and I am worried that the black students aren’t taken into consideration.
’’This has been happening for some time and now you wonder what the morale of the (black) students is at the school. How are they coping the entire year on a daily basis when they are faced with issues of racism at this school?’’
Western Cape ANC chairperson Xolani Sotashe explains why he is making a stand outside Brackenfell High School. Video: Lubabalo Poswa / African News Agency (ANA)
A Brackenfell High parent, who was interviewed by the African News Agency outside the school, raged against the ANC and EFF, emphasising that the issue had nothing to do with racism.
“What has the ANC got to do with our private functions. Do we go to them every time and make accusations when they hold private functions and don’t invite white people.
'’What the hell has it go to do with them which parents hold functions for children that has nothing to do with the school.
“Now they are disrupting the matrics who are writing exams, for what? It has nothing to do with them. We are here to protect our children.
“We don’t give a damn about the ANC and we don’t give a damn about the EFF. This is not about race. It’s about bloody common decency, that’s what it’s about.
’’Why disrupt a school busy with exams when it (the private matric function) had nothing to with the school. It’s all about attracting attention.’’
Meanwhile, Brackenfell High’s school governing body will on Tuesday afternoon bring an urgent application for an interdict before the Western Cape High Court in a bid to stop the EFF from protesting outside the school.
IOL