Johannesburg - Elana Barkhuizen, the suspended teacher at the centre of the racism scandal which hit North West’s Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke last week, is adamant she wants to clear her name.
During a joint media briefing with trade union Solidarity on Tuesday in Centurion, she said she did not understand why people were trying to ruin her life.
Barkhuizen vowed to fight until she cleared her name. “I am a good teacher; I will not be told what my worth is by people who do not know me. I will embark on this journey; I will take on these people with power and I shall win,” she said.
Barkhuizen could not get into the merits of the incident, but said her character and her family had been hurt.
“Last week, my world changed. A photograph I took of a class full of happy, smiling children on their first day of school was used by opportunists against my children, against me and against my school.”
The school made headlines since last week after an image showing black and white pupils sitting at separate tables in a Grade R classroom circulated on social media platforms in what was termed racial segregation.
Following the incident, Barkhuizen was suspended by the provincial Education Department. However, Solidarity has since challenged her suspension. Barkhuizen and the union claim the suspension was unlawful. They said all Barkhuizen had done was to take the photograph.
“There is no way you can suspend a teacher because she took a picture. A huge injustice has been done to Barkhuizen and her family. Due to that, she deserves an apology,” said Solidarity chief executive, Dr Dirk Hermann.
He said the school governing body had not yet given Barkhuizen anything of substance about her suspension. “She has no idea why she has been suspended and that is unlawful.”
Hermann said Solidarity would serve court papers before the end of the week asking that Barkhuizen's unlawful suspension be lifted as a matter of urgency.
Solidarity’s head of labour services Anton van der Bijl said a case of defamation against MEC Sello Lehari was also being prepared. He said the MEC painted Barkhuizen as a racist.
The suspension did not follow proper procedure, he said, and Barkhuizen was employed by the governing body and not the department.
Barkhuizen has been teaching for 15 years, two of them at the school.