Johannesburg - Black and white parents exchanged blows outside the Witbank Technical High School in Mpumalanga on Monday as rival groups claiming to represent learners fought to “protect” the school.
Some parents who spoke to Newzroom Afrika during the scuffles said the chaos emanated from a recent fight between a black learner and a schoolmate.
“The problem started off as a schoolyard scuffle, and I’m sure if it was two white kids fighting, I’m sure we wouldn’t be here.
“If it were black kids fighting, I am sure they would have been silently expelled. There would be no issues at all,” one community member told the television news channel.
“We had no intention of violence or touching anybody. Unfortunately, they (the rival group) keep pushing forward to us. We want to protect the kids in the school. That is only why we are here. We are just trying to keep everybody outside,” the community member said.
Some learners at the school said the racial tensions between learners have been simmering for a long time.
“The children who are in the technical classes, we fight in class, and every time an incident happens they (school administration) say they are going to sort it. But they don’t.
“The other time there was a fight in class, they said we should write letters and nothing happened. It has been three weeks now,” said the learner interviewed by the channel.
Violent scenes were witnessed at the school entrance, with some people throwing stones at their rivals. Others were wielding sticks.
Last month, Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi visited Cornwall Hill College in Centurion where he pledged to black learners and their parents that racism and mistreatment would no longer take place at the institution.
Lesufi was speaking at the school as parents and some learners gathered for a mass protest against racism and the lack of commitment to transformation by the school’s leadership.
The Star