Legal bid to prevent Hoërskool DF Malan from changing school name

CAPE TOWN - Members of the Trots DF Malan group have filed an application at the Western Cape High Court in an effort to prevent the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) from approving the Hoërskool DF Malan name change.

The school’s name originated from Daniël François Malan, former National Party prime minister from 1948 to 1954. During his term, the foundations for apartheid were laid.

Debates around the name change at the Bellville school have persisted over the years with the current school governing body (SGB) working with staff, parents, learners and alumni to finally start a process to rethink all aspects of the school's identity.

However not all parents and alumni supported the idea and a group “Trots DF Malan” was started on Facebook.

Last month two new names were proposed and the name DF Akademie received the majority of votes.

The name was recently sent to WCED to be approved.

However the group alleged the entire process was not transparent, fair or democratic and has further called on the department to probe the conduct of the SGB claiming “abuse of power”.

In a letter to the Metro North District Education manager, the group said:“ We respectfully request that the proposed new name for the school not be approved, that a thorough investigation into the conduct of the SGB be done and that the process that was followed by the SGB since June 2020 be set aside.

It further demanded “that the SGB be dissolved if it is found it has not performed its functions satisfactorily or has acted in a manner that is not in the best interest of the school.”

The group said it had more than 60 pages of evidence to support its case.

WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said they recently received an application from the SGB regarding a proposed name change for consideration.

“A submission will now be collated, including the documents received which included a complaint in terms of the process followed. The contents will be considered.

“We have also been informed that the ministry received court papers on Wednesday. The WCED will study these papers. It is to be noted that the (MEC) does not make a decision regarding the application. That delegation lies within the provincial department,” said Hammond.

SGB chairperson Andre Roux also confirmed that they received the court papers aimed at preventing the name change application they submitted last week to WCED.

“The court papers are currently being reviewed by our lawyers and I can thus not give any further comment at this stage.”

Cape Times