The urgent application brought by the Pretoria High School for Girls SGB following findings by the Gauteng Education Department after a probe into racism at the school was short-lived yesterday (Tuesday) following certain remarks made by the judge who was due to hear the matter.
Gauteng High Court Judge Mandlenkosi Motha, before hearing the merits of the matter, made several remarks, which included him questioning why we have black learners attending “white schools”, while it is never the other way around.
He also mentioned the earlier incident at Stellenbosch University when a white student was caught on camera urinating on the property of a fellow student.
In referring to the SGB’s application in which it is asking that the department release the full report following the probe into racism at the school, Judge Motha, in his opening remarks, said, “is this not a matter that should not be in court?”
He made it clear from the start that on the face of it, this matter was not urgent.
Following the remarks by the judge, before the commencement of the arguments, Advocate John Mullins SC, acting for the school, asked that the matter stand down for a few minutes.
When he returned, he said the views of Judge Motha were quite clear and after speaking to his legal team, he wanted to bring an application for the recusal of the judge. But Mullins said, to circumvent this, they agreed that the matter simply be removed from the roll.
This was done following an agreement by the department. It is not clear at this stage whether the matter will again be enrolled next week, when a different judge will be on urgent court duty.
The investigation, which was conducted by Mdladlamba Attorneys, a law firm commissioned by the Gauteng Department of Education, came after pupils created a “whites only” WhatsApp group where they shared insensitive messages with racial undertones.
The allegations relating to the WhatsApp group were reported to the school principal and deputy principal in October 2023 by three learners.
The 12 learners who were part of the WhatsApp group were subsequently charged and taken through a formal disciplinary inquiry by the school and were all found not guilty on the basis that the WhatsApp group was deemed to be a private platform.
Despite the girls being found not guilty in the disciplinary hearing in August, the Department of Education in Gauteng sought the services of Mdladlamba Attorneys to investigate the matter further.
The Gauteng MEC for Education, Matome Chiloane, earlier released the report and the school had insight into the findings, but not to the entire report. They now want the court to force the department to release the entire report to them.
Director of the law firm, Charles Mdladlamba, in releasing the report, told a media briefing that the principal and deputy principal of the school mishandled the racism allegations issue and should be charged with misconduct.
The report also found that some white teachers at the school did not greet their fellow black colleagues "because they do not know whether they are cleaners or educators at the school".
Mdladlamba said the allegation that some white teachers do not greet their black colleagues was confirmed by the principal, Phillipa Erasmus, who is currently suspended.
The report recommended that she, as well as the deputy principal responsible for discipline and two educators, be charged with misconduct.
Judge Motha, meanwhile, yesterday during his remarks regarding the urgent application, commented that reconciliation is a two-way process. “What we see is that black children go to white schools. We don’t see it the other way around…The situation is unfortunate,” he said.
He added: “There should be a way for reconciliation, but what happened at this school shows we are poles apart.”
In remarking that the country is still being divided by racism and hatred, he noted that to this day these issues even prevail in the judiciary.
Judge Motha is no stranger to controversy as he earlier this year demanded answers from the legal teams in a case before him why there were no black lawyers present.
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Pretoria News