Durban — An unidentified angry woman interrupted the new KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education MEC Mbali Frazer during a visit to Hillcrest High School following allegations of racism.
Frazer was there to meet school management and relevant stakeholders following a leak of a WhatsApp group chat of five boys using derogatory language.
The incident happened last year and the pupils were called into discipline in June and were suspended.
The pupils expressed that they were not satisfied with how the matter was handled, furthermore they told the MEC that the school had racism, bullying sexism and body shaming issues.
The pupils who were at the meeting were the student representatives and most of them were girls.
Emotionally, the girls shared the issues of the school and said management did not punish white pupils for their wrong doings.
While the MEC was addressing the stakeholders, pupils and parents who were at this meeting, an unidentified woman raised her hand and told her that the boys in question had been pushed around at the school and that she would like to share about the girls’ violence and picking on boys.
“While the girls are here, I realise that you feel something wrong has been done and I am not disputing that but there have been incidents where the boys in question have been pushed around. I would like to share about the girls’ violence and picking on the boys,” she said.
The MEC calmly interjected and reminded her that there will be a week-long commission of inquiry, where everyone involved will be given an opportunity to state their case.
Frazer condemned the racism in schools and said section 9 of the Constitution did not allow any form of discrimination.
Meanwhile, in a Facebook post, the School Governing Body chairperson Byron Creed, said five pupils were implicated in the exchange.
Creed said the WhatsApp group had no affiliation whatsoever to HHS other than the pupils attending HHS.
“I would also like to mention that this issue was never swept under the carpet as stated by the media, it was given the full attention of the school disciplinary committee who investigated the issue at hand. There is a school process to follow and HHS has informed the Department of Education of this incident,” he said.
Daily News