Two brothers have not yet opened a book at school this year because of a legal battle to establish whether they should be allowed into a school in the south of Johannesburg.

The mother of the two boys and her brother-in-law took the school, its principal, its administration clerk, the school governing body and Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga to court to get the children admitted to the school.

The mother claimed that the school failed to admit the children even though they lived only three streets away from it.

The complainants and the respondents, who were expected to appear before Judge Kathy Satchwell, failed to reach an out-of-court settlement but agreed to meet again at the court on Friday.

The mother said she could not wait for her sons to go to school.

"What do I tell my children now? They are hoping to go to school."

In court papers the mother says the school "blankly refused" to accept her children, stating that it had no space.