ConCourt gives Lesufi a year to get rid of default feeder zones for Gauteng schools
MEC for education in Gauteng Panyaza Lesufi has 12 months to set fresh rules for determining feeder zones for the province's schools.The Constitutional Court made this ruling on Friday in the long-running case about admissions regulations between the Gauteng education department and the Federation of School Governing Bodies of South Africa (Fedsas). Currently a child falls into a school's feeder zone if the child's home or parents' place of work is within a 5km radius of the school‚ under a default regime. The department said that this was just a temporary solution until the MEC sets permanent zones for schools‚ but Fedsas argued that the default feeder zones were set unfairly‚ without consulting governing bodies.Now the Constitutional Court has ruled that it is time for the default zones to go.“Default feeder zones are obviously intended to be transitional. They are set unilaterally and indeed do deny relevant stakeholders meaningful participation in a matter that affects a school materially‚” the court held.Lesufi has up to a year to engage relevant stakeholders‚ which includes school governing bodies‚ and make a final determination on feeder zones for schools.Equal Education‚ who joined the case an amicus curiae or friend of the court‚ said the default 5km rule was unconstitutional as it allowed apartheid geography to triumph.In a statement on Friday‚ it said it welcomed the court's judgment which "opened the door for more equitable access to education that does not simply perpetuate race and class privilege".Fedsas had also argued in the Constitutional Court that other provincial regulations clashed with national legislation and should be set aside.One of these bans schools obtaining confidential information‚ like a parent's payslip‚ from a student in the admissions process in order to avoid the unfair exclusion of students.The court ruled that there was no conflict between the two sets of regulations and said the rule on non-disclosure of confidential information can stay.The Gauteng Department of Education said the judgment‚ “confirms that all schools are open to our children regardless of income status‚ academic performance or race”...
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