The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) used the “protest by girls at Pretoria Girls High” to attack the African National Congress (ANC) for being “afraid to implement the wishes of our people as prescribed in the Freedom Charter which they have so boldly declared theirs”. The party’s acting spokesperson‚ Fana Mokoena‚ on Monday said the “EFF applauds the young black women who protested against their school for their racist practices”.“The girls are not allowed to wear their hair naturally‚ in fact they are forced to straighten it; and their indigenous languages are suppressed‚” he said.Earlier on Monday‚ TMG Digital reported that Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi is due to visit the school to address the controversy as more than 4500 people signed a petition calling for his intervention.Pretoria High School for Girls faces fury after black pupils told to ‘straighten hair’Pretoria Girls High School is facing a furious backlash after allegedly instructing black school pupils to straighten their hair.#StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh was trending on social media on Monday. Videos and photographs of pupils protesting at the school‚ one of the pupils sporting an afro‚ went viral over the weekend.Mokoena said it is “deeply saddening that 22 years into democracy‚ there are still institutions of any kind that still seek to directly suppress blackness in its aesthetics and culture”.“This is a direct result of a society still struggling with transformation and failing to address white hegemony‚” he added.“A white minority culture is still so dominant that it can decree on a black majority what they should look like and how they should behave. This culture is as old as slavery itself and does not belong in a democratic dispensation such as ours.”Mokoena put the blame for this at the feet of “a black government that is refusing to send a strong message to white supremacists that their dominance is a thing of the past”.He said the failure of the ANC “to implement the wishes of our people as prescribed in the Freedom Charter…is a direct result of their fear of white people”.“How on earth do we expect a racist school in Pretoria to conform to transformation when in the bigger body politics‚ whiteness still reigns supreme at the protection of a black majority government?”He noted that the ANC Women’s League “is mum on this struggle of young black women at Pretoria Girls High…yet we saw them everyday physically at the trial of Reeva Steenkamp’s murder (may her soul rest in peace) to show their support”.“The ANC and its Women’s League has failed to lead our battles in general‚ and of women in particular‚” Mokoena said.“We applaud the gallant forces of the young black women at Pretoria Girls High who have taken their struggle into their own hands and shown our government what leadership really is.“At the tender age of 14‚ and in a month dedicated to the struggles of women who are our sisters‚ mothers and partners‚ these young women have given us hope that our dream of a fearless society led by brave men and women is still alive. We salute them.” ..