A Pietermaritzburg Girl’s High alumna has started an online petition to rename the school’s houses after female struggle stalwarts in the wake of a racism scandal which broke this week.
A grade 11 pupil was suspended on Tuesday after two audio clips of her expressing outrage and using the offensive k-word circulated on social media.
The voice notes‚ understood to have been sent from the girl to another person‚ state: “I am so offended right now…f*****g k*****s don’t know how to pronounce my name…they are going to get it from me on Monday."
The consternation stemmed from her name being spelled incorrectly by a peer.
Former Pietermaritzburg GHS pupil Zama Nzimande‚ who matriculated in 2011‚ said that she started the petition because the time had come for “decisive and permanent change”.
“I started this because the school has been very silent on the matter‚ in fact they seem to be protecting the perpetrator‚” she told TMG Digital. “The school pushes itself as a progressive institution and if that is the case it should reflect the current South African context [on the renaming of houses]."
The petition also called on the suspended pupil to issue a public and unconditional apology.
“She must be banned from eligibility for any leadership positions for the duration of her enrolment at GHS. A zero-tolerance anti-racism policy should be implemented‚ with a transparent process for reporting racist incidents at the school‚ for both learners and staff. Nobody should be victimised for coming forward.
“Each learner should be required‚ upon admission into the school‚ to attend a compulsory course on race relations in South Africa‚ covering things such as the history behind the use of the k-word‚ the Constitution & the necessity of transformation in an unequal society‚” it reads.
Since the voice notes became public‚ sparking mass social media outrage‚ the KwaZulu-Natal education department has launched an investigation into the incident and has ordered the suspension of the pupil.
- TMG Digital/TimesLIVE
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