‘Law must tackle racism’

Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says racism must be dealt with by introducing stringent laws against it.

St John’s College‚ one of Johannesburg’s most prestigious schools ‚ has retained a teacher despite finding him guilty of “serious misconduct” in a disciplinary hearing convened to consider allegations of racial stereotyping and passing derogatory comments.

The school said yesterday that the teacher was given a final written warning after it was found that there were mitigating circumstances that would have made his dismissal inappropriate.

“The staff member has already resigned from senior positions at St John’s‚” the school said.

Lesufi will visit the school management team today to “urge” the school to reverse its decision.

Speaking yesterday, Lesufi said racism was a problem that schools should not be dealing with alone and “all of us” should be involved.

“Schools are a subsection of society. We’ve seen on social media insults between racial groupings. Schools are not immune because they are part of society.

“We need to strengthen the laws that punish such incidents‚” Lesufi said.