No school for a month for three Shembe Church members who refused to cut their hair

Three pupils from Nazareth Baptist (Shembe) Church in Durban have been without a school for nearly a month after the principal of JG Zuma High School allegedly refused to teach them if they did not cut their hair.

This was revealed by the pupils’ mother when she stood up to voice her frustration to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) during their engagement in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday.

The engagement, held in Durban, was held with members of the church and the community regarding the right to freedom of religion. 

The mother told the commission that her three children — pupils in grades 10, 9, and 8 – had been deprived of their right to education following the alleged move by the principal.

She said the pupils, who were also present during the engagements, last attended school on February 24.

"My children have been excluded from the school just because they are Nazareth. It's so painful to me as a parent to see them roaming around during the day while other children are at school," she said.

"All of the teachers have vowed not to teach if my children remain in school. This was done because they didn't agree to cut their hair" as this is against the cultural practices of their religion.

"I'm heartbroken, and my children are constantly crying. They keep asking me where they will study, and I'm too busy looking for another school for them.

"I'm pleading with the department to please help us find another school near us as I wouldn't want them to go back to the same school."

She said her children had experienced trauma, which could have an impact on their future studies.

Corporate legal counsel and secretary-general for the church, Lizwi Ncwane, said their hearts are sore.  

"As we sit here, they are looking for a school. They are here as evidence. This is one of many registered complaints that we have.

"There was a directive issued by the principal of Esizibeni Sivananda Vaswani Comprehensive High School in Amanzimtoti, instructing pupils who are members of the church that they must cut their hair. Even though the principal apologised, it was insufficient and the damage had already been done. The department must take action against him. 

"There was also another learner from Umlazi who was suspended after he refused to cut his hair. We can't tolerate that," said Ncwane.

Ncwane said the commission was ineffectual if such abuse still happens, and the invitation to such engagements was a shame as even after decades of democracy, the church is still subjected to "atrocities". 

Nhlanhla Mthethwa of the department of education said he was shocked by the incident. He said plans would be made for the pupils to see a psychologist to help them deal with the traumatic experience.

Mthethwa told the commission he had also made an appointment for the parent to meet department officials in the district on Friday.

"If they need to be placed in another school, the department will make and process that decision. We also understand that the pupils have missed so much at school. We will have to arrange for them to be placed under the catch-up programme," he said.

According to Thandeka Magwenyane of the SAHRC, the commission has received numerous complaints, particularly from Jozini, Mkhuze, Nongoma, Inanda and Amanzimtoti, as well as other areas.

"Each time we get these complaints of learners being abused and discriminated against, we investigate them. Over the years, we have realised that this has become a trend, especially at the beginning of the year. We have a constitution, an Equality Act, case laws and policies that have been developed over the years that speak to religious rights. However, we continue to see a lot of violations of this right," said Magwenyane.

The SAHRC said it will follow up with the department to ensure that the pupils are back in school as soon as possible. It recommended that the provincial education department engage in a much broader engagement to address the issue of potential discrimination of pupils based on their religious beliefs.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.