Protesters demand ousting of school heads at Pretoria Girls amid systemic racism row

The EFF and provincial ANC Youth League (ANCYL) staged a demonstration outside Pretoria High School for Girls before a visit by Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane.

A dozen pupils were suspended at the school last week pending an inquiry into alleged comments that reflected “racial micro-aggression” on a whites-only WhatsApp group.

On Tuesday, police stood in a chain of guard outside the school's gate and private security personnel stood on the inside of the school behind the gate while the EFF and ANCYL group sang struggle songs.

Spokesperson Tshegofatso Mashabane said they want the principal and deputy principal to be removed from their posts.

“We are calling for the removal of the principal and the deputy. There is no one who is above the law. There is no one who after 30 years of democracy can still harbour apartheid systems,” she said.

“What are you teaching these children, that there is a difference between black and white children? We want them to be removed and we will achieve that.

“In this school, racism is being tolerated. Yesterday they had a disciplinary hearing. Children who were complaining about the racism told us they were subjected to lawyers saying they need to sign a non-disclosure agreement and that there is no racism.”

Last week the education department said the school governing body had called a hearing set down for Tuesday and Wednesday into the pupils' alleged conduct, and the district launched an investigation to probe the allegations, specially those made against school employees.

Spokesperson Steve Mabona said: “The conversations [on WhatsApp] allegedly included racial commentary about the ongoing dissatisfaction among black pupils regarding issues they faced at the school, alluding to these issues being insignificant.

“Similar commentary about a black hair protest by pupils that reportedly took place at the school in 2016 was also made in the group chat.”

When the emergence of the group chat surfaced, aggrieved pupils staged a protest. They complained there was little to no action taken by the principal over “repeated instances of racism”, alleged bullying incidents not addressed by the school's management and “alleged preferential treatment of white pupils by the principal and some staff members”.

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