EFF and ANC blame MEC Lesufi for Hoërskool Overvaal debacle

The EFF and the ANC have‚ in a display of solidarity‚ put aside their political differences and staged a joint protest outside Hoërskool Overvaal in Vereeniging in an attempt to convince the school to admit 55 English-speaking learners.

This follows a ruling by the High Court in Pretoria setting aside the Gauteng education department's instruction to the Afrikaans-medium school to admit the extra grade eight pupils.

The EFF and ANC have blamed Gauteng MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi for the children not being admitted to the school‚ claiming he has “failed” black parents.

"We will march to the department tomorrow morning because we are not only failed by this school‚ but we are also failed by the department and that's why we are going there.

“It is not an ANC-led campaign‚ it is not an EFF-led campaign‚ it's a political campaign of an African child. This is a campaign that is fighting racism and apartheid in reverse and they can't use Afrikaans as an excuse to fight racism‚" said an ANC member and resident of Ondervaal who wanted to remain anonymous.

The Afrikaans-medium school situated in Vereeniging approached the court to review and set aside the department’s instruction that it admit the pupils‚ despite the school’s insistence that it had no capacity to do so.

During argument in court last week‚ Advocate Albert Lamey‚ who represents the school and its governing body‚ said the department’s instruction — without any consideration for the school’s language and capacity — was unlawful and unfair.

"This is not a protest of the EFF‚ it's a protest of the community and EFF is part of the community so we are parents in our own right. Today we are calling upon the MEC Panyaza Lesufi to say 'You have failed us as well because if you didn't fail us today‚ you would have been here to lead us inside so that our kids can gain access'‚" said Azwi Tshitangano‚ EFF Sedibeng chairperson.

Education spokesperson in the province Steve Mabona said parents were given a chance to apply on time and learners were accommodated on a first come‚ first serve basis.

"The MEC explained how the process works and we were open on how we admit learners. The activity that we went to encouraging parents to participate in this process is that when we opened the system‚ we called upon parents to apply and the majority of parents applied‚" said Mabona.

He said at some point the system was hanging because parents didn't want to accept alternative spaces.