An educator at Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke has been suspended after an image of grade R learners who were separated by race on their first day of school surfaced and caused uproar on social media. The announcement was made by the North West education MEC Jonas Lehari during a meeting on Thursday morning at the school following demonstrations by community and political groups at the school premises.
Racism remains a thorny issue in South Africa and the Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke’s incident is one of many. Transform SA Magazine spoke to the African Transformation Movement’s (ATM) Provincial Chairperson Gaddafi Mdoda.
“Firstly, as ATM we do not align ourselves with people who are racial. We are condemning what has happened at Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke and we’re saying it needs to be investigated. The authorities must dig very deep and uproot the racial practices at schools. It is not the first time hearing of racial issues at schools 2 years ago one incident happened in Gauteng, but the people that are supposed to be accountable are failing to make sure that racial activities are not happening at all. If you can look at our values as ATM we say we put South Africa first one God and one race we don’t have blacks, whites, coloured’s and etc.,” said Mdoda ATM’s Provincial Secretary.