<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-td-post-header"><header class="gmail-td-post-title"><h1 class="entry-title">Motshekga in a bid to persuade Lesufi to let go of the Hoërskool Overvaal court appeal</h1><div class="gmail-td-module-meta-info"><div class="gmail-td-post-author-name"><div class="gmail-td-author-by">By</div> <a href="https://www.insideeducation.org/author/inside_education/">Inside_Education</a></div> <span class="gmail-td-post-date"><time class="entry-date gmail-updated gmail-td-module-date" datetime="2018-01-30T08:36:52+00:00">January 30, 2018</time></span><div class="gmail-td-post-comments"><a href="https://www.insideeducation.org/news/motshekga-bid-persuade-lesufi-let-go-hoerskool-overvaal-court-appeal/#respond"><i class="gmail-td-icon-comments"></i>0</a></div><div class="gmail-td-post-views-wrap"><div class="gmail-td-post-views"><span class="gmail-td-nr-views-2604">51</span></div> <span class="gmail-td-post-views-text">views</span></div></div>
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</div><div class="gmail-td-classic-sharing"><ul><li class="gmail-td-classic-facebook"></li><li class="gmail-td-classic-twitter"> </li></ul></div></div><div class="gmail-td-post-content"><div class="gmail-td-post-featured-image"><figure><a href="https://i2.wp.com/www.insideeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/9300740882_8ecd6e6e49_z.jpg?fit=640%2C341&ssl=1" class="gmail-td-modal-image"><img class="entry-thumb gmail-td-animation-stack-type0-1" src="https://i2.wp.com/www.insideeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/9300740882_8ecd6e6e49_z.jpg?resize=640%2C341&ssl=1" alt="" title="9300740882_8ecd6e6e49_z" width="640" height="341"></a><figcaption class="gmail-wp-caption-text">DBE minister Angie Motshekga. Source: GCIS</figcaption></figure></div><div class="gmail-td-a-rec gmail-td-a-rec-id-content_top gmail-td_block_wrap gmail-td_block_ad_box gmail-td_uid_2_5a70a297c75db_rand gmail-td-pb-border-top gmail-td_block_template_1"><div class="gmail-td-rec-wrap"></div></div><p><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"><em><strong>Thabo Mohlala</strong></em></span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">Sharp
differences have emerged between basic education minister, Angie
Motshekga, and her provincial counterpart, Gauteng MEC Panyaza Lesufi
over the Hoêrskool Overvaal debacle. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">This
raises concerns about whether the problem will be resolved anytime soon
if the two education authorities view the matter differently. Both have
expressed their frustrations about the on-going protest at the school. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">But
Lesufi took what others describe as a hardline position vowing to
pursue the matter all the way to the Constitutional Court if need be,
while Motshekga struck a reconciliatory tone.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">Lesufi
strongly feels Judge Bill Prinsloo was biased when he found in favour
of the school, saying a different judge would arrive have placed the 55
learners who are at the centre of the dispute. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">“We
will appeal this decision all the way to the Constitutional Court if
necessary. We want to see if the Constitutional Court will also legalise
racism,” Lesufi said. He also described the ruling as devastating and a
major setback for the transformation agenda.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">The
Federation of Governing Bodies of South Africa (Fedsas) and the South
African Teachers’ Union (Saou) blamed the current standoff at the school
on Lesufi’s alleged political statements following the ruling. They
said he played to the gallery and to deliberately inflame political
emotions adding that the whole issue has been turned into a political
football match.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">Political
formations such as the local ANC, ANCYL, Economic Freedom Fighters,
including Congress of South African Students (Cosas) and South African
Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) staged protests outside the school’s
gates accusing the school management of racism. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">Yesterday
Motshekga called for the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) to
reconsider its stance to appeal. She said the ruling issue was not
necessarily about the language policy but more about an administrative
issue. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">“I said [to the
province] let us not necessarily go and fight. This school belongs to
us; the schooling is not resisting to have a parallel medium. It is a
resource issue,” she told eNCA.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">Motshekga
added: “the judge is not raising the issue that English-speaking
children can’t attend Afrikaans school or policy issues. The judge is
raising administrative errors…let’s deal with them and see if we can
address them.” </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">She said
she agreed the GDE was under pressure to place learners and that by
ordering the school to place the 55 grade 8 learners, the government is
not violating the language rights to use Afrikaans. She said there was
place for every language in the country and that they invested so much
in Afrikaans. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">“There are
more people who are not white who speak Afrikaans. There has been a lot
of investment in those languages and we don’t want to throw that away,”
she said.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">But the GDE is
adamant to appeal the ruling with MEC Lesufi saying he would not back
down until he won the case. Motshekga is under pressure to resolve the
impasse and normalises the situation at the school as soon as possible
so that the tension does not spill into the classroom. It is believed a
meeting is on the cards so that both Motshekga and MEC can harmonise
their views on the matter. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">And
that is just how far she can go. In terms of the Constitution, she was
not allowed to intervene as provinces are autonomous from the national
departments. The only way ministers can intervene is when the lower
structure fails to discharge one of its Constitutional obligations. The
minister can then invoke Section 100 of the Constitution which empowers
the national executive to intervene in in order to remedy the situation.
And indications are it may not reach this stage at least for now. </span></p></div>
<br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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