[lg policy] Equal Education To Apply To Join Court Bid Against Hoërskool Overvaal

[Harold Schiffman]

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Equal Education To Apply To Join Court Bid Against Hoërskool Overvaal
Discipline
the official who made unfair demands about the school, but still targets
Overvaal's language policy, say education activists.

   -
   <http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/author/queenin-masuabi>By Queenin
   Masuabi <http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/author/queenin-masuabi>

AFP/Getty Images
A demonstrator lights a tyre during protests outside Hoërskool Overvaal on
January 17.

Equal Education secretary-general Tshepo Motsepe said the organisation will
be joining the Gauteng department of education in its appeal against the
Pretoria High Court ruling earlier this month concerning Hoërskool Overvaal.

Judge Bill Prinsloo ruled that the Afrikaans-medium school would not have
to accommodate English-speaking pupils, because it did not have the
resources.

"I have given an instruction to our lawyers to find out if we can join the
case as friends of the court, if it proceeds either to the SCA or the
Constitutional Court. We feel the judge in the case made some very
problematic statements," Motsepe said.

Yesterday, the department said it would take the case to the Constitutional
Court

"The facts of the case in relation to the district director are quite
damning. In my view, the district director should have been fired – and I
hope she is facing some music"
– Judge Bill Prinsloo

Motsepe claims that a district official was the main reason why the
department lost the case. Sedibeng East district director Dorah Moloi was
ajudged to have not been fair in ordering Overvaal to accept the
English-speaking learners.

For this reason, Moloi was accused of defeating the ends of justice, and
Judge Prinsloo suggested her "senior peers investigate her conduct".

"The facts of the case in relation to the district director are quite
damning. In my view the district director should have been fired – and I
hope she is facing some music," Prinsloo said. "The district director
clearly lied and went as far as intimidating people in order to cover her
tracks."

Read: Protests To Continue at Hoërskool Overvaal
<http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2018/01/31/protests-to-continue-at-hoerskool-overvaal_a_23348642/?utm_hp_ref=za-news>

Equal Education's Motsepe suggested that the department admit the official
was wrong, but still fight to overturn the language policy at the school.

"The constitutionality of the case is very vital, and I think it would be a
mistake for the department not to proceed with this matter. I think there
is definitely a case to be made [about] single-medium schools and the
reality in South Africa [of] overcrowded classrooms and the shortage of
resources," Motsepe said.

Multiple protests by political parties, unions and community members have
continued outside the school since the High Court ruling.
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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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