[lg policy] South Africa: Hoërskool Overvaal’s legal bid to stop 55 pupils from attending the school to be heard urgently

[Harold Schiffman]

 Hoërskool Overvaal’s legal bid to stop 55 pupils from attending the school
to be heard urgently
11 January 2018 - 15:14 Sipho Mabena
[image: School teacher's desk. Picture: THE TIMES]
<https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ZNrW_AJ1Hw6kXKomz3nSNmWa5nPQBTeqjx8OHKFC7dwE7JgDxi1S4ycPevib9uOBRE9qzFHcsSHLSLm3V-V91yV14VM74k80=s1200>
School teacher's desk. Picture: THE TIMES

The Gauteng department of education has failed to convince the High Court
in Pretoria to throw out the Hoërskool Overvaal’s legal bid to prevent 55
pupils from attending the school‚ for lack of urgency.

The department had argued that the school would suffer no harm if the 55
Grade 8 learners were admitted‚ saying the children posed no threat to the
school governing body‚ which brought the application on behalf of the
Afrikaans-medium school.

Kumbirai Toma‚ the department’s advocate‚ further argued‚ albeit in vain‚
that the department had put the necessary resources‚ English educators and
learning material in place to ensure that the learners were not a burden to
the school come Wednesday‚ January 17.

"Everything that the learners need has been provided. .. it is a sad
scenario that the kids are denied access to the school‚" he said.

Toma said the school governing body also failed to give proper reasons as
to why the review application could not be heard in a normal court.

But Judge Bill Prinsloo said Toma failed to make a case for lack of
urgency‚ ruling that the matter would be heard in an urgent court.

Earlier‚ the school’s lawyer‚ advocate Albert Lamey‚ argued in reply that
it was in the interest of the 55 learners that the matter be heard in an
urgent court.

"Any delay is to their detriment‚" he said.

The Afrikaans-medium school in Vereeniging approached the court to review
and set aside the department’s instruction that the school admit the 55
pupils despite the school’s insistence that it had no capacity to do so.

Judge Prinsloo indicated he wanted to deliver judgment on the matter
without delay‚ possibly by Friday.


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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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