DA youth leader sowed racial division in Schweizer-Reneke furore - Solidarity charges
DA federal youth leader, Luyolo Mphithi, should formally apologise to teacher Elana Barkhuizen and pupils whose "identities he exposed" in the apparent Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke race furore that got South Africans talking this week, trade union Solidarity demanded.
The trade union said Mphithi "sowed racial division by declaring that a photograph [showing black pupils sitting separately from their white classmates] a clear-cut case of racism" at the school.
In a letter written to DA leader Mmusi Maimane on Tuesday, Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann said Mphithi had tweeted a photo of the Grade R classroom – which later went viral – "which implied that the school segregated the children based on race, using nothing other than a photo of a single moment in the classroom".
"Several other Twitter users posted another photo of the same classroom, but this time with children of different races mixing. Mr Mphithi did not share this photo on his Twitter account as a correction," Hermann wrote.
Despite "serious doubts" arising, the party's youth leader issued a statement demanding answers from the school for their "outdated attitudes toward integration".