In true Stalinist fashion (“show me the man and I’ll show you the crime”), the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) recently set its sights on seeking out racism at the Pretoria High School for Girls (PHSG) in what the Thabo Mbeki Foundation has called a “fishing expedition”.

The GDE was acting on resurfaced complaints of racial discrimination by learners at the school and a leaked WhatsApp group chat which some of the learners claimed consisted of racist rhetoric by white learners against their black counterparts. This chat group then sparked a learner-led protest at the school in which the learners protested the alleged racist remarks on the group.

This promoted the GDE’s initial intervention. It claimed that it was getting involved not on account of the WhatsApp group chat but rather due to the protest, to which it claimed it had been invited by the school principal.

Subsequently, the disciplinary committee (DC) of the school governing body (SGB) conducted an investigation into the claims of racism against the twelve accused girls who were members of the WhatsApp group chat. The committee found no evidence of racism or discrimination. The Thabo Mbeki Foundation at a later stage independently agreed with the “no racism” finding, a ruling the GDE upheld and affirmed it would not revisit.

However, the Gauteng education MEC, acting on unspecified “allegations” and the “presumption” of racism, decided to launch his own probe. The relevant section of the departmental statement reads as follows:

“The Gauteng MEC for Education, Sport, Arts, Culture & Recreation, Mr Matome Chiloane, will be launching an independent investigation into Pretoria High School for Girls (PHSG) to determine whether a culture of racism exists at the school.

This recourse, which the MEC has decided to pursue, will not investigate the 12 learners, but rather allegations that racism exists at the school. This decision is further motivated by the fact that the report of the SGB’s ruling makes no mention of racism or discrimination against learners, whereas there has been a strong presumption of the existence of such at the school.”

The MEC and the GDE expanded their mandate beyond the initially stated terms of reference. Chiloane assured the public that doing so was necessary to finally put to bed the recurring allegations of racism at the school. A “fishing expedition” indeed.

These reasons are also why he dismissed the Thabo Mbeki Foundation’s report as mere counsel, even though it relied on common law, case law, and the Constitution in reaching its conclusion.

However, having concluded their investigation, the GDE and Chiloane have not released their subsequent report. Members of the public have nothing to go on but a statement on the report; the MEC’s media appearances; and the Mbeki report which implicates the GDE. 

The Mbeki Foundation report reveals that the GDE representatives were not just against the SGB DC’s not guilty findings of the 12 accused WhatsApp group chat pupils, but also of a black girl learner whose private video was leaked to the media. This black learner is one of the two pupils listed in a file the GDE handed to the Mbeki Foundation who herself made complaints of racism against the school.

In the video, she can be seen trolling about making white learners kneel in atonement for their privilege and history of racism, a stunt that was widely performed by American white guilt-ridden protesters following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. It is an act which many whites themselves ridicule as worthy of mockery. The GDE was dissatisfied with the not-guilty rulings of the white girls but also of the black girl, arguing that the latter must also be charged with racism and floating the impression that she was absolved solely to whitewash the not-guilty findings against former.

Here, the GDE can be seen making a U-turn on its earlier position where it supported the SGB DC findings. This is also clearly why it chose to renege on not revisiting the matter, to run its own investigation and further breach the terms of reference.

It appears that the dispute between the students presented the GDE with the opportunity it had been longing for, to nail the school on a frivolous accusation of racism by opportunistically using these teenage girls as cannon fodder.

While it can happen that teenagers make racist statements on a WhatsApp chat or a video, would an adult operating in good faith not choose to have a word with the learners rather than subjecting them to a process involving suspensions, investigations and disciplinary hearings, in the full glare of the media and public attention?

What good does that do the learners in their youth? How will it affect their futures, to have their prospects marred by mistakes from their adolescence, which a suspension let alone one in the matric year would no doubt ensure; and what lessons might they learn about how to conduct themselves as soon-to-be adults in society? Being a teen is already confusing enough as it is. It does not help when the political and media apparatus descends on a high school after a few teen girls bicker on a WhatsApp chat.

In addition, robust and rigorous discussions that test the limits should not only be allowed but encouraged. Parents, instead of bureaucrats with concealed political agendas, are best placed to provide guidance and guardrails. Developing lateral thinking skills comes with making controversial remarks and stepping on a few landmines as you go along. This is how individual identity is formed and if our adolescent girls are to learn to think for themselves, become independent and well-adjusted adults, they must be left alone to figure some of these issues out. 

Besides, these frictions occur daily in a country as diverse as ours, and not just along racial lines. Whether it is colleagues reaching a compromise about air conditioner settings, with men generally preferring it cooler and women preferring it warmer; or striking the right balance between English and African praise and worship music at a church; or even a sports bar deciding whether to dedicate most of their screens to broadcasting the soccer or rugby games. The difference in these incidents is that there is no media or political machine to whip people up into a frenzy about there not being enough Zulu songs sung at a church with a majority black parish.

Albeit these conflicts may take place among people of different races – the mere presence and disagreement of people who happen to be white or black does not make the dispute inherently racist. Racism allegations have become an effective cudgel for racism crusaders to reduce conflicting views, questioning and mockery to acts of racism. This belief seems to be animating the PHSG girls’ complaints of racism on the WhatsApp group and the MEC himself. While teenage girls can be excused for this line of thinking, politicians displaying this juvenile level of reasoning must be judged more harshly, as the Mbeki Foundation’s scold of the GDE officials does.

The case precedent cited in the Mbeki Foundation’s report provided that feelings of being discriminated against on the basis of race are subjective and should not be automatically validated as racism. In the case, the court essentially held that feelings, even strongly experienced and fervent ones, can be wrong.

The opposite of this is what the MEC and GDE are attempting to condition these young learners into: the conviction that every whim and emotion that overcomes them must be unquestionable truth, a notion which is profoundly misguided and borderline irresponsible. It is reckless for politicians to catastrophise teenager quarrels and exploit them for political gain through persistent racialisation, which the MEC has done at this school and in the media, for the rest of the country to spectate and consume.

Makone Maja is Campaign Manager at the Institute of Race Relations