An Eyewitness News (EWN) report alleging that Curro Foundation School in Roodeplaat was practicing racial "segregation" has provoked a racial uproar on social media on Thursday. The controversy follows the school's decision to place the only six white children, in its initial English-language Grade R intake, along with some twelve other black children. The other two Grade R classes were, as a result, made up of only black children.
According to EWN a group of thirty (black) parents signed a petition demanding "to know why some classes are made up exclusively of black children, while white pupils are kept together. They say separating children at such a young age perpetuates racial and cultural segregation and stunts the nation's transformation."
The article quoted André Pollard of Curro Holdings, the JSE-listed company which owns and runs the school. as saying "that in some grades they have a very small number of white pupils who they try and keep together in one group. He says once they have 12 or more children, they divide them equally into classes. ‘It's not because we would like to segregate the whites, it's just because of friends. Children are able to make friends with children of their culture'."
The school's failure to distribute these six white children evenly across three classes (i.e. two in each class), and instead place them in a single racially integrated class (where they still constituted a small minority), was widely condemned by many of South Africa's most prominent racial thought leaders.
Eusebius McKaiser, Oxford Rhodes Scholar and columnist for the Iqbal Survé group of newspapers, slammed the school as disgustingly racist for "racially segregating" children in this manner:
Disgusting racism at Curro Foundation School, racially segregating children. MEC @Lesufi must come down hard on them like a tonne of bricks.
— Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) January 29, 2015
He also condemned Pollard for his comments:
To add insult to racist injury, one André Pollard from Curro Foundation School tries to jurtify racism saying kids befriend only their kind.
— Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) January 29, 2015
He then lambasted Pollard's presumed racial ancestry:
Obviously this dude - André Pollard - just arrived in our country a few seconds ago, tracing Jan Van Riebeeck's journey no doubt.
— Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) January 29, 2015
Before going on to condemn "racists" for seeing race when segregating children in this manner, while demanding colour blind policies.
What fascinates me about racists are their hypocrisy: they 'see' race when it comes to segregating children but demand colourblind policies.
— Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) January 29, 2015
He added:
The same racists who see black and white are the first to shout, "Get over race! Don't play the race card! Race based policies are racist!"
— Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) January 29, 2015
Dr Nomalanga Mkhize, a top Rhodes University historian and BDLive columnist, also condemned the school for apparently trying to preserve the "Purity of White Children":
Trying to write a response to Curro's attempts to preserve the Purity of White Children... i'm struggling to not have to "explain race 101"
— Nomalanga Mkhize (@NomalangaSA) January 29, 2015
She added:
Seriously Curro schools? Nazi-Apartheid white puritanism thinking much? Trying to preserve lily white children? Suka!
— Nomalanga Mkhize (@NomalangaSA) January 29, 2015
In a follow up comment she said she did not want to send her daughter, who is currently in crèche, to a white school.
@graemedebruyn My child is in creche with coloured and Black kids. So long as white racism exists, I dont want to send her to white school
— Nomalanga Mkhize (@NomalangaSA) January 29, 2015
The businessman, writer and photographer, Victor Dlamini, condemned the school for practising "classic Apartheid":
Curro Roodeplaat. Here's a Pretoria school you're about to get to know. It's formula for separate development is classic Apartheid
— Victor Dlamini (@victordlamini) January 29, 2015
He said the justifications used were insulting:
White classes. Black classes. Then the insulting justifications follow. Complete with use of words like 'minority' to divide kids. #Curro
— Victor Dlamini (@victordlamini) January 29, 2015
And added:
Instead of hanging its head in shame the Curro school in Pretoria actually wants to justify racial segregation
— Victor Dlamini (@victordlamini) January 29, 2015
A number of other commentators weighed in. Nic Spaull, the Stellenbosch University education policy expert, commented on his blog:
"With a history such as ours how can a school possibly argue that separating children based on race or ‘culture' is necessary?! The sheer nerve that their regional manager can justify this racial segregation saying that children find it easier to make friends with children of their own culture is astounding and shameful."
The humourist Tom Eaton tweeted:
Meanwhile at Curro in Pretoria the 1962 school year has started.
— Tom Eaton (@TomEatonSA) January 29, 2015
The CEO of Curro Holdings, Dr Chris van der Merwe, told Politicsweb that following the initial intake, a week or so ago, another six white children had enrolled in Grade R at the school. These children had been placed in the other two (formerly all black) classes.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines segregate as to "put apart from the rest, isolate; enforce racial segregation on (persons) or in (community etc.)" and segregation as "segregating or being segregated; enforced separation of different racial groups in a community etc."
Throughout the apartheid period (1948 to 1990) in South Africa state schools were strictly segregated by race. As of the time of publication Politicsweb was unable to establish how many classes in whites-only government schools, in 1962 or after, were predominantly made up of black pupils.
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