Lesufi should pay for bully behaviour towards Afrikaans family after racial incident at Highschool Jan Viljoen
17 August 2023
The FF Plus will see to it that Panyaza Lesufi, currently the Premier of Gauteng, pays for his bully behaviour towards an Afrikaans family during a racial incident on 11 February last year at Highschool Jan Viljoen in Randfontein.
The party has been assisting the Oosthuizen family who were seriously harmed after Lesufi falsely accused them of racism by organising an independent legal team to bring civil claims against Lesufi personally as well as the Gauteng Department of Education.
Over the weekend, Rapport reported extensively on the hell the family have been through as a result of Lesufi's accusations (Lesufi se vals ras-klag het ons lewe verwoes: 13 Augustus 2023).
Learners, many of whom have ties with the EFF and sang "Kill the boer, kill the farmer" at school, were in conflict with one another and teachers on that day. The conflict grew and caused tension between white and black school communities.
According to the report, Lesufi openly accused the then deputy head boy, Rocco Oosthuizen, and his mother, Lizaan, who worked at the school, of racism. Rocco even received death threats from members of the community.
Lesufi also threatened the Oosthuizens by saying that he will see to it that the HRC investigates their "racist conduct". This was caught on video.
The pressure from all sides became so overwhelming that the family was forced to flee Randfontein. Mrs Oosthuizen lost her job because the school advised her that she should not return for the sake of "her own safety".
Rocco lost his position as deputy head boy along with its full scholarship, and he struggled to find a school that would accept him because Lesufi's false allegations had tainted his name.
After the incident, the FF Plus conducted its own investigation and decided to assist the Oosthuizen family after it became clear that the allegations were false.
As the FF Plus's national chairperson and Gauteng MPL, I firstly assisted Mrs Oosthuizen with a labour dispute seeing as the school's actions amounted to unfair dismissal. The school subsequently made a settlement with her.
An independent report, requested by the school and adopted by the Gauteng Department of Education, later revealed that the incident was instigated by EFF learners. The report recommended that the learners in question should be suspended, but they were not.
The HRC ultimately did not make a final ruling seeing as no-one stepped up to testify against the Oosthuizens. The Oosthuizens, however, did lodge complaints against Lesufi and the Gauteng Department of Education through the FF Plus.
The HRC's investigation was closed as inconclusive. The closing report did find, among other things, that Rocco was suspended without due process.
It is time to bring Lesufi to book for the damage he causes. He has been implicated in numerous incidents where he either created or exacerbated a false narrative of racism against Afrikaners at schools.
The Oosthuizens' legal team will now investigate to what extent Lesufi can be held personally liable for his false accusations. His bully behaviour towards the Afrikaans community is starting to catch up with him.
Issued by Anton Alberts, FF Plus national chairperson and MPL: Gauteng, 17 August 2023
