Response to Ms Simphiwe Dana's false and misleading accusations
1 September 2016
We have noted the statement made by Simphiwe Dana on her social media page in which she mentions the Minister of Basic Education. The statement Ms Dana has made show her lack of understanding and expose her ignorance of the issues under discussion.
Minister Motshekga was correct in saying that the school code of conduct at Pretoria High School for girls was accommodating of black learners. What she said is that the problem came in, in the way teachers were implementing the policy which appeared to be prejudicing young black girls.
She also said she was pleased that learners who had Afro hairstyles raised their concerns and their desire to wear their natural hair. The Minister noted that there is a need for rules and guidelines set by schools to maintain the school environment and decorum. However these rules should not discriminate against any learner and this is why the code of conduct is now under review and the process will take inputs from learners and parents.
Dana's call for parents to protest is completely misguided and indicates she has no idea of how these schools’ based policies are formulated. They are formulated by parents who sit on the School Governing Body, a structure which comprises of parents and is elected by parents. This emphasises the importance of parental involvement in children's schooling activities.
The Minister indicated that this issue is not controversial when you take into account the seemingly insurmountable challenges the education sector faces on a daily basis. These include teenage pregnancy, poverty, crime and many others. Not taking away from the struggle of these brave girls, their challenges can be met through affective and open dialogue and an amicable solution can be easily reached as we have seen in this instance.
We cannot have a situation where learners come to school in wigs or dyed hair and all manner of exotic hairstyles, however natural black hair should not be discriminated against and on that point we can all agree.
Minister Motshekga is pleased in the way MEC Lesufi has handled the matter by intervening and ensuring that channels of effective dialogue are opened and the voice of the learners is heard. MEC Lesufi has also instituted an investigation into the allegations of racism and the Minister will await a report on this matter from the Province.
It must be highlighted that getting to the point where we have protest action taking place by learners in schools is unnecessary, and an indication that the structures constituted in legislation to ensure that both learners and parents have a voice in the school management team are not being utilized effectively.
"Transformation is a journey, not an event and we need to continuously have this open dialogue to ensure that we are constantly moving forward and eradicating the prejudices of the past". Angie Motshekga, Minister of Basic Education.
It would be advisable for Ms Dana to utilize the phone numbers of the people she has in the Ministry of Basic Education to clarify facts before she makes such bold public statements.
Issued by Troy Martens on behalf of the Ministry of Basic Education, 1 September 2016
