THE EFF STATEMENT ON THE PROTEST BY GIRLS AT PRETORIA GIRLS HIGH
26 August 2016
The EFF applauds the young black women who protested against their school (Pretoria Girls High School) for their racist practices. The girls are not allowed to wear their hair naturally, in fact they are forced to straighten it; and their indigenous languages are suppressed.
It is deeply saddening that 22yrs into democracy, there are still institutions of any kind that still seek to directly suppress blackness in its aesthetics and culture. This is a direct result of a society still struggling with transformation and failing to address white hegemony.
A white minority culture is still so dominant that it can decree on a black majority what they should look like and how they should behave. This culture is as old as slavery itself and does not belong in a democratic dispensation such as ours.
But how do we expect paradigms to shift if at the heart of the struggle to emancipate Africans in this country, we have a black government that is refusing to send a strong message to white supremacists that their dominance is a thing of the past.
The EFF has always maintained that until Africans are given their land back, their resources repositioned to benefit them and their economy shifted firmly into their own hands, the culture of oppression and discrimination will never leave our shores. Equality is not academic or esoteric. It cannot be declared in constitutions and political speeches and magically transform society.
Equality is hard and arduous work of all stakeholders led by government to physically bring about practical and tangible change in the lives of our people. Hence the Freedom Charter was prescriptive in detail on how change must be effected. It prescribed the freedoms we must enjoy, but also outlined the practical role of Government, Business and Society in bringing about these changes.
The ANC is afraid to implement the wishes of our people as prescribed in the Freedom Charter which they have so boldly declared theirs. Their failure to do so is a direct result of their fear of white people. How on earth do we expect a racist school in Pretoria to conform to transformation when in the bigger body politics, whiteness still reigns supreme at the protection of a black majority government.
The country is leaderless. We no longer have brave men and women in the caliber of Robert Sobukwe, Lillian Ngoyi, Charlotte Maxeke, Fatima Meer and Solomon Mahlangu to lead our country without fear. The shell that is the ANC is afraid to take a practical step of expropriating the land without compensation even when the EFF offers them a winning hand with our 6% to change the constitution for the benefit of our people. The ANCWL is mum on this struggle of young black women at
Pretoria Girls High, yet we saw them everyday physically at the trial of Reeva Steenkamp’s murder (may her soul rest in peace) to show their support. Where were they to support a young black woman who laid rape charges against Fransman?
Where were they to support a young black woman who laid rape charges against their figurehead Jacob Zuma? Racism cannot be eradicated if we are not brave enough to do and say the hard things and honestly bare it open for scrutiny. The ANC and its women’s league has failed to lead our battles in general, and of women in particular.
We applaud the gallant forces of the young black women at Pretoria Girls High who have taken their struggle into their own hands and shown our government what leadership really is. At the tender age of 14yrs, and in a month dedicated to the struggles of women who are our sisters, mothers and partners; these young women have given us hope that our dream of a fearless society led by brave men and women is still alive. We salute them.
We call on all institutions of learning to remove from their policies any directives on hair. Such policies are inherently racist and must be rejected outright. We are a society that is struggling to be equal and all-encompassing. People’s natural looks or how they choose to adorn themselves are a right we must protect jealously.
The EFF rejects any policy that overrides this basic right and warns any institution that flouts this right that they are an enemy of our struggle for an equal and fair society. In particular, Pretoria Girls High School must remove racist policies on hair and language from their founding documents with immediate effect. We will be watching progress in this regard.
Salute
Statement issued by Fana Mokoena, EFF acting national spokesperson, 29 August 2016
