Solidarity acts as a friend of the court in school religion case 

25 April 2017

The trade union Solidarity announced today, that it will apply on 15 May 2017 to become a friend of the court (amicus curiae), to act in the biggest court case yet about the Christian character of public schools. The case arose from a small group of activists who’s taking six schools to court because of their Christian character.

According to Johan Kruger, Deputy Executive Officer at Solidarity, it is very important for Solidarity that public schools should have the freedom to choose a Christian character. “This premise of faith is Constitutionally possible, practically feasible and plays an important role in the success of various schools across the country,” Kruger said.

Kruger explains that, it was not necessary for Solidarity to initially act as friend of the court in this matter because the South African Teachers’ Union (SAOU), on 10 March 2016 as friend of the court, strongly endorsed schools' rights to align with a particular faith. “The SAOU however, submitted court documents on 28 February this year which is in direct opposition with their initial declaration of oath, and which strongly oppose the strong pro-religious premise of their members and member schools,” Kruger explained.

“The SAOU's turnaround left Solidarity with no choice but to act on the matter,” Kruger confirmed.

In the meantime, the SAOU has changed their strategy on April 21 by withdrawing from the case. “Unfortunately there is already a void in the court documents. Thousands of teachers who strongly believe that schools can maintain a specific ethos's voices are still not heard. Solidarity will thus continue to act as a friend of the court, otherwise the unique voice of those vocation-driven teachers will not be heard,” Kruger said.

Issued by Johan Kruger, Deputy Chief Executive: Solidarity, 25 April 2017