ANC SUPPORTS REINSTATEMENT OF EXPELLED BOMB PUPIL
The African National Congress in Gauteng on Sunday voiced its support for Education MEC Ignatius Jacobs’ decision to overturn the expulsion of Deputy Mineral and Energy Minister Susan Shabangu’s son from Sunward Park High School.
The 14-year-old boy set off a smoke bomb which injured ten pupils. The Boksburg school’s governing body expelled the 14-year-old boy on Wednesday last week but Jacobs immediately overturned his expulsion and ordered that he should be given punishment in the form of community service instead.
The decision prompted a public outcry from angry parents and some political parties, who accused Jacobs of favouritism towards an ANC colleague. ANC provincial secretary David Makhura said the complainants would do well to remember that Jacobs had taken a similar decision regarding three white Bryanston High School pupils who were expelled for assaulting a black classmate and damaging his eye.
”The MEC’s ruling on the Bryanston case was hailed by parents, the community and the media as the best decision to deal with young pupils who need careful guidance instead of being condemned.
”Those pupils have since learned a lot and their behaviour has changed,” he said. Makhura said it was unfortunate that the Sunward Park school’s governing body had chosen to politicise Jacob’s decision by constantly trying to involve the Democratic Alliance in the case.
”The ANC has no option but to conclude that the only reason why sections of the media, the DA and the school are insisting on a different treatment for the Sunward Park pupil is that the boy is black and is the son of the ANC deputy minister. – Sapa