Bryanston High school has much soul-searching to do in the wake of a brutal incident that has highlighted racial tensions at the school.
THE holidays came just in time for the rattled Bryanston High school community, but there is more work than usual waiting for everyone when they return next term.
The soul-searching that the formerly all-white school is going to have to do comes in the wake of a brutal incident between Bryanston High school boys. The exact sequence of events is not entirely clear – but what is definite is that seventeen-year-old Lindelani Khanyile was severely beaten by three boys, and is in danger of losing the sight in his left eye as a result. The three boys, all white, have since been expelled.
The official reaction of the school authorities, particularly Principal D Robinson, was to dismiss the incident as ”just overactive boys”. According to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) deputy chairperson Shirley Mabusela, this was how Robinson described the violence in a letter sent to the parents. It was one of three complaints laid with the SAHRC by parents of learners at the school who were irate at how the vicious attack was ”trivialised”.
Robinson, who has been at the school for just over a month, has had several allegations levelled at him of acting in a racist manner – or, at least, of being thoroughly insensitive to racial dynamics. For example, another complaint laid with the SAHRC was that the principal had recently made a speech to a group of fifteen-year-olds in which he was reported to have said ”white students must study very hard because black students will get all the jobs because of affirmative action”, says Mabusela.
Mabusela personally informed Robinson of the complaints about him, and says his response to this one was that ”he didn’t appreciate what impact what he said could have. His view was, ‘This is the reality and the students must be able to face it”’.
Mabusela adds that, while ”there are difficulties at the school that they need to work through”, she is encouraged that the school has enquired about programmes dealing with racism and intolerance.
Bryanston High is in many ways typical of formerly all-white schools now struggling with the realities of becoming truly multiracial. Black faces there may be at the school, but in many ways the practises and culture of the school have hardly changed. Structures like school governing bodies continue to be dominated by whites – and as in the case of Bryanston, there is no single black teacher on the staff. Grade 8 learner Thabang Molepo, who believes that the conflict between the boys was ”a racial thing”, says:
”It’s what Bryanston [High] needs. When something like this happens it’s a wake-up call – you must watch out for the little things [that lead to racial violence]”.
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, July 6, 2000.
M&G Supplements