Freedom of expression is central to the Constitutional Court appeal against a Durban schoolgirl’s right to wear a nose stud to school, the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) said on Monday.
The appeal, to be heard on Tuesday and Wednesday, is against a KwaZulu-Natal high court decision in favour of Sunali Pillay’s wearing of a nose stud to school.
”The FXI will submit that the decision by Sunali Pillay to wear the nose stud constituted an exercise of her freedom of expression,” the organisation said in a statement.
This right stems from section 16(1) of the Constitution and falls within the provisions of two sets of regulations issued under the South African Schools Act, the FXI said.
The FXI has been admitted as amicus curiae, or ”friend of the court”, and will give written and oral argument.
The organisation will submit that the case affects the rights to equality, freedom of religion, freedom of culture and freedom of expression.
The case stems from 2005 when Navaneethum Pillay took the Durban Girls’ High School to the Equality Court after Sunali was not allowed to wear a nose stud because it was against school rules.
Pillay lost the case and it was then heard in the Natal High Court, which ruled in her daughter’s favour.
The school and the KwaZulu-Natal minister for education, Ina Cronje, decided to appeal the case in the Constitutional Court.
Cronje subsequently withdrew from the appeal and the three remaining applicants — the school’s liaison officer, the school principal and the school governing body — continued with the appeal, said Simon Delaney, FXI law-clinic attorney. — Sapa