/ 25 March 2022

Human Rights Commission clears Brackenfell High School of racism

No Really, The Eff Is Well Positioned To Force Positive Change
The EFF has accused the commission of not investigating the matter before releasing its report

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the Western Cape says it is shocked after the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) exonerated Brackenfell High School of racism over a 2020 matric party.

The party accused the commission of not investigating the matter before releasing its report more than a year after the November 2020 incident. Matric learners at the school in Cape Town’s northern suburbs held a private matric farewell after the school decided to scrap the grade 12 dance because of Covid-19 restrictions.

“What they did was to wait for the Western Cape Education Department to release their report, then copy and paste the contents of that report and when everyone was not paying attention, then release it. This is a lazy job coming from the commission,” the EFF said in a statement on Thursday, referring to the provincial department’s own investigation.

“These people are playing with us. They just wanted the situation to calm down and then release the report … It is not the first time, nor [will it be] the last time the commission fails to address a violation of rights of black people, in particular in the Western Cape.”

On Thursday, the commission said it had found that the school “did not host a ‘whites only matric ball’ and therefore did not discriminate, whether directly or indirectly, fairly or unfairly, against grade 12 learners on the ground of race”.

“The organisers of the event also did not directly or indirectly discriminate against learners on the grounds of race,” the commission added.

It noted that some of the school’s officials became aware of the event when details appeared on Facebook and were spread by word of mouth. Four teachers at the school attended the event, but only in their private capacity. 

The evidence before the commission exonerated the school from the planning, funding, advertising or hosting the event.

“The commission further found that the organisers of the event also did not directly or indirectly discriminate against learners on the ground of race.” 

The EFF claimed the investigation was unilateral and that only “the versions of some white teachers and [a] principal and white learners who attended the event” were told. “We are not being told about the versions of learners of colour.”

Western Cape head of education Debbie Schäfer welcomed the commission’s findings, telling the Mail & Guardian that she hoped “this serves as a warning to parties like the EFF, who jump to conclusions of racism without establishing the facts, and which drive wedges between people instead of bringing them together”.

The EFF also slammed the provincial education department’s findings in that it “was filled with discrepancies which are also not addressed by this SAHRC report”.

At the time of the furore, the school faced allegations of hosting the event and only inviting  white learners, a charge it dismissed. Violent clashes broke out between parents of learners and EFF supporters outside the school’s premises on 9 November 2020.

The EFF staged a protest in Brackenfell two weeks after the event, which led to altercations with police and prompted the City of Cape Town to issue a letter of demand to the political party to pay R87 312.25 for alleged damage to traffic lights and public vehicles.