Photo: African News Agency (ANA) Photo: African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Times – Premier Helen Zille and Rustenburg Girls’ Junior School principal Di Berry are missing the point on the lack of transformation at the prestigious school.
So said a group calling themselves Parents for Change (PfC), who exposed the uphill battle they were facing to implement transformation policies at the former Model C school, in response to Zille weighing in on a recent controversy.
The parents spoke out following a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) process, where teacher Nozipho Mthembu said she was unfairly discriminated against and asked to resign or face a disciplinary hearing for reasons she had yet to be informed about.
Mthembu was the school’s first black African teacher and a former pupil. She was told some parents questioned her competence and were unhappy she was teaching their children. The CCMA acknowledged that unfair labour practices were used by the school.
E-mails also later emerged in which the school appeared to have suggested a black pupil would not fit in after a couple reached out and offered to pay for all 12 years of the Khayelitsha girl’s fees.
Zille said “orchestrated attacks” on Rustenburg had been unjust.
“I say this because I have inside knowledge. I respect the school for not saying why the teacher is leaving.
“They are respecting her privacy and taking pains to ensure that they do not destroy the prospects for her future career. I have a child at Rustenburg Junior, who happens to be black.
'Her biological mother died last year. The school could not have been more loving and supportive."
The PfC said as part of Zille’s “fight” in this instance, the premier infers that she has “inside knowledge” of an employee/employer relationship and respects the school for its actions.
“She clearly sees no reason to believe the knowledge, as found by the CCMA, because it seems she believes she knows best.
“Irrespective of the alleged poor quality and incompetence of Ms Mthembu’s teaching, both (Zille and Berry) are missing the point on the lack of transformation at Rustenburg.
“There appears to be a somewhat desperate attempt to preserve the privilege of a few.” The school and its community needed to have robust dialogues and conversations about the enormous responsibilities of schools in upholding academic excellence, while also taking account of the socio-economic climate in which we all found ourselves, they said.
“Perhaps the premier could even use her fighting spirit to begin to engage with the stark practices of exclusion, which define most schools like RGJS.
“In our view, the lack of any significant representation of black teachers or senior management is detrimental to our children.”
According to PfC, only 22% of the senior management team, 17% of educators and 12% of administrative staff are black, while 80% of teaching assistants and 100% of support staff are black - in the data provided by the school in 2017.