Schooling at Hoërskool Overvaal off to a rocky start
As learners prepared for the first day of the 2018 academic year, a group protested outside Hoërskool Overvaal.
Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the African National Congress (ANC) in Sedibeng picketed outside Hoërskool Overvaal in Vereeniging on Wednesday morning.
They are dissatisfied with the judgement handed down in the Pretoria High Court on Monday.
The court ruled that the school is at capacity school cannot admit 55 English-speaking grade 8 pupils.
EFF Convenor Azwi Tshitangano says they can't allow the majority of residents being discriminated against in terms of their language. The group is protesting outside #HoerskoolOvervaal. pic.twitter.com/iIePl3ldnN
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) January 17, 2018
EFF convener Azwi Tshitangano told marchers it is a community protest.
"Fighters, parents and the community at large and members of the media, this protest is not a protest of the EFF. It is a community protest. We are part and parcel of the community and we are parents in our own right. We will not allow a situation where the majority of residents here are black people but are denied access on the basis of Afrikaans as a language."
He believes Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has failed the community.
The ANC's Shaka Radebe says Hoërskool Overvaal cannot remain an Afrikaans single medium school.
"Parents of the children, people think we are here for political statements. My son couldn't come here and I stay 3 kilometers away from this school, I had to take my kids to a school 16 kilometers away. There is no way this school will remain as it is."
An altercation between a parent and protesters broke out amid a strong police presence at the school.