SADTU CONDEMNS RACISM AT HOËRSKOOL JAN VILJOEN

SADTU Gauteng is outraged by reports of racism at Hoërskool Jan Viljoen in Randfontein. It is unacceptable that racism still rears its ugly head on the 28th year of our democratic dispensation. This backward behaviour undermines the collective aspirations of ordinary South Africans to build a non-racial, non-sexist and inclusive country as espoused in the Constitution.

We support MEC Panyaza Lesufi’s call for the investigation of racism by the SAPS and the SAHRC. Racism is a gross violation of the Constitution; it is a human rights issue. Those who are found to be responsible for promoting or deliberately ignoring this behaviour must be held accountable.

Parents and teachers are models for children’s behaviour.  Thus, we call on the Gauteng Department of Education to run diversity management programs and put measures to transform the racial composition of the staff at the institution.

We call on stakeholders to restore calm at the school in order to recover the lost teaching and learning time whilst all these processes are unfolding.

ISSUED BY: Provincial Secretariat

CONTACT:

Tseliso Ledimo-Provincial Secretary-0824594737

Mosedi Matikane-Provincial Deputy Secretary-0722732431