The racism storm that has hit the Pretoria High School for Girls has now turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, with the school’s governing body lodging an application in a bid to force the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) to provide the report on the results of a commissioned investigation into the allegations.

The department in November last year revealed some details of its mandated investigation by Mdladlamba Attorneys to probe allegations of a culture of racism at the school. However, it did not share a copy of the report with the school’s governing body.

When asked for a copy, the department directed the school to the provisions of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). This Act affords a requester the right of access to records held by public bodies.

The investigation came after pupils were accused of creating a “whites only” WhatsApp group where they stood accused of sharing insensitive messages with racial undertones. The allegations relating to the WhatsApp group were reported to the school principal and deputy principal in October 2023 by three learners.

The 12 learners who were part of the WhatsApp group were subsequently charged and taken through a formal disciplinary inquiry by the school’s School Governing Body (SGB) and were all found not guilty on the basis that the WhatsApp group was deemed a private platform.

The Thabo Mbeki Foundation (TMF) also found, after reviewing the WhatsApp messages concerned, that the learners are not guilty of any form of racist conduct. The GDE, however, decided to commission its own investigation into the matter and found what is deemed evidence of racial discrimination and institutional failures to address it.

The SGB now wants to take the report on review, but it first wanted the court to compel the department to hand over the results of the report.

Judge Graham Moshoana, in the opening of his judgment, remarked that although the present application concerns itself with procedural aspects of what may turn out to be a grotesque litigation, the dispute between the parties is blazed with what may be viewed as a political furore.

“At the centre of the dispute lies a well-meaning and highly regarded institution of learning known as Pretoria High School for Girls (PHSG). PHSG is not itself a stranger to controversy coloured with infelicitous allegations of racism, having itself been, in the recent past, embroiled in similar allegations,” the judge said.

The SGB argued that it is common cause that the report exists, and it can only be common cause that it is highly relevant in an application for its review. To this averment, the department responded that if the school is of the view that the report should form part of the record, it should not proceed with the review application until the PAIA proceedings are finalised.

Judge Moshoana commented that the SGB has never set an eye on the report; as such, it cannot vouchsafe its necessity in the review application, let alone its relevance. “It is only once the SGB casts its eye over the report that it can vouchsafe its necessity or relevance. For now, it is like wishing to buy a pig in a poke,” he said.

He concluded that the report constitutes a record within the contemplation of PAIA and can be accessed using the rights guaranteed in PAIA.

“The SGB is not entitled to a dual process of access to information,” the judge said in turning down the school’s application.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

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