ANALYSIS: Panyaza Lesufi ignored the Constitution in Overvaal drama
In the battle between the Gauteng education department and parents at the Afrikaans-medium high school, the needs of the children have been overlooked, writes Katharine Child
Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi ignored the Constitution when he turned the Hoërskool Overvaal wrangle into a racial drama with inflammatory statements like, "There is no racist that can hide behind a broomstick." As battles rage along racial lines outside the school in Vereeniging‚ it is worth noting what Constitutional Court judgments have said about the fight between parents and provincial education departments over school admissions. The same point is always made: parents and government need to work together. The phrase‚ work in a spirit of "co-operative governance"‚ is used again and again by the Constitutional Court in its judgments on school admission policies. The other point often made is that government departments‚ even when correct‚ have to be "procedurally fair" and "lawful" when overriding school governing bodies. The Rivonia Constitutional Court judgment summarises three similar cases. Lesufi should therefore have known he had no chance of telling a school to tak...
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