The South African Democratic Teacher’s Union (Sadtu) in the Free State’s Provincial Secretary, Moloi Mokholoane, tells OFM News, the department only reacts when alerted to racial tensions and as a result, they are only dealing with the symptoms of racial tensions at schools – specifically HTS Louis Botha Technical High School and Kruitberg Primary School - and not the systematic cause. 

Mokholoane’s comments come after a video of a HTS Louis Botha learner complaining about a teacher’s alleged use of a racist slur was distributed on social media and later garnered media attention.  

“The issue of racism is on the rise. It’s been there and is not starting now to manifest. What we think is happening, is that the department is not conducting a thorough investigation into issues of racism. There is no deliberate programme that seeks to sort out the problem,” says Mokholoane.

The spokesperson of the Free State Education Department, Howard Ndaba, on the other end, says this is not the case, they are merely following due processes with regards to the issues at both HTS Louis Botha and Kruitberg Primary Schools.

He says the HTS Louis Botha teacher accused of making racial slurs is now facing internal disciplinary processes, whilst a task team has been established to deal with the issues at Kruitberg holistically.

The task team in question was formed in November 2020, and is working on the issues raised at that school pertaining to race relations. Ndaba stresses the department does not tolerate racism at Free State schools and proactively deal with the matters as they arise.

OFM News