A complaint has been laid with the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) against the teacher who allegedly used the k-word in a Durban school classroom.
Malusi Mhlongo, a parent of one of the pupils in the class, said he’d filed an official complaint with the commission online, as Danielle de Bruyn, the English teacher at Westville Girls High, needed to be held accountable.
In a rant during a Grade 10 class, De Bruyn allegedly used the k-word to refer to black people whom she accused of wanting to take land that was legitimately owned by whites.
Mhlongo said it was unfortunate that the Penny Sparrow and Vicky Momberg cases seemed not have been a deterrent.
“We need to be clear that this is not going to be tolerated. As parents, we can’t fold our arms and leave it to the children to do something for themselves, because they are likely to make mistakes or take rash decisions. We - through the proper channels - must hold people who do wrong to account,” said Mhlongo.
The EFF also said it would be opening a case.
“The damage she (the teacher) has done, some people may not fully appreciate. She has poisoned young minds we have left in her hands to shape These children did not grow up under apartheid, yet they are now confronted with an awkward situation and tension in the classroom. This has to be nipped in the bud.”
Mhlongo would like the pupils to be counselled, and made to understand where those calling for the teacher to be held to account, and those telling them to get over it, were coming from.
He said the teacher’s apology, without consequences, was hollow and showed a lack of understanding of how painful South Africa’s history was for black people. In a statement, De Bruyn denies having used the k-word to refer to any person or group. She said she used it merely to explain the South African equivalent of the American N-word with reference to the book, To Kill a Mockingbird.
Sign up with Google
