Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has said he is far from fazed by charges brought by the Freedom Front Plus.
Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has revealed that Freedom Front Plus (FF+) has slapped him with a lawsuit, accusing him of targeting Afrikaners.
The party has 272 charges against Lesufi, in relation to the use of Afrikaans in schools.
“I am honestly not intimidated by those who think a non-racial education system is a breach of the constitution. Today I received 272 charges from the Freedom Front Plus claiming I am targeting Afrikaners. Non racialism is the future, no one can stop! I am ready to face these frivolous and time wasting charges”, he said.
“They say we’re interfering with the education of Afrikaans-speaking pupils, that pupils have the right to be taught in their own language without any other race. Therefore, any person that interferes with that process is contravening Section 29 of the Constitution.” He concluded.
Earlier this year, Lesufi lost in his bid to compel Hoërskool Overvaal‚ an Afrikaans medium school‚ to take 55 English-speaking pupils.
The school had gone to the Pretoria High Court to block the education department’s attempts, and the court ruled in the school’s favour.
The department then opted to take the matter to the Constitutional Court, but the court upheld the ruling. It further ordered the department to pay the school’s legal fees.
The Constitutional Court said that the MEC had not given enough consideration to whether or not there was space for the pupils at either the General Smuts and Phoenix high schools‚ which both teach in English and fall in the same feeder zone as Hoërskool Overvaal.
Thabo Baloyi
t.baloyi@politicalanalysis.co.za
