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Battle for black kids wanting to enrol in elite Stellenbosch schools - Star

Cape Town - Every year, black and coloured parents face an uphill battle to enrol their children at elite schools such as Paul Roos Gymnasium, Stellenbosch Against Racism (Star) said on Tuesday.

“They have a quota of how much coloured and black children they allow in. Children [from other areas] are bussed in. We say no - we have enough children here [to fill the schools],” founder Franklin Adams said outside the Stellenbosch Magistrate’s Court.

Parents gathered outside the court with posters reading “Accept our children” and “Equal education for all” after representatives from Paul Roos Gymnasium and Kayamandi couple Vuyokazi and Mzimasi Dyani appeared in the Equality Court on Tuesday morning.

The couple claim that their son was discriminated against when his enrolment application was rejected last year.

‘Stop discrimination against our children’

Vuyokazi alleged she was told to enrol her child at a school in Kayamandi “because that’s where he belongs”.

“It’s racially [motivated] – it’s not right for the principal to tell me that,” Vuyokazi said outside the court.

Adams said Star would be launching a campaign in which parents will march from school to school to “stop this discrimination against our children”.

“We have the right to quality education and to send our kids to the schools of our choice.

“If you want to send your child to Paul Roos, there shouldn’t be obstacles. If there are problems or excuses, it must be reasonable. That is not the case.”

‘They humiliate us in Stellenbosch’

It is difficult for black local children to be accepted at elite schools, said parent Miranda Mosomothane.

She said she too was told to enrol her daughter at a school “closer to our surroundings” when she applied at a Stellenbosch school a few years ago.

“My dad drove me from Stellenbosch to Claremont when I was at school for me to get a good education.  If you live in Kayamandi, they want you to just stay there. They humiliate us in Stellenbosch,” Mosomothane insisted.

“It is sad that kids are exposed to this at such a young age. It is transferred to the university. When my daughter saw the [transformation campaigns at Stellenbosch University] on TV, she told me that this is not right.”

The case was postponed to November 3.

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