“WE DON’T want natural hair. Why can’t we be allowed to wear braids?” asked Inga Mazwi (15), a pupil and SRC member at Joe Slovo High School in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.
Classes at the school were dismissed on Tuesday as protesting pupils damaged school property because they are not allowed to wear braids and are ordered to pay fines of R2 to R5 for being late.
Principal Majiet Parker said: “School policy on hair does not allow braids, and it has been like that for many years.
“Pupils know this . . . I don’t understand why they make it seem like this was decided only yesterday.”
Inga added: “We also want to know where the money we are told to pay is going. We pay for being late even if we have valid reasons.
“We also pay R500 school fees but we don’t even have a lab and some classrooms are a mess. The principal must tell us where our money goes.”
Parker responded: “It’s true that they have to pay R2 when they are late. That is also not new. What kind of a school would allow that? Their parents agreed to that, and they don’t pay R500 for school fess.”
Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schafer said: “We received a memorandum with allegations that pupils are charged monetary fines for offences.
“These allegations are concerning and are being investigated.
“Our priority is to ensure the safety of pupils and teachers and that teaching and learning is restored as quickly as possible.”
